(This point is under dispute - some authorities place the division between the two oceans further east at Cape Agulhas[?], which is demonstrably further south.)
The Cape of Good Hope was first rounded by Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, who named it "Cape of Storms" (Cabo Tormentoso). It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as "Cape of Good Hope" (Cabo de Bõa Esperança) because of the opening of a route to the east.
Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp for the Dutch East India Company at the Cape on April 6, 1652, which eventually developed into Cape Town.
On December 31, 1687 a band of Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape in order to flee religious persecution.
The United Kingdom on January 19, 1806, occupied the Cape. It was ceded to the UK in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.
See also:
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump