Cape Town, City of, metropolitan
municipality (2021 est. pop. 4,710,000), Western Cape prov., South Africa,
on the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Town is the
municipal seat. In 1996 the Cape Town metropolitan area was divided into six
municipalities; in 2006 these were merged to form the City of Cape Town,
which encompasses Cape Town itself as well as its surrounding suburbs,
including Mitchell's Plain, Khayelitsha, Blue Downs, and Simon's Town. The municipality is an
important commercial and industrial center and a major port. Oil refining,
automobile manufacture, ship repairing, and tourism are important to the
economy. Cape Town also is the legislative capital of South Africa and the
capital of Western Cape.
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