Virginia is a

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

mining town located in the

Lejweleputswa District Municipality Lejweleputswa ( Sesotho word meaning "Grey rock" in English) is one of the 5 districts of Free State province of South Africa. The seat of Lejweleputswa is Welkom. The majority of its 657 019 people speak Sotho (2001 Census). The district code is ...

and on goldfields of the Free State province in

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 ...

about 140 km (90 mi) northeast of

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

the provincial capital.

History

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

, two

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 ...

surveyors from the state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

etched the name of their birthplace on a boulder near the farm Merriespruit. When a railway siding was eventually established at this spot, the name was adopted, and it stuck after the discovery of gold in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

which resulted in a mushrooming settlement on the banks of the Sand River. In

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

the Sand River burst its banks and flooded parts of the town. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

the

Merriespruit tailings dam disaster The Merriespruit tailings dam disaster occurred on the night of 22 February 1994 when a tailings dam failed and flooded the suburb of Merriespruit, Virginia, Free State, South Africa. Seventeen people were killed as a result.Wagener, 1997 Late ...

occurred just outside Virginia, killing seventeen people. On the 5 December 2000, Virginia was incorporated into the

Matjhabeng Local Municipality Matjhabeng Local Municipality is a local government serving an administrative area in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality, Lejweleputswa District of the Free State (South African province), Free State in South Africa. The municipality services ...

along with the city of

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

and the towns of

Allanridge Allanridge is a gold mining town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State (South African province), Free State province in South Africa. It is the main centre of the Loraine Gold Mining Company and is dominated by the tall headg ...

Hennenman Hennenman is a town in the Free State goldfields in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State province of South Africa. The settlement is unusual for the district as being supported by agriculture rather than the mining industr ...

Odendaalsrus Odendaalsrus is the oldest gold mining town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality in the goldfields of the Free State province in South Africa. History It started out in 1912 as a ramshackle collection of farms and a central church that be ...

and

Ventersburg Ventersburg is a small town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa, 148 km north of Bloemfontein. History It was established on the farm Kromfontein which was owned by PA ...

. During the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era, black people Lived outside Virginia in the location of Meloding. The town itself boomed during the gold mining years' golden age and gold mining is still responsible for most of the towns' economy.

Economy

Virginia is surrounded by some of the largest gold fields in Free State, and its economy is dominated by mining, gold-extraction plants, and the manufacture of

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

from gold ore. It is also known for having the deepest pipe-mine into the earth on the planet. Commercial farms in the surrounding area primarily grow

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. Th ...

(corn) and raise livestock. Virginia is located on the main rail line between Bloemfontein and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa