Amsterdam, is a small town located in

Mkhondo Local Municipality Mkhondo Municipality () is a Local municipality (South Africa), local municipality within the Gert Sibande District Municipality, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, Piet Retief is the seat of the municipality. Mai ...

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

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 ...

. Amsterdam encompasses a large

Swazi Swazi may refer to: * Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa * Swazi language * Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked count ...

population as a result of its proximity to the

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

border which is relatively close to the area. The town is located some 77 km east of Ermelo. There are large plantations of gum,

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

and

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australian English **''Acacia'' ***Black wattle, common name for several species of acacia ***Golden wattle, ''A ...

trees in the area. The town also boasts of a peaceful community with rich culture and heritage.

History

Part of a Scottish settlement established by

Alexander McCorkindale Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

in 1868, it was proclaimed a town in June 1881. At first called Roburnia, in honour of Scottish Poet

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

, the name was changed on 5 July 1882 to Amsterdam, after the Dutch city where the State Secretary,

Eduard Bok Willem Eduard Bok, also known as W. Eduard Bok (Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands, 28 June 1846 – Johannesburg, Transvaal Colony, 1 November 1904) was a Dutch-born South African Boer politician, civil servant and statesman, who served as first ...

, was born, and out of gratitude for Dutch sympathy during the

First Anglo-Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British administration). The war resulted in a Boer vic ...

(1880–1881). In 2019 the name of the town was changed again to eMvelo, a

word meaning ''"In Nature"''

References

* Carleton Jones High School year book 1992 Populated places in the Mkhondo Local Municipality Populated places established in 1866 1866 establishments in Africa {{Mpumalanga-geo-stub