Prieska is a town on the south bank of the

Orange 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 ...

, in the province of the Northern Cape, in western

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It is located on the southern bank of the

, 130 km north-west of

Britstown Britstown is a small farming town situated in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, Emthanjeni Local Municipality. The town is named after Hans Brits who settled here after he accompanied David Li ...

and 75 km south-east of Marydale.

History

It developed from a place to which farmers migrated when the pans were full, after rains. It was originally named ''Prieschap'', the name is derived from

Korana The Korana is a river in central Croatia and west Bosnia and Herzegovina. The river has a total length of and watershed area of . The river's name is derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*karr-'' 'rock'. It was recorded in the 13th century as '' ...

and means ‘place of the lost she-goat’. It was administered by a village management board from 1882 and attained municipal status in 1892. In 2011 the town had a population of 14,246. Many residents, historically, worked at the nearby Koegas mine which extracted and processed

blue asbestos Riebeckite is a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals, chemical formula Na2(Fe2+3Fe3+2)Si8O22(OH)2. It forms a solid solution series with magnesioriebeckite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually as long prism ...

. The town is 240 km south of Kimberley and lies on the R357 road.

Notable natives and residents

* Elaine Vivier – Mensa IQ result score of 194 * Dr Eugene Ebrahim 'Manelisi' Bosman - Distinguished the township of E'thembeni, meaning, place of hope, by becoming the first Black Doctor in town. Not only in the town but bordering district towns. A first in the history of Gariep High School which is a semi developed school. *

Gert Thys Gert Thys (born 12 November 1971) is a male long-distance runner from South Africa, who represented his native country in the marathon at the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics. Thys is a former African record holder in the marathon, and is the ...

- marathon runner * Dricky Beukes - writer

References

External links

Prieska's website
Populated places established in 1882 Populated places in the Siyathemba Local Municipality Karoo {{NorthernCape-geo-stub