Dordrecht is a town situated in the

Eastern Cape Province The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in 1994 ...

of South Africa. Dordrecht was founded in 1856 by Baron Smiddolff (later changed to Smithdorff), a minister of the

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 ...

. The town was named for the city of the same name in the South-Western

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and had a population of about 8,741 people in 2001.

Description

Dordrecht lies nestled in the

Stormberg Mountains The Stormberg is a range of mountains situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, are an easterly extension of the Bamboesberge and form an outlier of the greater Drakensberg mountain range. They form part of the ' Amatola and Stormberg ...

, just north of Queenstown between

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

and

Mthatha Mthatha , formerly Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known as the K. D. Matanzi ...

. Its many historical buildings and museum display turn-of-the-century furniture and clothing. Dordrecht is a small town surrounded by a number of farms with a large number of merino sheep and cattle ranchers in the region. Farmers around Dordrecht also grow potatoes. Dordrecht has a number of historical sites including a unique 1873 colonial country bed-and-breakfast. There are farmstay holidays available in the region. They are well known in South Africa for trout fishing, pheasant hunting and game hunting. The town is also situated near the Western

Drakensberg Mountains The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within th ...

where South Africa's only snow skiing resort is found. It has two high schools, Masikhanyise High School and Dordrecht High School (which is 102 years old). Its oldest townships are Sinako township, Munikville and Marabastad. A Remembrance Garden is in the city centre in memory of Baron Smithdorff, and high in the kopje in the foothills is a plaque dedicated to the Smithdorff family.

Climate

Dordrecht has a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(''Cwb'', according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

), with warm summers and chilly, dry winters, with occasional snowfalls. It borders on a cold

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(''BSk''). The average annual precipitation is , with most rainfall occurring mainly during summer. The village of Buffelsfontein, located between the towns of Dordrecht and

Molteno Molteno (; lmo, label= Brianzöö, Mültée) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a hill-top town in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it h ...

, has the lowest recorded temperature in South Africa, of , on 23 August 2013. The former national record, of , was also registered in the same locality, on 28 June 1996.Details of the temperature, rainfall and wind extremes recorded in SA
South African weather service. Retrieved on 22 June 2010]

References

External links

Map with information on Dordrecht and surrounding towns
{{Chris Hani District Municipality Populated places in the Emalahleni Local Municipality, Eastern Cape