Warrenton is an agricultural town of approximately 22,588 people in the Northern Cape 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 ...

, situated north of Kimberley on the Vaal River.

History

In 1880, a syndicate bought the western portion of the farm ''Grasbult'' to irrigate the fertile land and produce

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

s for the

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

fields. The town which grew here was named after Sir Charles Warren. Diamonds were discovered here in 1888 and mining continued to 1926. "Vaal River Bridge at Fourteen Streams blown up by the Boers", newspaper cutting, 1899.jpg, Newspaper cutting "Vaal River Bridge at Fourteen Streams blown up by the Boers", 1899. Damaged railway bridge, Veertien Strome (Fourteen Streams), South Africa, around 1900.jpg, Damaged railway bridge in the Second Boer War at Veertien Strome (Fourteen Streams) near Warrenton, around 1900. A railway bridge at Veertien Strome, destroyed by the Boer military, Boer War 1899-1902, from Breytenbach.jpg, Railway bridge at Veertien Strome, destroyed by the Boer military, Boer War 1899-1902.

Geography

Warrenton is situated in the north-eastern part of the Northern Cape province, on the south bank of the Vaal River, approximately north of Kimberley, the provincial capital. The town lies just downstream of the Vaalharts Dam, which supplies water to the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme. The N12 national route, the main route from Kimberley to

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

, passes through Warrenton, and the N18 national route to Mahikeng and

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

stars there. The main

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

–Kimberley–

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

railway line also passes through the town, and the line to Mahikeng and Botswana branches off at Fourteen Streams, on the north bank of the Vaal opposite Warrenton.

Demographics

In the 2011 Census the population of Warrenton, including the township of Ikhutseng, was recorded as 22,588 people living in 5,615 households. 80% of the residents described themselves as "

Black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...

", 14% as " Coloured", 5% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

", and 1% as " Indian or Asian". 67% of the residents of the town speak Setswana as their

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

, while 22% speak

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, 4% speak Xhosa and 2% speak Sotho.

Government

Warrenton is the only town in the Magareng Local Municipality, which covers an area of between the Harts River and the Free State border. The municipal council is controlled by an

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

majority; the mayor is Neo Mase.

References

External links

Warrenton
at the Northern Cape Tourism Authority website {{Authority control Populated places established in 1880 Populated places in the Magareng Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa Vaal River 1880 establishments in South Africa