Which South African island was once a prison for Nelson Mandela and is now a UNESCO site? Robben Island is the answer. The island lies in Table Bay, just offshore from Cape Town, and its former prison is inseparable from the history of apartheid and South Africa’s transition to democracy.
Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison on Robben Island, most of them in a small cell in the maximum-security prison. Political prisoners were subjected to harsh conditions, forced labour in the lime quarry, censorship, and racial discrimination, although prisoners also organized study groups and political education.
The island had served other purposes long before the apartheid-era prison, including a military site, leper colony, and place of banishment. The maximum-security political prison closed in 1991, while the remaining prison facilities closed in 1996 after apartheid ended.
Robben Island was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It is often confused with Alcatraz or Devil’s Island, but its global significance comes especially from its role in the anti-apartheid struggle and the political history of modern South Africa.