Amersfoort is a small town in

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 ...

province,

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 countri ...

History

The town was established in 1888 around a

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

which was built in 1876. Lying at 1,664 m above sea level in the upper reaches of the Vaal River basin on the banks of the Schulpspruit, the area was first settled by Europeans in 1876 when two farmers of the area donated land to the church, where Rev. Frans Lion Cachet proceeded to build a Dutch Reformed church. The new village was named after the hometown (in the Netherlands) of the Dutch farmers. When the area became too small for the growing village, more land was purchased from one of the original donors and the town was proclaimed in 1888. The bridge over the Vaal River was built in 1896 and is a national monument. The township of eZamokuhle (meaning "to make it beautiful") lies adjacent to the town and contributes greatly to its economy.

Name

It is named after

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...

, a Dutch city in the Netherlands.

Notable people

Pixley ka Isaka Seme Pixley ka Isaka Seme (c. 1881 – June 1951) was a South African lawyer and a founder and President of the African National Congress. Early life Seme was born the fourth son of Sinono Kuwana Seme in Durban, in what was then called the Colony of ...

, one of the founders of the South African Native National Congress, later renamed the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

, maintained law offices in Amersfoort and spent time there in connection with his legal and political work for the community at

Daggakraal Daggakraal, "one of South Africa's most impoverished and isolated communities with plenty of unmined mineral resources", is a town in Gert Sibande District Municipality near Volksrust in the outskirts of Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The tow ...

, the Native Farmers Association, and the Swazi Royal family in

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

References

Populated places established in 1888 Populated places in the Pixley ka Seme Local Municipality Populated places founded by Afrikaners 1888 in South Africa {{Mpumalanga-geo-stub