Carolina is an urban-rural area situated at the intersection of the R33, R36 and

R38 The ''R.38'' class (also known as the ''A'' class) of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of the First World War, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea. Four similar airships were o ...

routes in the

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 ...

province of

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 ...

. The town lies in the grass and wetlands region of Mpumalanga at 1700 meters above sea level. It is a mixed farming and small-scale

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

- and precious-stone-mining community.

History

Carolina was established by Cornelius Johannes Coetzee as a permanent outspan for wagons when

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

was discovered in 1883 in Barberton. The town of Carolina was proclaimed on 15 June 1886 and named after his wife Magdalena Carolina Smit. The town was built on portions of the farms Groenvlei and Goedehoop and the first stands were sold in 1883. Carolina was rebuilt after it was razed in 1900 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 ...

. A few examples of sandstone architecture are still to be found among Carolina's public buildings. The sandstone Grobler Bridge which crosses the

Komati River The Komati River, also known as the Inkomati River or Incomati River (in Mozambique, from Portuguese Rio Incomati), is a river in South Africa, Eswatini and Mozambique. Originating in north-western Eswatini, it is joined by the Crocodile Riv ...

on the present R36 route to

Machadodorp Machadodorp, also known by its official name eNtokozweni, is a small town situated on the N4 national highway, near the edge of the escarpment in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The Elands River runs through the town. There is a natural ...

was opened for traffic in 1897. It was named after Johannes Lodewikus Grobler. The cornerstone of the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

was laid by Commandant General

Piet Joubert Petrus Jacobus Joubert (20 January 1831 – 28 March 1900), better known as Piet Joubert (''Slim Piet'', Smart Pete), was a South African politician who served as the commandant–general of the South African Republic from 1880 to 1900. He als ...

in October 1888. This building was severely damaged during the

and used as a horse stable by British troops. The Ermelo Railway Company completed the Ermelo–Carolina–Machadodorp railway line in 1907. This placed Carolina on the trade route with Swaziland (now Eswatini). The

and associated

Komati Gorge Komati Gorge is a river valley in the Mpumalanga Province in central South Africa, which features vertical sandstone cliffs that provide habitat for a wide diversity of wildlife. Komati Gorge is located near the communities of Carolina and Mac ...

are situated in the vicinity of Carolina. The very big township of Silobela, with its various sections, is situated nearby. Silobela is populated by mostly Swati-speaking people, though there are also Zulus, Ndebeles and a small number of

Tsonga people The Tsonga people () are a Bantu ethnic group primarily native to Southern Mozambique and South Africa (Limpopo and Mpumalanga). They speak Xitsonga, a Southern Bantu language. A very small number of Tsonga people are also found in Zimbabwe ...

References

Populated places in the Albert Luthuli Local Municipality {{Mpumalanga-geo-stub

History

See also

References