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Kweneng' Ruins
Kweneng’ ruins are the remains of a pre-colonial Tswana capital occupied from the 15th to the 19th century AD in South Africa. The site is located 30km south of the modern-day city of Johannesburg. Settlement at the site likely began around the 1400s and saw its peak in the 15th century. The Kweneng' ruins are similar to those built by other early civilizations found in the southern Africa region during this period, including the Luba– Lunda kingdom, Kingdom of Mutapa, Bokoni, and many others, as these groups share ancestry. Kweneng' was the largest of several sizable settlements inhabited by Tswana speakers prior to European arrival. Several circular stone walled family compounds are spread out over an area 10km long and 2km wide. It is likely that Kweneng' was abandoned in the 1820s during the period of colonial expansion-related civil wars known as the Mfecane or Difaqane, leading to the dispersal of its inhabitants. Location Kweneng' is located in Suikerbosrand Natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only 1.5% of the country's land area, it is home to more than a quarter of its population (26%). Highly urbanised, the province contains the country's largest city, Johannesburg, which is also one of the largest cities in the world. Gauteng is the wealthiest province in South Africa and is considered as the financial hub of not only South Africa but the entire African continent, mostly concentrated in Johannesburg. It also contains the administrative capital, Pretoria, and other large areas such as Midrand, Vanderbijlpark, Ekurhuleni and the affluent Sandton. Gauteng is the most populous province in South Africa with a population of approximately 16.1 million people according to mid year 2022 estimates. Etymology The name ''Gauteng'' is derived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected to Zambia across the short Zambezi River border by the Kazungula Bridge. A country of slightly over 2.3 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. About 11.6 percent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone. Formerly one of the world's poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Modern-day humans first inhabited the country over 200,000 years ago. The Tswana ethnic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North West, South Africa
North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, and includes parts of the former Transvaal Province and Cape Province, as well as most of the former bantustan of Bophuthatswana. It was the scene of political violence in Khutsong, Merafong City Local Municipality in 2006 and 2007, after cross-province municipalities were abolished and Merafong Municipality was transferred entirely to North West. Merafong has since been transferred to Gauteng province in 2009. This province is the birthplace of prominent political figures: Lucas Mangope, Moses Kotane, Ahmed Kathrada, Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, Ruth Mompati, J. B. Marks, Aziz Pahad, Essop Pahad and others. Law and government The provincial government consists of a Premier of North West, premier, an executive council of ten ministers, and a legi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaditshwene
Kaditshwene aka Gaditshweni or Karechuenya, was a South African Iron Age settlement some northeast of the town of Zeerust, North West province. It was the cultural capital of the Bahurutshe people, one of the principal Tswana tribes and a centre of manufacturing and trading. The missionary John Campbell came across this settlement in the Tshwenyane hills of the Marico area in 1820, at which time its population of 20,000 exceeded that of Cape Town. Archaeologists estimate that it had been founded in the late 1400s on the site of iron and copper ore deposits. In 1821, during the Mfecane, the town was sacked by the Batlokwa under the warrior queen Mantatisi. The attack was followed round 1823 by another under Sebetwane and the Bafokeng tribe. The survivors fled west and sought sanctuary among the Bakwena and other Tswana tribes. Crumbling stone walls, foundations, ash middens and remains of a metal working industry are the only evidence of the settlement's previous existence. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limpopo
Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is situated in Lebowakgomo. The province is made up of 3 former homelands of Lebowa, Gazankulu and Venda and the former parts of the Transvaal province. The Limpopo province was established as one of the new nine provinces after South Africa's first democratic election on the 27th of April 1994. The province's name was first "Northern Transvaal", later changed to "Northern Province" on the 28th of June 1995, together with two other provinces. The name was later changed again in 2002 to the Limpopo province. Limpopo is made up of 3 main ethnic groups namely; Pedi people, Tsonga and Venda people. Traditional leaders and chiefs still form a strong backbone of the province's political landscape. Established in terms of the Limpopo House of Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dzata Ruins
} The Dzata Ruins (or Dzana ruins) are an archaeological site in Dzanani in the Makhado municipality, Vhembe District Municipality, Vhembe district, in the north of South Africa. Scholars who have made a study of the various legends and traditions associated with the ruins, find it clear that they are many contradictions. Archaeological evidence has shed some lights on these events, but a great deal of work still remains to be done. It is certain that Dzata was built at an earlier date than many people are willing to admit . Radiocarbon dating, Radiocarbon dates suggest a beginning shortly after AD 1700, with an end some 50 to 60 years later. Documentary proof of this is found in Netherlands, Dutch records, which refer to an interview in 1730 with an African by the name of Mahumane, who had visited the kingdom of Thovhele some five years previously. Mahumane described a settlement built of dark-blue stone, with a wall enclosing the whole area. He also mentioned that the chief ci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BaKoni Ruins
Machadodorp, also known by its official name eNtokozweni, is a small town situated on the N4 road, near the edge of the escarpment in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The Elands River runs through the town. There is a natural radioactive spring here that is reputed to have powerful healing qualities. History The town grew around a station originally named Geluk, after the sheep farm it was built on, but in 1894 the name was changed to honour the Portuguese Major Joachim Machado, an engineer who had surveyed the land for the proposed Nelspruit-Delagoa Bay railway line through the Crocodile River gorge. The settlement became a capital for a few months from 5 June 1900, but was only declared a municipal town in 1904. This quirk in history happened during the Second Boer War when the Transvaal Volksraad made the town their temporary seat, using railway carriages as their offices and mint after they had to evacuate Pretoria in the face of a British invasion. A quick-thinking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area. It shares borders with the South African provinces of Limpopo to the north, Gauteng to the west, the Free State to the southwest, and KwaZulu-Natal to the south. The capital is Mbombela. Mpumalanga was formed in 1994, when the area that was the Eastern Transvaal was merged with the former bantustans KaNgwane, KwaNdebele and parts of Lebowa and Gazankulu. Although the contemporary borders of the province were only formed at the end of apartheid, the region and its surroundings has a history that extends back thousands of years. Much of its history, and current significance is as a region of trade. History Precolonial Era Archeological sites in the Mpumalanga region indicate settlement b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blaauboschkraal Stone Ruins
The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins are a provincial heritage site in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Its neighbouring town, Emgweyna, is 10 kilometres away. The site was declared a national monument on 18 April 1975Klerk, W. A. (2019). ''Bokoni of Mpumalanga.'' Pretoria: University of South Africa and is a heritage site recognised by the South African Heritage Resources Agency. The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins make up what was part of a large complex stone walling system built by the Bokoni people. While the exact age of the Blaauboschkraal stone sites is unknown the Bokoni people are estimated to have built stone walling settlements around the early 16th century. The site is assumed to have been used for cattle enclosures, agricultural terracing, and housing for the Bokoni people. This has been hypothesised due to the circular shaping of stone walling which characterises this site. Location The Blaauboschkraal Stone Ruins are located in the Mpumalanga escarpment. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lidar
Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be used to make digital 3-D representations of areas on the Earth's surface and ocean bottom of the intertidal and near coastal zone by varying the wavelength of light. It has terrestrial, airborne, and mobile applications. ''Lidar'' is an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging". It is sometimes called 3-D laser scanning, a special combination of 3-D scanning and laser scanning. Lidar is commonly used to make high-resolution maps, with applications in surveying, geodesy, geomatics, archaeology, geography, geology, geomorphology, seismology, forestry, atmospheric physics, laser guidance, airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM), and laser altimetry. It is also used in control and navigation for som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revil Mason
Revil John Mason (10 February 1929 - 23 August 2020) was a South African archaeologist. He was Professor of Archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand. Early life and career Mason was born in Johannesburg, grew up in Saxonwold and matriculated from St John's College. He attained a B.Comm degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and was awarded the Aitken medal for the best graduate in commerce as well as the Chamber of Industries medal and the Dean’s award. However after attending a lecture presented by the anthropologist Raymond Dart he became fascinated with archaeology and decided to study it at the University of Cape Town. He was awarded his doctorate in archaeology at the age of 28, with a thesis entitled "The prehistory of the Transvaal : a record of human activity." At the age of 24 he had successfully excavated Makapansgat and in so doing discerned three layers of the Stone Age within the excavation. He returned on occasion to St John's to present talk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannesburg, South Africa
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area (combined because of strong transport links that make commuting feasible) is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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