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PHILIPPI,  Agricultural settlement on the Cape Flats, in the Wynberg district, Cape division. The sterile soil did not attract early settlers, who preferred the fertile river valleys, and the Cape Flats remained unoccupied until the latter half of the 19th century. Then, as the wattles planted to stabilise the shifting sand-dunes took root and spread, the first attempts at farming were made there. Philippi -named after Dr. Philip Faure, first minister of the Wynberg parish of the Dutch Reformed Church -was part of the area settled by German immigrants. The first group arrived in 1878, the second in 1883, the third in 1886. The settlers came from many parts of Germany and included Hanoverians, Westphalians, Brandenburgers, Thuringians and Saxons. They settled on the Flats in an arc from Mowbray to Diep River. Some were farmers, but there were a variety of occupations among the settlers, from bakers to metal-workers. Their intention was to raise cattle and sell butter, potatoes and other vegetables. Very soon, however, they found that the soil of the Cape Flats was not suitable for cattle-farming. Before long many were in dire straits and were forced to earn an existence by cutting the wattle trees on the Flats and selling them as firewood. But most of the settlers persisted doggedly in their farming. Eventually, after suffering severe hardships, their efforts were rewarded and the settlement developed into the market-garden of Cape Town, supplying it with all kinds of vegetables.