Somerset West

Somerset West Somerset-Wes
Aerial view of Somerset West with Hottentots-Holland Mountains and the Steenbras Dam in the background
Somerset West Show map of Western Cape Somerset West Show map of South Africa Somerset West Show map of Africa  Somerset West shown within Western Cape
Location within Cape Town  Somerset West
Coordinates: 34°05′S 18°51′E / 34.083°S 18.850°E / -34.083; 18.850Coordinates: 34°05′S 18°51′E / 34.083°S 18.850°E / -34.083; 18.850
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1822
Government
• Councillors	Benedicta van Minnen (Ward 15); Stuart Bruce Pringle (Ward 84)
Area
• Total	61.37 km2 (23.70 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	55,166
• Density	900/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	13.0%
• Coloured	24.5%
• Indian/Asian	0.9%
• White	60.1%
• Other	1.6%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	52.3%
• English	37.5%
• Xhosa	4.8%
• Other	5.3%
Postal code (street)	7130
PO box	7129
Area code	+27 (0)21

Somerset West (Afrikaans: Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. It is situated in the Helderberg area (formerly called Hottentots Holland), about 50 kilometres (30 mi) east of Cape Town central city area, and 10 kilometres (6 mi) from Strand. The town is overlooked by the Helderberg (meaning "clear mountain"), a part of the Hottentots-Holland range of mountains. The vehicle registration code for Somerset West is CFM and the post code is 7130 for street addresses, and 7129 for post office boxes.

A cattle post was established here by Dutch soldiers in 1672.

A town developed around the Lourens River (originally "Tweederivier", which means "Second River"; "Eersterivier", meaning "First River" passes through Stellenbosch, some 16 km to the north) and the farm of Vergelegen (Dutch: "remotely situated"), an 18th-century farmhouse built in the historic Cape Dutch style by Willem Adriaan van der Stel, governor of the Cape and son of Simon van der Stel, who gave his name to the nearby town of Stellenbosch. Willem Adriaan was later sent back to Holland after being charged with corruption and cruelty towards local Dutch farmers. The farm is now owned by a subsidiary of the large mining company Anglo American, who have restored the farmhouse to its original magnificence and continue to produce some of South Africa's best wines there. The farm is open to tourists.

Somerset West was founded in 1822 on part of the historic farm, Vergelegen. The town was named Somerset after an English governor of the Cape Colony during the 1800s, Lord Charles Henry Somerset, with the suffix 'West' being added after 1825 to differentiate it from Somerset East, another South African town in the Eastern Cape. In the 1830s, Sir Lowry's Pass, named after later governor Sir Lowry Cole, was constructed to link the town with outposts further east over the Hottentots-Holland mountains.