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 The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

, in western

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 ...

. 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 Marydale is a town in the Northern Cape province in western South Africa. Established in 1903 by the Dutch Reformed Church, Marydale was named after Mary Snyman, the wife of Mr GP Snyman, owner of the farm on which the town was laid out. The town ...

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 The Koegas mine was a crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine in Northern Cape, South Africa. It lies near to the town of Prieska and drew much of its workforce from there and Griquatown; though significant proportions also came from Botswana, Zimbabwe ...

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 Elaine may refer to: * Elaine (legend), name shared by several different female characters in Arthurian legend, especially: ** Elaine of Astolat ** Elaine of Corbenic * "Elaine" (short story), 1945 short story by J. D. Salinger * Elaine (singer), ...

– 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 Summer Olympics, 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics. Thys is a former List of African records in athlet ...

- marathon runner *

Dricky Beukes Dricky Beukes (29 December 1918 – 9 November 1999) was a South African writer of Afrikaans novels, short stories and radio dramas. Beukes wrote more than a hundred Afrikaans novels, a large number of short stories and numerous Afrikaans radio d ...

- writer

References

External links

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