Bellville, Western Cape

Bellville
Bellville CBD with Kogelberg Mountains and False Bay in distance Bellville CBD with Kogelberg Mountains and False Bay in distance
Bellville  Bellville shown within Western Cape
Location within Cape Town Bellville
Coordinates:
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1861
Area
• Total	52.39 km2 (20.23 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	112,507
• Density	2,100/km2 (5,600/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	15.7%
• Coloured	29.4%
• Indian/Asian	1.5%
• White	50.3%
• Other	3.1%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	65.4%
• English	25.2%
• Xhosa	2.5%
• Other	7.0%
Postal code (street)	7530
PO box	7535
Area code	021

Bellville is a city in the greater Cape Town metropolitan area and falls within the area of the City of Cape Town municipality.

Originally called "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaans: "12-Myl-Pos"), since it is located 12 miles (20 km) from Cape Town city centre, it was originally founded as a railway station on the line from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and Strand. In 1861 it was renamed Bellville, after the surveyor general Charles Bell.

The Karl Bremer Hospital functioned as the Academic Hospital for the University of Stellenbosch Medical School, but now the adjacent Tygerberg Hospital houses the medical school. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of the Western Cape are also situated in Bellville. D.F. Malan High School and Bellville High School are both located in the area.

The multi-purpose Bellville Velodrome is located in the Tyger Valley area of Bellville. The Bellville Velodrome has the only indoor cycling track in South Africa and is also the annual host of the MTBS athletics competition.

In May 2007, Meg Ryan and William H. Macy completed the last day of principal photography for their new movie, The Deal, at the Bellville Civic Centre.

Bellville is notable in the local South African music scene, gaining the nickname "Bellville Rock City" due to the number of bands that hail from the city, such as Fokofpolisiekar, Foto Na Dans, Jax Panik, Jack Parow, aKING and Die Heuwels Fantasties.

The novel 2 Dae in Mei (English: 2 Days in May) by Jaco Fouché takes place in Bellville.

Coat of arms

File:Bellville CoA 4.gif

Bellville civic coat of arms (final version : 1979)

Bellville was a municipality in its own right from 1940 to 1996, and was given the status of a city in 1979. The municipal council assumed a coat of arms on 18 June 1947. It later altered the arms, three times, before settling on the final version in 1979.

The shield was divided into twelve horizontal bars of red and gold, representing the original village name of "Twaalfmyl". A black vertical band ("pale") down the centre displayed two silver hawk's bells, between which was a small blue shield displaying a golden sheaf of wheat. The crest was a black eagle, and the motto Prendre sa belle. Some time later, the blue shield was removed, and the wheatsheaf was placed directly on the black pale. In 1957, the wheatsheaf was replaced with a third hawk's bell. This version of the arms, re-drawn by Ivan Mitford-Barberton, was registered with the Cape Provincial Administration in February 1959.

The final version of the arms, as amended by Cornelis Pama in 1979, replaced the hawk's bells with church bells. In this form, the arms were registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in February 1980. The registered blazon was : Barry of twelve Gules and Or, on a pale Sable three church bells Argent.

See also

• The Bellville Website
• Bellville Directory

External links

• University of the Western Cape
• Bellville Business Directory