Prince Albert () is a small town in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is located on the southern edge of the

Great Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent i ...

, at the foot of the

Swartberg The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in English language, English) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the sem ...

mountains. In recent years the moniker the "''

Franschhoek Franschhoek (; Afrikaans for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'', French: ''Le Coin Français'') is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. It was formerly known as Oliph ...

of the Karoo''" has been used to describe the town's appeal to the art community and wealthier South Africans, many of whom have become residents of the town.

History

Prince Albert was founded in 1762 on a farm called Queekvalleij.The Great Karoo.com, ''Prince Albert Tourism Info'', available URL:http://www.thegreatkaroo.com/listings/tourism_info/western_cape/great_karoo/prince_albert, accessed: 11 February 2015 Originally known as Albertsburg, when it obtained

municipal status A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

in 1845 it was renamed Prince Albert in honour of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Prince Albert was historically part of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

. During the latter part of the century, a nugget of gold was discovered on a farm in the area. Due to the fact that a similar occurrence had led to the Gold Rush in the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

, this new discovery precipitated a similar population boom. However, the gold yield turned out to be minimal. Prince Albert became a British garrison during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

in 1899. The town was the site of several clashes between the British and the Boers during this period.

Economy

The town has a

GINI coefficient In economics, the Gini coefficient ( ), also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio, is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution, income inequality, the wealth distribution, wealth inequality, or the ...

of 0.56 ,and a

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

of 0.68. Around 20% of the town's working age population is unemployed. The total size of the town's GDPR in 2015 was R418 million (roughly equivalent to US$34.3 million). The three largest economic sectors by value in the town's economy being government services (21%), agriculture (19%), and retail and tourism (15%). Agriculture provides about one third of all jobs in the town with retail and tourism being the second largest employer by sector accounting for 18% of all jobs provided. The town hosts a number of private art galleries and relatively large community of artists. Since the mid-1990s the town has experienced an economic boom which has been driven by the increasing number of artists and retirees moving to it.

Points of interest

Prince Albert has a small local population, mainly engaged in farming and tourism. The village has thirteen National Monuments.

References

{{Authority control Karoo Populated places in the Prince Albert Local Municipality Populated places established in 1842