Umzimkhulu is a town in
Harry Gwala District Municipality
Harry Gwala is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The seat of Harry Gwala is Ixopo. The majority of its 298 392 people speak IsiZulu (2011 Census). The district code is DC43. In November 2015, Sisonke District's na ...
in the
KwaZulu-Natal province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
The town lies 243 km north-east of
Mthatha and 18 km south-west of
Ixopo. It developed from a trading-post and was laid out in 1884. Takes its name from the
Mzimkulu River on which it is situated;
Zulu and
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
for 'big place', 'large home' of the waters.
Until 1 March 2006, the town was part of an
exclave of the
Eastern Cape, before being transferred to
KwaZulu-Natal as part of the
Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa.
During the
KwaZulu-Natal riots of July, 2021, more than 50 people died in a furniture store in the town that was set alight while looters were robbing it.
References
Populated places in the Umzimkhulu Local Municipality
Populated places established in 1884
1884 establishments in the British Empire
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