Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern

Overberg __NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...

region of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the

Agulhas Plain Agulhas (''needles'' in the Portuguese language — or ) may refer to: * Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa * L'Agulhas, a town near the Cape * Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, located at the Cape * Cape Agulhas Local Municipality, the municipa ...

, about south-east of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and north of

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; pt, Cabo das Agulhas , "Cape of the Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of the African continent and the beginning of the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian ...

, the southernmost tip of Africa. Tourist attractions of Bredasdorp include the Heuningberg Nature Reserve, many historical churches, and art galleries and craft shops. Bredasdorp is also home to the Shipwreck Museum which tells the stories of the 150 wrecks along the nearby Agulhas Reef. It is the only museum of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

History

The town of Bredasdorp was founded with the building of 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 ...

in 1838 on the farm Langefontein. The town was named after

Michiel van Breda Michiel van Breda (1775–1847) was a South African farmer, founder of Bredasdorp, Mayor of Cape Town and a Freemason. Roots Van Breda was born on 12 August 1775 in Cape Town. His parents were Pieter van Breda and Catharina Sophia Myburg. He ma ...

, the first

Mayor of Cape Town The Mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. In the past, the position of Mayor has varied between that of an ...

, who was also known as the father of South Africa's

merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

sheep industry. Van Breda and Pieter Voltelyn van der Byl could not agree on a location for the church; as a result two churches were built, and two towns, Bredasdorp and Napier, were established.

Government

Bredasdorp is located in the

Cape Agulhas Local Municipality Cape Agulhas Municipality ( af, Kaap Agulhas Plaaslike Munisipaliteit) is a municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. it had a population of 33,038. Its municipality code is WC033. It is named after Cape Agulhas, the sout ...

; as the largest town in the municipality, Bredasdorp is divided between its second, third and fourth wards. The local municipality in turn forms part of the

Overberg District Municipality The Overberg District Municipality is a district municipality that governs the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is divided into four local municipalities and includes the major towns of Grabouw, Caledon, Hermanu ...

; Bredasdorp is the location of the head offices of both municipalities.

Geography

Bredasdorp is situated at an elevation of between on the slopes of the Heuningberg (Afrikaans for "Honey Mountain"). There is no significant watercourse flowing through the town, although the

Kars Rivier Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

flows past a few kilometres to the east. Bredasdorp shares in the

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

experienced in most of the Western Cape. Its proximity to the ocean, which is less than away at Arniston, moderates the variation of temperature. Bredasdorp is mostly surrounded by farmland, chiefly grain, cattle and sheep farming; on the south-west side of the town the Heuningberg Nature Reserve protects the indigenous

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

vegetation.

Demography

In the census of 2011, the population of Bredasdorp consisted of 15,524 people living in 4,521 households. 66.5% of the people described themselves as "

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

", 19% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

" and 12.7% as "

Black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...

". 83% spoke

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

as their

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

, 7.5% spoke

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, and 4.3% spoke

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Economy

Besides the sheep farming, the town also boasts other agricultural activities, including wheat, canola, milk, and

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

cultivation. The town is also the location of the offices of Kapula Candles, an international candle company that exports hand-painted candles to Europe and the United States. The population of the town got a boost during the middle 1980s with the establishment of both the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

's Air Force Base Overberg which is home to the

Test Flight and Development Centre The Test Flight and Development Centre is a unit of the South African Air Force. It is a test flight and evaluation organisation. Due to South Africa's apartheid policies of the 1960s, a number of countries instituted an arms boycott against i ...

as well as the

Denel Overberg Test Range The Denel Overberg Test Range is a weapons systems testing facility in the Overberg region on the south coast of South Africa, near Arniston, Western Cape. It includes launch pads and tracking systems. It was used to test the RSA series of I ...

near the small coastal village of Arniston.

Surrounding towns in the Overberg District

* Arniston (Waenhuiskrans), 24 km *

L'Agulhas L'Agulhas is the most southern coastal village and holiday resort in South Africa, located within the Cape Agulhas Local Municipality at the southernmost tip of the African mainland. It is situated next to the town of Struisbaai and about south ...

, 34 km (Southernmost town in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

) * Napier, 14 km * Caledon, 74 km *

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 b ...

, 69 km *

Struisbaai Struisbaai is a coastal town in the Overberg region of South Africa's Western Cape province. The town is in the Cape Agulhas Local Municipality in the Overberg District, about two hundred kilometres south east of Cape Town, and four kilometres ...

, 28 km

Culture

* The town has a museum dedicated to the shipwreck of the Arniston. * Audrey Blignault Room: Furnished in honour of Audrey Blignault who was born in Bredasdorp and who enjoyed national recognition as a writer. * The Heuningberg Nature Reserve is open to the public and views can be enjoyed of this rich fauna and flora area.

Coats of arms

Municipality (1) — In 1938, the town council adopted a pseudo-heraldic "coat of arms". The shield depicted a map of South Africa, with a dot marking Bredasdorp. In the centre of the map was a disc displaying a sheaf of wheat, a merino ram, a goat and a protea flower. A lighthouse was placed above the shield.Depicted in the South African Railways and Harbours publication ''Bredasdorp and its District'' (1941). Municipality (2) — The council assumed a proper coat of arms in 1966. It was granted by the administrator of the Cape Province on 12 August 1966Cape of Good Hope ''Official Gazette'' 3360 (12 August 1966). and registered at the

Bureau of Heraldry Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...

in September 1969.National Archives of South Africa : Data of the Bureau of Heraldry
/ref> The arms were : ''Per chevron Azure and Or, in chief a garb and a merino ram's head Or, in base a protea flower slipped and leaved proper''. In layman's terms : the shield was divided into blue over gold by a chevron-shaped line and displayed a golden sheaf of wheat and a merino ram's head at the top and a protea flower with stem and leaves at the bottom. The crest was a lighthouse and the motto ''Lux in tenebris''. Two bontebok supported the shield. Divisional council — The Bredasdorp divisional council (the local authority for the rural areas outside the town) approved its own coat of arms on 22 October 1965. The arms were granted by the administrator of the Cape Province on 1 September 1967Cape of Good Hope ''Official Gazette'' 3419 (1 September 1967). and registered at the

in September 1969. The arms, designed by Schalk Pienaar, were : ''Azure, a chevron between two wheatsheaves in chief Or, and in base a Merino ram's head caboshed proper; on a chief Or three Bredasdorp lilies proper''. In layman's terms : a blue shield displaying, from top to bottom, three Bredasdorp lilies on a gold stripe, two golden sheaves of wheat, a golden chevron, and a merino ram's head in natural colours. The crest was a lighthouse and the motto ''In concilio concilium''.

References

External links

Cape Agulhas Local Municipality

Tourism Western Cape - Bredasdorp

Bredasdorp

History of Bredasdorp
{{Authority control Populated places in the Cape Agulhas Local Municipality