Mother City

Cape Town’s most popular nickname is Mother City. The etymology of the word metropolis is that it’s from Greek and means ‘mother city.’ Cape Town was the epicenter for European expansion in southern Africa, so to call Cape Town mother city has a colonial tinge to it. I don’t know if there were black African cities in southern Africa before Europeans arrived.

South Africa has regions named Transkei and Transvaal. Kei and Vaal are rivers in South Africa. If the name of the region comes from crossing the river (trans), it would have to be clear what direction you were coming from. You guessed it. It’s crossing the river coming from Cape Town.

I traveled from Cape Town to London. I felt very comfortable in London for the two days I was there. Visiting dear friends. The first city outside the USA I ever visited and the one I’ve been to the most. Double-decker buses. Distinctive red phone booths. The Tube. The Thames. St. Paul’s Cathedral. Trafalgar Square. I felt right at home. You know, home where mom lives.

I’m not aware of London being called Mother City, but it seems to fit. For English-speaking people and English colonialism, London is the mother city. It’s the city of Shakespeare (whose birthday happened while I was in London) and Dickens and Woolf. It’s the city of the British monarchs and the Beatles and is the epicenter of Englilsh history.

Interestingly, London is a colonial city. It was founded by the Romans and the Roman walls defined the boundaries of the City of London into the medieval era. (The reason that the Globe and other theatres were located on the south bank of the Thames is because that is outside of the city and so not ruled by the city’s anti-theatre ordinances.)  So maybe Rome is the original mother city.

Cape Town. London. Rome. Maybe they all should be called Imperial City.