Why Cape Town? Cape Town, the capital of the Western Cape Province, is simultaneously an historic and picturesque city of 17th-century origins and the dynamic legislative capital of South Africa, the site of its Parliament and of other important political and educational institutions. It is situated on the Cape of Good Hope peninsula, whose southernmost point is the richly symbolic tip of Africa. With its mild climate, extraordinary setting featuring the spectacular Table Mountain and Lion's Head as backdrops, and its vivid mix of historic sites amid the signs of energizing social and political change, the Cape Town area is an ideal location for the Democracy & Diversity Institute. The main site of the Institute will be Breakwater Lodge, a waterfront campus of the University of Cape Town and a residential complex whose history in many ways is intertwined with that of apartheid. It was used briefly in the early part of this century as a prison, and later, until 1989, as a men's hostel for migrant workers from the rural areas working in Cape Town harbor. Here one is further confronted by a sobering view of Robben Island with its massive prison, now a museum, where anti-apartheid leaders of the African National Congress, including President Nelson Mandela, were held.