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Robert Jacob Gordon
Robert Jacob Gordon (29 September 1743, in Doesburg, Gelderland – 25 October 1795, in Cape Town) was a Dutch explorer, soldier, artist, naturalist and linguist of Scottish descent. Life Robert Jacob Gordon was the son of Maj. General Jacob Gordon of the Scots Brigade (1572–1782) in the service of the Netherlands. Although of Scottish descent, Robert Gordon's allegiance and service lay with the Netherlands. He joined the Dutch Light Dragoons as a cadet in 1753 and enrolled at the University of Harderwijk in 1759. Here he studied in the humanities and soon proved to be of exceptional intelligence with diverse interests. He served at first with the Scots Brigade and later joined the Dutch East India Company, rising to the rank of colonel and commanding the Cape garrison between 1780 and 1795 and lived in the manor house known as Schoonder Sight. He went on more expeditions than any other 18th-century explorer of southern Africa. Of the six journeys he undertook, only four betw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doesburg
Doesburg () is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Gelderland. Doesburg received city rights in 1237 and had a population of in . The city is situated on the right bank of river IJssel, at the confluence of river Oude IJssel. The municipality of Doesburg is part of the Arnhem-Nijmegen agglomeration region. History Doesburg received city rights in 1237, this was one year later than the neighbouring town of Doetinchem. Because of its strategic position along the Oude IJssel and Gelderse IJssel, Doesburg has been an important fortified city for a long time. The fortification of the city made Doesburg an important economic and administrative city. The Martinikerk, the main church in Doesburg is 94 meters tall. For many reasons, many of which have to do with the IJssel decreasing in depth, the prosperity in Doesburg settled after the 15th century. Doesburg changed into a sleepy provincial town and so it would remain until after the second world ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khoisan Languages
The Khoisan languages (; also Khoesan or Khoesaan) are a group of African languages originally classified together by Joseph Greenberg. Khoisan languages share click consonants and do not belong to other African language families. For much of the 20th century, they were thought to be genealogically related to each other, but this is no longer accepted. They are now held to comprise three distinct language families and two language isolates. All Khoisan languages but two are indigenous to southern Africa and belong to three language families. The Khoe family appears to have migrated to southern Africa not long before the Bantu expansion. Ethnically, their speakers are the Khoikhoi and the San (Bushmen). Two languages of east Africa, those of the Sandawe and Hadza, originally were also classified as Khoisan, although their speakers are ethnically neither Khoikhoi nor San. Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan languages, or languages like them, were likely spread throughout sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Fish
The Great Fish River (called ''great'' to distinguish it from the Namibian Fish River) ( af, Groot-Visrivier) is a river running through the South African province of the Eastern Cape. The coastal area between Port Elizabeth and the Fish River mouth is known as the '' Sunshine Coast''. The Great Fish River was originally named ''Rio do Infante'', after João Infante, the captain of one of the caravels of Bartolomeu Dias. Infante visited the river in the late 1480s. The name Great Fish is also a misnomer, since it is a translation of the Dutch Groot Visch Rivier, which was the name of a tributary in the vicinity of Cradock, which at its confluence with the Little Fish (Klein Visch Rivier) forms what is properly called the (Eastern Cape) Fish River. Course The Great Fish River originates east of Graaff-Reinet and runs through Cradock. Further south the Tarka River joins its left bank. Thence it makes a zig-zag turn to Cookhouse, from where it meanders down the escarpment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groote 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 Afrikaa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xhosa People
The Xhosa people, or Xhosa language, Xhosa-speaking people (; ) are African people who are direct kinsmen of Tswana people, Sotho people and Twa people, yet are narrowly sub grouped by European as Nguni people, Nguni ethnic group whose traditional homeland is primarily the Cape Provinces, Cape Provinces of South Africa, however the skulls from Mapungubwe empire shows that they have always been in Southern Africa like their kinsmen and had developed a sophisticated culture as well as civilization. They were the second largest racial group in apartheid Southern Africa and are native speakers of the Xhosa language, IsiXhosa language. Presently, approximately eight million Xhosa speaking African people are distributed across the country, and the Xhosa language is South Africa's second-most-populous home language, after the Zulu, again we must qualify the former statement as in great countries like China, Xhosa and Zulu language would not be classified as different languages, rather ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colesberg
Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the country's top merinos. It is also renowned for producing high-quality racehorses and many stud farms, including one owned by renowned golfer, Gary Player, are nearby. History Founded in 1830 on an abandoned station of the London Missionary Society, and initially named Toverberg after a nearby hill, it was renamed Colesberg after Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, then Governor of the Cape Colony. The site of the town lay on one of the well-travelled routes used by traders, hunters and explorers to gain access to the interior. Towerberg or Coleskop is a prominent hill near the town and a landmark easily seen from a distance by travellers. Colesberg saw a large number of battles and skirmishes during the second Anglo-Boer War, and the Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sneeuwberg
The Sneeuberge or Sneeuberg mountain range was historically known as “Sneeuwbergen”, meaning ‘snow mountains’ in Cape Dutch, and refers to a significant portion of Southern Africa's Great Escarpment in the Cradock, Murraysburg, Richmond, Graaff-Reinet, Nieu-Bethesda and Middelburg districts of the Great Karoo, most of which are in the Eastern Cape Province.Clark, VR, Barker NP and Mucina, L. 2009. The Sneeuberg: A new centre of floristic endemism on the Great Escarpment, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany. pp 196 – 238. They are geologically part of the Karoo System and fall within the Karoo semi-arid climatic region. As their name suggests, the mountains have frigid winters, with occasional snowfalls during strong cold fronts. Summers are hot with some late afternoon thunderstorms. The highest peak, called Kompasberg (2502m) (Afrikaans for Compass Mountain), is north of the small village of Nieu-Bethesda and dominates all surrounding areas with its promine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberdeen, Eastern Cape
Aberdeen is a small town in the Sarah Baartman District Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. With its numerous examples of Victorian architecture, it is one of the architectural conservation areas of the Karoo. The town is some 55 km south-west of Graaff-Reinet, 155 km east-south-east of Beaufort West and 32 km south of the Camdeboo Mountains. Laid out on the farm Brakkefontein as a settlement of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1856, it became a municipality in 1858. It is named after Aberdeen in Scotland, birthplace of the Reverend Andrew Murray of Graaff-Reinet, relieving minister. The Aberdeen Provincial Hospital is situated in Aberdeen. Notable people from Aberdeen *Conan Doyle (1917–1942), cricketer *Anaso Jobodwana Anaso Jobodwana (born 30 July 1992) is a South African sprinter. He competed in 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London where he ran a new personal best of 20.27 seconds to reach the final. In the 2015 Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swellendam
Swellendam is the fifth oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, and Paarl), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape Dutch architecture. Swellendam is situated on the N2, approximately 220 km from both Cape Town and George. History Early travellers and explorers who visited the Cape in the 16th century traded with the Khoikhoi people who lived on these shores and in the interior. When the Dutch East India Company established a replenishment station at the Cape in 1652, trade continued inland as far as Swellendam. In 1743 Swellendam was declared a magisterial district, the third-oldest in South Africa, and was named after Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel, the first South African born Governor, and his wife, Helena Ten Damme. This outlying settlement soon became a gateway to the interior, and was visited by many famous explorers an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannes Schumacher
Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yehochanan'', meaning "Yahweh is gracious". The name became popular in Northern Europe, especially in Germany because of Christianity. Common German variants for Johannes are ''Johann'', ''Hannes'', ''Hans'' (diminutized to ''Hänschen'' or ''Hänsel'', as known from "''Hansel and Gretel''", a fairy tale by the Grimm brothers), '' Jens'' (from Danish) and ''Jan'' (from Dutch, and found in many countries). In the Netherlands, Johannes was without interruption the most common masculine birth name until 1989. The English equivalent for Johannes is John. In other languages *Joan, Jan, Gjon, Gjin and Gjovalin in Albanian *'' Yoe'' or '' Yohe'', uncommon American form''Dictionary of American Family Names'', Oxford University Press, 2013. *Yaḥy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Paterson (explorer)
Colonel William Paterson, FRS (17 August 1755 – 21 June 1810) was a Scottish soldier, explorer, Lieutenant Governor and botanist best known for leading early settlement at Port Dalrymple in Tasmania. In 1795, Paterson gave an order that resulted in the massacre of a number of men, women and children, members of the Bediagal tribe. Early years A native of Montrose, Scotland, Paterson was interested in botany as a boy and trained in horticulture at Syon in London. Paterson was sent to the Cape Colony by the wealthy and eccentric Countess of Strathmore to collect plants, he arrived in Table Bay on board the "''Houghton''" in May 1777. He made four trips into the interior between May 1777 and March 1780, when he departed. In 1789 Paterson published ''Narrative of Four Journeys into the Country of the Hottentots and Caffraria'', which he dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks. Career Paterson was originally commissioned as an ensign in the 98th Regiment of Foot and served in India. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
False Bay
False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcated by Cape Point to the west and Cape Hangklip to the east. The north side of the bay is the low-lying Cape Flats, and the east side is the foot of the Hottentots Holland Mountains to Cape Hangklip which is at nearly the same latitude as Cape Point. In plan the bay is approximately square, being roughly the same extent from north to south as east to west, with the southern side open to the ocean. The seabed slopes gradually down from north to south, and is mostly fairly flat unconsolidated sediments. Much of the bay is off the coast of the City of Cape Town, and it includes part of the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area and the whole of the Helderberg Marine Protected Area. The name "False Bay" was applied at least three hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
