Banishment & Prisonment Landscape OVERVIEW

There are several buildings and other sites associated with the Island’s long history of banishment and imprisonment of criminal and political prisoners. Each tangible site is associated with intangible heritage that tells its own story of the harsh conditions that prisoners had to endure – conditions designed to control and break their spirits, souls and bodies. By the beginning of the 18th century, the main function of the Island was a place of punishment. In the early days prisoners were referred to as Bandieten which means bandits or convicts. The Bandieten included a diverse range of people and were further categorised as European (white) and Indiaanen (all non-European prisoners e.g. East Indian, Bushmen, slaves and Khoi-Khoi prisoners)