|
Victoria Falls And Transvaal Power Company
Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company was a South African-based electricity company that supplied power to the goldmines and industry on the Witwatersrand. It was a Southern Rhodesian registered company whose main facilities were based in the Transvaal, South Africa. It was formed in 1906 and would supply power in its own name and on behalf of Eskom until 1948 when it was expropriated by the former. Origins In 1896, the British South Africa Company (BSA), established by Cecil John Rhodes, created a subsidiary called the African Concessions Syndicate (ACS). This syndicate obtained a concession in Southern Rhodesia which gave it the right to generate 250,000 kW at Victoria Falls for seventy-five years. But more importantly, it also obtained an exclusive right to supply the goldfields at the Witwatersrand. There were several issues with the idea. One, Victoria Falls was a poor choice as during the dry season, little water flowed, and secondly the transmission line technolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( listed company), which facilitates the trade of shares, or not (unlisted public company). In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange. In most cases, public companies are ''private'' enterprises in the ''private'' sector, and "public" emphasizes their reporting and trading on the public markets. Public companies are formed within the legal systems of particular states, and therefore have associations and formal designations which are distinct and separate in the polity in which they reside. In the United States, for example, a public company is usually a type of corporation (though a corporation need not be a public company), in the United Kingdom it is usually a public limited company (plc), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second 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 South African Republic and the Orange Free State) over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa from 1899 to 1902. Following the discovery of gold deposits in the Boer republics, there was a large influx of "foreigners", mostly British from the Cape Colony. They were not permitted to have a vote, and were regarded as "unwelcome visitors", invaders, and they protested to the British authorities in the Cape. Negotiations failed and, in the opening stages of the war, the Boers launched successful attacks against British outposts before being pushed back by imperial reinforcements. Though the British swiftly occupied the Boer republics, numerous Boers refused to accept defeat and engaged in guerrilla warfare. Eventually, British scorche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Price
Dr. Bernard Price, OBE, (1877 – 9 July 1948) was the founding Chief Engineer and later General Manager of the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company in South Africa between 1911 and 1936. Price was born in England, in 1877 and was employed by the consulting engineers Merz & McLellan from 1901 until leaving for South Africa in 1909. He was President of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1915, and was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the SAIEE in 1940.Crouch, M: ''The First Ten Decades'', Chris van Rensburg Publications, 2009, Dr Price was a benefactor of the University of the Witwatersrand, being instrumental in the founding of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research. The annual Bernard Price Memorial Lecture The Bernard Price Memorial Lecture is the premier annual lecture of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. It is of general scientific or engineering interest and is given by an invited guest, often from ove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hendrik Van Der Bijl
Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl FRS (23 November 1887 – 2 December 1948) was a South African electrical engineer and industrialist and is regarded as one of the greatest South Africans for his contribution to the country's development. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the South African electricity utility company Eskom and the South African Steel and Iron Corporation ISCOR. Early life and education Van der Bijl was born on 23 November 1887 in Pretoria to Pieter Gerhard van der Bijl and Plester Groenewald. He was the fifth of eight children. Pieter van der Bijl had been an ox-wagon driver between Cape Town and Kimberley and moved to Pretoria in 1887 where he became a prosperous grain and produce merchant. Pieter van der Bijl was acquainted with high-profile politicians such as Louis Botha and Jan Smuts. After the ill-fated Jameson Raid (1895) there was increased tension in the Transvaal Republic, of which Pretoria was the capital, and the young Van der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Chamber Of Mines
The Minerals Council South Africa is a South African mining-industry employer organisation. Its members include famous South African mining houses such as Anglo American, De Beers, Gold Fields and Harmony. In its current form, it was founded in 1968 as the Chamber of Mines, a South African wide organization. Prior to that year, it has its early origins as the Transvaal Chamber of Mines in 1887, then evolved over many years reforming as the Witwatersrand Chamber of Mines in 1889, the Chamber of Mines of the South African Republic from 1897, Transvaal Chamber of Mines from 1902 and lastly from 1953 until 1967 as the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines. On 23 May 2018, the South African Chamber of Mines rebranded themselves as the Minerals Council South Africa. Early history On 21 October 1887, the Transvaal Chamber of Mines met for the first time at Central Hotel in Johannesburg. Forty seven people attended the first meeting and its first President was Henry Strub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Native Military Corps
The Native Military Corps (NMC) was a South African military unit during World War II. It consisted of Black South African volunteers recruited into the Union Defence Force (UDF). Despite the unit's name, they had no combative role and served as labourers attached to white South African UDF military units. The objective was to free up the limited number of white recruits in the UDF for combat roles. Background On 12 July 1940 the UDF created the Directorate of Non-European Army Services (NEAS) to recruit non-white South Africans into the military. The NEAS would consist of three units, Cape Corps, the Indian & Malay Corps and the Native Labour Corps, prior to its name change in August 1940 to the Native Military Corps. The NEAS was under the command of a director and deputy director who would be responsible for their soldiers when in the Middle East. The first commander was Lt. Colonel B.W. Martin, previously a Director of Native Labour on the Witwatersrand, but he was shifted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krugersdorp
Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west of the reef. The government bought part of the Paardekraal farm and named the new town after the Transvaal president, Paul Kruger. Krugersdorp no longer has a separate municipal government after it was integrated into Mogale City Local Municipality along with surrounding towns. It is now the seat of government for Mogale City. History Krugersdorp is the site of a December 1880 gathering at which more than 6,000 men vowed to fight for the Transvaal's independence. Founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius after the discovery of gold on his farm, ''Paardekraal'', thereafter the mining industry played an important role in the development of the city. Two important events in the history of South Africa: the Transvaal War of Independence (188 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city is Maputo. Notably Northern Mozambique lies within the monsoon trade winds of the Indian Ocean and is frequentely affected by disruptive weather. Between the 7th and 11th centuries, a series of Swahili port towns developed on that area, which contributed to the development of a distinct Swahili culture and language. In the late medieval period, these towns were frequented by traders from Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and India. The voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1498 marked the arrival ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ossewa Brandwag
The ''Ossewabrandwag'' (OB) (, from af , ossewa , translation = ox-wagon and af , brandwag , translation = guard, picket, sentinel, sentry - ''Ox-wagon Sentinel'') was an anti-British and pro-German organisation in South Africa during World War II, which opposed South African participation in the war. Pro-German Afrikaners formed the ''Ossewabrandwag'' in Bloemfontein on 4 February 1939. Background Following the British takeover of what had previously been the Dutch Cape Colony during the Napoleonic Era, most of the Boers of the northeastern Cape frontier migrated to the interior; these migrants eventually established the Orange Free State and South African Republic. In 1881, the independence of these frontier states was confirmed following their victory over the British Empire in the brief Anglo-Boer War. Following the discovery of large gold and mineral deposits in Boer territory, war broke out again in 1899. By 1902, Great Britain conquered both the Boer Republics, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaal River
The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction with the Orange River southwest of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. It is long, and forms the border between Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West Province on its north bank, and the Free State on its south. It is the third largest river in South Africa after the Orange River (2200 km long) and the Limpopo River (1750 km long) and was established as the main source of water for the great Witswatersrand area after the gold rush during the 19th century. The Vaal Dam lies on the Vaal River in Deneysville just south of the border between Gauteng and the Free State. It is also important to note that the Vaal River is the longest river wholly within the borders of South Africa. ''Vaal'' is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witbank
Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested. The city is known for its coal-mining in the surrounding region. Witbank was renamed to Emalahleni meaning the ''place of coal'' in 2006 by the government of Mpumalanga, matching the municipality. Witbank was founded in 1890 and early attempts to exploit the coal deposits failed until the railway from Pretoria reached the area in 1894. It was proclaimed a town in 1903 and became a municipality in 1914. There are many stories about the city and its origination but the top story would be the arrival of Winston Churchill at the nearby Transvaal and Delagoa Bay Colliery during his escape from Boer imprisonment in Pretoria, on his way to Delagoa Bay (later Lourenço Marques, and then Maputo, in Mozam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Hesterman Merz
Charles Hesterman Merz (5 October 1874 – 14 or 15 October 1940) was a British electrical engineer who pioneered the use of high-voltage three-phase AC power distribution in the United Kingdom, building a system in the North East of England in the early 20th century that became the model for the country's National Grid. Life Merz was the eldest son of industrial chemist John Theodore Merz (a Quaker from Germany) and Alice Mary Richardson, a sister of John Wigham Richardson the Tyneside ship builder.''Children of Light: How Electricity Changed Britain Forever'' Gavin Weightman He was born in Gateshead and attended Bootham School, York. He attended Armstrong College in Newcastle, where his father was a part-time lecturer. He then entered an apprenticeship at the Newcastle Electric Supply Company (NESCo), which had been founded by his father, in 1889. In 1898 Merz became the first Secretary and Chief Engineer of the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company in Cork, Irela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
