Until the arrival of Dutch colonists in 1652, the Cape Peninsula was an untamed wilderness, where the nomadic Khoisan grazed their cattle. The Dutch established an outpost on the shore of Table Bay and in 1657 they established a number of farms south of the outpost. The most southerly of those original farms, named Louwvliet and Questenburg, are today covered by Claremont and the adjoining suburb of Newlands. The area was agricultural for about 150 years. Other estates that were established included Veldhuyzen in 1676, Stellenberg in 1697, Weltevreden (originally part of Stellenberg) in 1730, Sans Souci (originally part of Questenburg) in 1786 and The Vineyard in 1798. They produced grain and grapes, while some farmers made wine.

After the colony had been taken over by the British in 1814, the area gradually changed its character. British settlers and officials bought the farms, re-named some of them and turned them into country residences. Weltevreden was subdivided in 1822 and a portion of it was renamed Claremont, a name later applied to the whole area. The distinguished British astronomer Sir John Herschel put Claremont on the map by living at Feldhausen (formerly Veldhuyzen) from 1834 to 1838. A village began to develop and by 1840 it had been named Claremont.

The village grew during the 1840's and 1850's and the opening of a railway from Cape Town to Wynberg in 1864 spurred subdivision and development. In 1882, a village management board was formed which was replaced by the Municipality of Claremont in 1886, tasked with managing neighbouring Newlands too. Claremont was a town in its own right until 1913 when, together with most of the Cape Peninsula municipalities, it was incorporated into the City of Cape Town. It remained predominantly residential until the early 1970's, when commercial development began. Cavendish Square was opened in 1973 and other shopping centres followed.

There was a further building boom in the 1990's, and the suburb is currently experiencing another, which includes the construction of several large apartment blocks, a hotel, two office blocks, the re-modeling of a number of commercial buildings and the construction of a transport interchange and bypass road, the Claremont Boulevard.

(Source: www.wikipedia.org)