Norton is a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many ...

in the province of Mashonaland West,

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

near Harare. It is located about 40 km west of

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

on the main road and

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line connecting Harare and

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

Demographics

According to the 1982 Population Census, the town had a population of 12,360. This rose to 20,405 in the 1992 census 44,054 in the 2002 census,Zimbabwe Ministry of Environment and Tourism: 3rd National Report of the NAP "Process in the Context of the UNCCD", 2004. and 67,591 in the 2012 census.

History

The settlement began in 1914 when a railway siding was built. The town was named after the Norton family who were farming in the area since the 1890s and were killed in the First ''Chimurenga'' in 1896. The town grew as an administrative and commercial hub in a rich agricultural area. It later developed into a key industrial centre due to its proximity to water and power supplies, with a main intake point from the

Lake Kariba Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Karib ...

hydroelectric dam to the national grid located nearby. The construction of the nearby Lake Chivero dam provided a further boost to development.

Economy

The farm lands surrounding the town produce a range of crops including

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, and cattle rearing for the beef and dairy industries is also an important element of the local economy. From the 1960s onward, a large pulp and paper mill, a brewery and several factories were established in the town. However, these were badly hit by the economic crisis of the late 2000s.

References

External links

Norton Constituency Profile
(2011) Populated places in Mashonaland West Province 1914 establishments in Southern Rhodesia {{Zimbabwe-geo-stub

Demographics

History

Economy

See also

References

External links