<P> The first Europeans to discover the Cape were the Portuguese . Bartholomeu Dias arrived in 1488 after journeying south along the west coast of Africa . The next recorded European sighting of the Cape was by Vasco da Gama in 1497 while he was searching for a route that would lead directly from Europe to Asia . </P> <P> Table Mountain was given its name in 1503 by António de Saldanha, a Portuguese admiral and explorer . He called it Taboa da caba ("table of the cape"). The name given to the mountain by the Khoi inhabitants was Hoeri' kwaggo ("sea mountain"). </P> <P> The area fell out of regular contact with Europeans until 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck and other employees of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie, or simply VOC) were sent to the Cape to establish a halfway station to provide fresh water, vegetables, and meat for passing ships travelling to and from Asia . Van Riebeeck's party of three vessels landed at the cape on 6 April 1652 . The Cape was under Dutch rule from 1652 to 1695 and again from 1803 to 1806 . The group quickly erected shelters and laid out vegetable gardens and orchards, and are preserved in the Company Gardens . Water from the Fresh River, which descended from Table Mountain, was channelled into canals to provide irrigation . The settlers bartered with the native Khoisan for their sheep and cattle . Forests in Hout Bay and the southern and eastern flanks of Table Mountain provided timber for ships and houses . At this point, the VOC had a monopoly on trade and prohibited any private trade . The Dutch gave their own names to the native inhabitants that they encountered, calling the pastoralists "Hottentots", those that lived on the coast and subsisted on shellfishing "Strandlopers", and those who were hunter - gatherers were named "Bushmen". </P> <P> The first wave of Asian immigration to South Africa started in 1654 . These first immigrants were banished to the Cape by the Dutch Batavian High Court . These Asians helped to form the foundation of the Cape Coloured and Cape Malay populations, as well as bringing Islam to the Cape . The first large territorial expansion occurred in 1657, when farms were granted by the VOC to a few servants in an attempt to increase food production . These farms were situated along the Liesbeeck River and the VOC still retained financial control of them . The first slaves were brought to the Cape from Java and Madagascar in the following year to work on the farms . The first of a long series of border conflicts between the inhabitants in the European - controlled area and native inhabitants began in 1658 when settlers clashed with the Khoi, who realised that they were losing territory . </P>

When did the dutch settlers arrived in the western cape