Greenmarket Square

Greenmarket Square
Greenmarket Square as seen from Burg Street & Longmarket Street.
Street map of Greenmarket Square in Cape Town.
Greenmarket Square Show map of Western Cape Greenmarket Square Show map of South Africa Greenmarket Square Show map of Africa  Greenmarket Square shown within Western Cape
Location within Cape Town  Greenmarket Square
Coordinates: 33°55′20″S 18°25′12″E / 33.92222°S 18.42000°E / -33.92222; 18.42000Coordinates: 33°55′20″S 18°25′12″E / 33.92222°S 18.42000°E / -33.92222; 18.42000
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Main Place	Cape Town
Postal code (street)	8000
Area code	021

Greenmarket Square is a historical square in the centre of old Cape Town, South Africa. The square was built in 1696, when a burgher watch house was erected.

Over the years, the square has served as a slave market, a vegetable market, a parking lot and more recently, a flea market trading mainly African souvenirs, crafts and curios. Near the centre of the square is a hand operated pump used to bring clean water to the surface from an underground river that runs through the city. During the apartheid era, Greenmarket Square was often the focus of political protests, due in part to its proximity to parliament, as well as the ethnicity of its traders and shoppers.

The square is located in the centre of the city bowl area of Cape Town's city centre between St George's Mall to the south east and Long street to the square's north west. Strand Street is located to the north of the square and Wale Street to the South. The area in front of the front door of the Old Town House on the square is regarded as the historical centre of Cape Town. Shortmarket Street and Longmarket Street boarder the square on either side with Burg Street running through the middle of the square.

In the years following Cape Town's establishment in 1652 a number of streets came into existence above Strand Street (which followed the natural shoreline) and the Company Gardens which initially functioned as a market garden run by the Dutch East India Company to supply ships. The square developed naturally as the venue for the sale of fresh produce from the garden and surrounding farms. The sale of other goods and services including the sale of slaves followed shortly after. A fountain was established as a key point for townspeople to access drinking water.

Following its establishment as a market the square became the administrative and social centre of the town with the construction of a burger watch house in 1696 to provide security. By the 1730s rural style thatch-roofed dwellings around the square began to be replaced by flat-roofed single and multiple story houses. In 1761, the watch house was demolished and the Old Town House built in the site. This building functioned as the city hall and Burgher Watch House for a period of time.