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Griqualand West
Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, who established several states outside the expanding frontier of the Cape Colony. It was also inhabited by the pre-existing Tswana and Khoisan peoples. In 1873 it was proclaimed as a British colony, with its capital at Kimberley, and in 1880 it was annexed by the Cape Colony. When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, Griqualand West was part of the Cape Province but continued to have its own "provincial" sports teams. Early history The indigenous population of the area were the Khoi-khoi and Bushmen peoples, who were hunter-gatherers or herders. Early on they were joined by the agriculturalist Batswana, who migrated into the area from the north. They comprised the majority of the population throughout the region's history, up u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Griekwastad
Griekwastad is a country town in South Africa. It is sometimes still called Griquatown (the meaning of the town's name in Afrikaans), a name which is now considered historical. The town is in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa by road west from the city of Kimberley. It was the first town to be established in the country north of the Orange River. History In 1801 William Anderson and Cornelius Kramer, of the London Missionary Society, established a station among the Griqua at ''Leeuwenkuil''. The site proved too arid for cultivation. In about 1805 they moved the station to another spring further up the valley and called it ''Klaarwater''. Their second choice was little better than their first, and for many years a lack of water prevented any further development. The name of the settlement was changed later to Griquatown or ''Griekwastad'' in Afrikaans. They lived among a mixed nomadic community of the Chaguriqua tribe and "bastaards" (people of mixed origin) from P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Barkly
Sir Henry Barkly (24 February 1815 – 20 October 1898) was a British politician, colonial governor and patron of the sciences. Early life and education Born on 24 February 1815 at Highbury, Middlesex (now London), he was the eldest son of Susannah Louisa (born ffrith) and Æneas Barkly, a Scottish born West India merchant. He was educated at Bruce Castle School in Tottenham, where the school's particular curriculum endowed him with a lifetime interest in science and statistics. Upon completing his schooling and studies in commerce, Barkly worked for his father. The Barkly family had several connections with the West Indies: Barkly's mother, Susannah Louisa, whose maiden name was ffrith, was the daughter of a Jamaica planter; his father's company was concerned with trade in the West Indies; and the family owned an estate in British Guiana. According to the Legacies of British Slave-ownership database Barkly's father was compensated £132,000 from the Imperial Parliament f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered , of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as " the empire on which the sun never sets", as the Sun was always shining on at least one of its territories. During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established larg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stafford Parker
Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived "Diggers Republic" on the diamond fields of southern Africa. Griqualand West and President of the Diggers Republic Originally an auctioneer and artist, Parker moved to mining in Griqualand West in southern Africa, where he rose to prominence as commandant of the miners' "Mutual Protection Association". The chaotic diamond fields were disputed among several political claimants, such as the local Griqua people, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. The white British miners ("diggers") rejected all of these claims and, following a series of disputes, a faction of the miners declared themselves independent until they could attain annexation to the British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marthinus Wessel Pretorius
Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (17 September 1819 – 19 May 1901) was a South African political leader. An Afrikaner (or "Boer"), he helped establish the South African Republic (''Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek'' or ZAR; also referred to as Transvaal), was the first president of the ZAR, and also compiled its constitution. He was born in Cape Colony, then accompanied his father, the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius in the migration to the interior. After the death of his father in 1853, he was appointed to succeed him as Commandant-General of the Boer settlers around the city of Potchefstroom and moved from his farm, Kalkheuwel, near Broederstroom, to Potchefstroom. He was Commandant-General of Potchefstroom from 1853 through 1856. Political offices In 1857, the nascent ZAR elected Pretorius as its first President. However, in 1859, in an effort to create closer bonds with the Orange Free State, he also became State President of the Orange Free State. This created tension ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province. Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a British Resident based in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein and the southern parts of the Sovereignty had previously been settled by Griqua and by ''Trekboere'' from the Cape Colony. The '' Voortrekker'' Republic of Natalia, founded in 1837, administered the northern part of the territory through a '' landdrost'' based at Winburg. This northern area was later in federation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Lesotho and between South Africa and Namibia, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Except for Upington, it does not pass through any major cities. The Orange River plays an important role in the South African economy by providing water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. The river was named the Orange River in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange, by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon. Other names include simply the word for river, in Khoekhoegowab orthography written as !Garib, which is rendered in Afrikaa ... [...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] |
Andries Waterboer
Andries Waterboer (c.1789 - 1852) was a leader ("kaptijn") of the Griqua people. He founded the Waterboer dynasty of Griqualand West, and led to a split of the Griqua people, as the factions of the Kok and Barends dynasties migrated to the south east to later found Griqualand East. Early life Unlike the majority of the predominantly mixed Griqua people, Waterboer was of pure Bushman origin, and seems to have been born in the wilderness somewhere north of the Gariep, probably in the late 1700s. He joined the house of the powerful ruling family of the Griquas, the Koks, took the name of "Andries Waterboer" and learned to read and write. Fiercely ambitious, he rapidly rose in rank, eventually leading his followers in an armed revolt (the "Hartenaaropstand") against the rule of Adam Kok II and Barend Barends in 1815. By the next year, he had succeeded in defeating both leaders (who migrated with their people towards the south-east) and a few years later he finally became "Kaptij ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
