Concordia is a town in

Namakwa District Municipality Namakwa is one of the 5 districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Namakwa is Springbok and the region is also known as Little Namaqualand. The majority of its 108,118 people speak Afrikaans (2001 Census). The district ...

in 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 ...

province of

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 count ...

. The distance from Concordia to Cape Town is approximately . Concordia was originally established as a

Rhenish The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

mission station in 1852 and

copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

began in 1853 through to 1983 in the area. The town is of historical interest because it is situated at the origin of mining endeavors in South Africa. Long before colonial times (prior to 1652), the indigenous peoples (the

Khoisan Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in ...

or Nama) of the area extracted raw or "

native copper Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native copp ...

" from the

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

hills that make up the surrounding Namaqualand Copper belt. This copper was beaten into decorative items, worn as bangles and neck adornments by these peoples. The copper boom of the late 19th century through to the early nineteen eighties has all but ceased in the area. There is currently a granite works at Concordia where large blocks of the stone are quarried and cut into large (up to 50 tons) blocks for transport to Cape Town where the granite is exported and used domestically. During the

Anglo Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, the Boers used Concordia as their headquarters whilst

Okiep Okiep is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, and was in the 1870s ranked as having the richest copper mine in the world. The town is on the site of a spring that was known in the Khoekhoe language of the Nama people as ''U-g ...

(some 6 km away) was under siege.Anglo Boer War, South African History Online
/ref> Today some of the magnificent examples of

Cornish Cornish is the adjective and demonym associated with Cornwall, the most southwesterly part of the United Kingdom. It may refer to: * Cornish language, a Brittonic Southwestern Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Cornwa ...

stone masonry Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

still exist in addition to the original granary which was used as a hospital by the Boer commandos during the Anglo Boer War.Smalberger, John M., ''Aspects of the history of Copper mining in Namaqualand 1846-1931,'' Struik, 1975

Places of interest

*The granite ore bins of the Tweefontein Mine has outstanding examples of Cornish stone masonry. The New Prospect Mine houses another granite ore bin in excellent condition. *The graveyard contains the graves of early Rhenish missionaries and unmarked graves of fallen Boer soldiers. *Orbicule Hill is a declared heritage site situated just west of Concordia. Exhibiting the finest example of

orbicular Orbicular is an adjective meaning "circular" Orbicular may also refer to: * Orbicular leaf, a plant leaf shape * Orbicularis oculi muscle, a muscle around the eye * Orbicularis oris muscle, a muscle around the mouth * Orbicular batfish, a species ...

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sil ...

in the country, the rare rock texture is the result of granitoid

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...

s separating while in a fluid state which forms concentric internal banding. *The Rhenish Mission Station was established in 1852 in the same year in which copper was discovered by European prospectors in the area. *The United Reformed Church is a stone church building erected in 1875 by Cornishmen, with the original organ dating back to 1915. It is a fine example of outstanding stone masonry.

References

Populated places in the Nama Khoi Local Municipality 1852 establishments in the Cape Colony {{NorthernCape-geo-stub

Places of interest

See also

References