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Hopetown
Hopetown is a town which lies at the edge of the Great Karoo in South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is situated on an arid slope leading down to the Orange River. The first diamond discovered in South Africa, the Eureka Diamond, was found at Hopetown. History Hopetown was founded in 1850 when Sir Harry Smith extended the northern frontier of the Cape Colony to the Orange River. A handful of settlers claimed ground where there was a natural ford over the Orange River, and by 1854 a frontier town had developed. Hopetown was named after William Hope, Auditor-General and Secretary of the Cape Colony Government at the time, and is often mistaken for a town in the Free State, South Africa, called Hoopstad. Hopetown was a quiet farming area until several large diamonds, most notable the Eureka Diamond and the Star of South Africa, were discovered there between 1867 and 1869. The Cape Government Railways were founded in 1872, and the Cape government decided to run the ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thembelihle Local Municipality
Thembelihle Local Municipality (formerly known as ''Oranje-Karoo Local Municipality'') is a local municipality in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality district of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Thembelihle is a Xhosa name meaning "good hope". History At the end of the apartheid era, in the area that is today the Thembelihle Municipality, there were municipal councils for Hopetown and Strydenburg which were elected by the white residents, while the coloured residents of Steynville (Hopetown) and Strydenburg were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. The remaining rural areas were served by the Bo-Karoo Regional Services Council. After the national elections of 1994 a process of local government transformation began, in which negotiations were held between the existing local authorities, political parties, and local community organisations. As a result of these negotiations, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Of South Africa (Diamond)
The Star of South Africa, also known as the Dudley Diamond, is a white diamond found by a Griqua shepherd in 1869 on the banks of the Orange River. The original stone, before cutting, weighed . The finding of this large diamond led to diamond prospectors coming to the area, culminating in the July 1871 rush to the nearby new diamond field at Colesberg Koppje, soon known as New Rush, and later to be known as Kimberley. The shepherd sold the stone for the hefty price of 500 sheep, 10 oxen and a horse to Schalk van Niekerk, a neighbouring farmer locally famous for having acquired a 21-and-a-quarter carat diamond in 1866 after it was found by a 15-year-old boy, Erasmus Jacobs, which he had sold for a good price. Van Niekerk sold the stone on to the Lilienfield Brothers in Hopetown for £11,200 ( £1,363,334 in 2020 pounds). The Lilienfield Brothers sent it to England where it changed hands twice before finally being bought by the Countess of Dudley for £25,000. William Ward, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoopstad
The key town of Hoopstad is situated at the intersection of the R34, R59 & R700 in the Free State Province. This area is considered to be the richest maize-producing district in South Africa. The town is located near the Bloemhof Dam which is situated on the Vaal River. The Sandveld Nature Reserve is positioned alongside the Bloemhof Dam. Hopetown and Hoopstad are two different towns and are often confused. History and activities The town of Hoopstad was initially founded in 1876 and named Hauptstad after Mr Haupt, a surveyor. The translation of Hauptstad into Afrikaans means Capital, which it clearly wasn’t and the town was therefore renamed Hoopstad. The town, whose name means "Hope City" in Afrikaans, was established on the one side of the large farm ''Kameeldoorns'', with another town Bultfontein Bultfontein is a town in the Free State province of South Africa with a total population of about 23,400 people. It is situated in the Tswelopele Local Municipality, about n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eureka Diamond
The Eureka Diamond was the first diamond discovered in South Africa. It originally weighed , and was later cut to a cushion-shaped brilliant, which is currently on display at the Mine Museum in Kimberley. The discovery of diamonds in South Africa led to the Kimberley Diamond Rush, and marked the beginning of the Mineral Revolution. Discovery and identification The Eureka Diamond was found near Hopetown on the Orange River by a 15-year-old boy named Erasmus Stephanus Jacobs in 1867. Soon afterward, Schalk Van Niekerk entrusted the stone to John O'Reilly, who took it to Colesberg to inquire as to its nature and value. The stone came under the view of the acting Civil Commissioner Lorenzo Boyes, who on seeing that the stone cut glass declared: ''"I believe it to be a diamond."'' The stone was then sent by mail in an ordinary paper envelope to Dr. William Guybon Atherstone, the colony's foremost mineralogist, in Grahamstown. Atherstone confirmed that it was a 21.25 carat (4.250 g) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Lesotho and between South Africa and Namibia, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Except for Upington, it does not pass through any major cities. The Orange River plays an important role in the South African economy by providing water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. The river was named the Orange River in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange, by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon. Other names include simply the word for river, in Khoekhoegowab orthography written as !Garib, which is rendered in Afrikaan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Anglo-Boer war. British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes established the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town. On 2 September 1882, Kimberley was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere and the second in the world after Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States to integrate electric street lights into its infrastructure. The first stock exchange in Africa was built in Kimberley, as early as 1881. History Discovery of diamonds In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small brilliant pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm ''De Kalk'' leased from local Griquas, near Hopetown, which was h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold.Potgieter, D.J. & du Plessis, T.C. (1972) ''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa''. Vol. 6. pp. 306–307. Nasou, Cape Town.''Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa''. (5th Ed. 1993). pp. 78–89. Reader’s Digest Association of South Africa Pty. Ltd., Cape Town. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of million years ago which is now represented by many fossils. The ǃ’Aukarob formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telephone Numbers In South Africa
South Africa switched to a closed numbering system effective 16 January 2007. At that time, it became mandatory to dial the full 10-digit telephone number, including the zero in the three-digit area code, for local calls (e.g., 011 must be dialed from within Johannesburg). Area codes within the system are generally organized geographically. All telephone numbers are 9 digits long (but always prefixed by 0 for calls within South Africa), except for certain Telkom special services. When dialed from another country, the "0" is omitted and replaced with the appropriate international access code and the country code +27. Background History Numbers were allocated when South Africa had only four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces. South-West Africa (including Walvis Bay) was integrated into the South African numbering plan. However, the territory had already been allocated its own country code by the International Telecommunication U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Government Railways
The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately owned. The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company started construction from Cape Town in 1859, reaching Eerste River by 1862 and Wellington by 1863. Meanwhile, by 1864, the Wynberg Railway Company had connected Cape Town and Wynberg. For the moment, railway development at the Cape did not continue eastwards beyond Wellington because of the barrier presented by the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt. Formation of CGR The discovery of diamonds, and the consequent rush to Kimberley that started in 1871, gave impetus to the development of railways in South Africa. Shortly afterwards, in 1872, the Cape Colony attained responsible government under the leadership of Prime Minister John Molteno, who presented plans for an enormous network of railways t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free State (province)
The Free State, known as Orange Free State until the 28th of June 1995 when its name was changed, is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later Orange Free State Province. History The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans were abolished and reincorporated into South Africa. It is also the only one of the four original provinces of South Africa not to undergo border changes, apart from the reincorporation of Bantustans, and its borders date from before the outbreak of the Boer War. Law and government The provincial government consists of a premier, an executive council of ten ministers, and a legislature. The provincial assembly and premier are elected for five-year terms, or until the next national election. Political parties are awarded assembly seats based on the percentage of votes each party receive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hope (Cape Colony) (1819–1898), British Army officer
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William Hope may refer to: * William Hope (VC) (1834–1909), Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross *William Hope (paranormal investigator) (1863–1933), pioneer of so-called "spirit photography" *William Hope (actor) (born 1955), Canadian actor *William Johnstone Hope (1766–1831), prominent and controversial British Royal Navy officer and politician *William Henry Bateman Hope (1865–1919), British Member of Parliament for North Somerset, 1906–1910 *William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918), English author of horror, fantastic fiction and science fiction * William Hope (artist) (1863–1931), Canadian painter, draftsman and war artist *Sir William Hope, 14th Baronet General Sir William Hope, 14th Baronet, (12 January 1819 – 5 September 1898) was a British Army officer who became Commander-in-Chief, Scotland. Military career Born the fifth son of Sir John Hope, 11th Baronet and Anne Wedderburn, daught ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
