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Hopetown
Hopetown is a town which lies at the edge of the Great Karoo in South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is situated on an arid slope leading down to the Orange River. The first diamond discovered in South Africa, the Eureka Diamond, was found at Hopetown. History Hopetown was founded in 1850 when Sir Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet, Harry Smith extended the northern frontier of the Cape Colony to the Orange River. A handful of settlers claimed ground where there was a natural ford over the Orange River, and by 1854 a frontier town had developed. Hopetown was named after William Hope (Cape Colony), William Hope, Auditor-General and Secretary of the Cape Colony Government at the time, and is often mistaken for a town in the Free State (province), Free State, South Africa, called Hoopstad. Hopetown was a quiet farming area until several large diamonds, most notable the Eureka Diamond and the Star of South Africa (Diamond), Star of South Africa, were discovered there between 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thembelihle Local Municipality
Thembelihle Municipality (), formerly known as Oranje-Karoo Municipality, is a local municipality within the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. ''Thembelihle'' is a Xhosa word meaning "good hope". History At the end of the apartheid era, in the area that is today the Thembelihle Municipality, there were municipal councils for Hopetown and Strydenburg which were elected by the white residents, while the coloured residents of Steynville (Hopetown) and Strydenburg were governed by management committees subordinate to the white councils. The remaining rural areas were served by the Bo-Karoo Regional Services Council. After the national elections of 1994 a process of local government transformation began, in which negotiations were held between the existing local authorities, political parties, and local community organisations. As a result of these negotiations, the existing local authorities were dissolved and transitional local ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Of South Africa (Diamond)
The Star of South Africa, also known as the Dudley Diamond, is a white diamond found by a Griqua people, Griqua shepherd in 1869 on the banks of the Orange River. The original stone, before cutting, weighed . The finding of this large diamond led to diamond prospectors coming to the area, culminating in the July 1871 diamond rush, rush to the nearby new diamond field at Colesberg Koppje, soon known as New Rush, and later to be known as Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley. The shepherd sold the stone for the price of 500 sheep, 10 oxen and a horse to Schalk van Niekerk, a neighbouring farmer locally famous for having acquired a 21-and-a-quarter carat diamond in 1866 after it was bought from a 15-year-old boy, Erasmus Jacobs. Van Niekerk sold the stone on to the Lilienfield Brothers in Hopetown, Northern Cape, Hopetown for £11,200 ( £1,363,334 in 2020 pounds). The Lilienfield Brothers sent it to England where it changed hands twice before finally being bought by Georgina Ward, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoopstad
The town of Hoopstad is situated at the intersection of the R34 (South Africa), R34, R59 (South Africa), R59 & R700 (South Africa), R700 in the Free State (province), Free State Province. This area is considered to be the richest maize-producing district in South Africa. The town is located near the Bloemhof Dam which is situated on the Vaal River. The Sandveld Nature Reserve is positioned alongside the Bloemhof Dam. Hopetown and Hoopstad are two different towns and are often confused. History and activities The town of Hoopstad was initially founded in 1876 and named Hauptstad after Mr Haupt, a surveyor. The translation of Hauptstad into Afrikaans means Capital, which it clearly wasn't and the town was therefore renamed Hoopstad. The town, whose name means "Hope City" in Afrikaans, was established on the one side of the large farm ''Kameeldoorns'', with another town Bultfontein on the other side. References {{Authority control Populated places in the Tswelopele Local M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eureka Diamond
The Eureka Diamond was the first diamond discovered in South Africa. It originally weighed , and was later cut to a cushion-shaped brilliant, which is currently on display at the Mine Museum in Kimberley. The discovery of diamonds in South Africa led to the Kimberley Diamond Rush, and marked the beginning of the Mineral Revolution. Discovery and identification The Eureka Diamond was found near Hopetown on the Orange River by a 15-year-old boy named Erasmus Stephanus Jacobs in 1867. Soon afterward, Schalk Van Niekerk entrusted the stone to John O'Reilly, who took it to Colesberg to inquire as to its nature and value. The stone came under the view of the acting Civil Commissioner Lorenzo Boyes, who on seeing that the stone cut glass declared: "I believe it to be a diamond." The stone was then sent by mail in an ordinary paper envelope to Dr. William Guybon Atherstone, the colony's foremost mineralogist, in Grahamstown. Atherstone confirmed that it was a 21.25 carat (4.250 g) diamo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch language, 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 Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power. The river was named the Orange River in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange-Nassau, House of Orange, by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon. Other names include simply the word for river, in Khoekhoe language, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal River, Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance because of its diamond mining past and the Siege of Kimberley, siege during the Second Boer War, Second Boer War. The British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes also established the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town. On 2 September 1882, Kimberley was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere and the second in the world after Philadelphia, in the United States, to install electricity, electric street lighting. The first stock exchange in Africa was built in Kimberley as early as 1881. History Discovery of diamonds In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small brilliant pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm ''De Kalk'' leased from l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of millions of years ago which is now represented by many fossils. The Karoo formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers on the way to the Highveld unanimously denounced it as a frightening place of great heat, great frosts, great floods, and great droughts. Today, it is still a place of great heat and frosts, and an annual rainfall of between 50 and 250 mm, though on some of the mountains it can be 250 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini; and it encloses Lesotho. Covering an area of , the country has Demographics of South Africa, a population of over 64 million people. Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament of South Africa, Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. The largest, most populous city is Johannesburg, followed by Cape Town and Durban. Cradle of Humankind, Archaeological findings suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa about 2.5 million years ago, and modern humans inhabited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telephone Numbers In South Africa
Telephone numbers in South Africa are administered by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. On 16 January 2007, the country switched to a closed numbering plan. It became mandatory to dial the full nine-digit national telephone number. For calls within the country, this is prefixed by trunk code ''0'' (zero), which is often included in listings of the area code. Area codes within the system are generally organized geographically. Special services by Telkom have numbers with special formats. When dialed from another country, the national number is prefixed with the appropriate international access code and the telephone country code 27. Background History Numbers were allocated when South Africa had only four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces. Namibia South-West Africa (including Walvis Bay) was integrated into the South African numbering plan. However, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Government Railways
The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately owned. The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company started construction from Cape Town in 1858, reaching Eerste River, Western Cape, Eerste River by 1862 and Wellington, Western Cape, Wellington by 1863. Meanwhile, by 1864, the Wynberg Railway Company had connected Cape Town and Wynberg, Cape Town, Wynberg. For the moment, railway development at the Cape did not continue eastwards beyond Wellington because of the barrier presented by the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt. Formation of CGR The discovery of diamonds, and the consequent rush to Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley that started in 1871, gave impetus to the development of railways in South Africa. Shortly afterwards, in 1872, the Cape Colony attained responsible government under the le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free State (province)
The Free State ( ; ; ; ; ), formerly known as the Orange Free State, is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Boer republic called the Orange Free State and later the Orange Free State (province), Orange Free State Province. History The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans were abolished and reincorporated into South Africa. It is also the only one of the four original provinces of South Africa not to undergo border changes, apart from the reincorporation of Bantustans, and its borders date from before the outbreak of the Boer War. Geography The Free State is situated on a succession of flat grassy plains sprinkled with pastureland, resting on a general elevation of 3,800 feet only broken by the occasional hill or kopje. The rich soil and pleasant climate allow for a thriving agricultural industry. The province is high ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Hope (Cape Colony)
William Hope may refer to: * William Johnstone Hope (1766–1831), prominent and controversial British Royal Navy officer and politician * Sir William Hope, 14th Baronet (1819–1898), British Army officer * William Hope (VC) (1834–1909), Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross * William Hope (paranormal investigator) (1863–1933), pioneer of so-called "spirit photography" * William Hope (artist) (1863–1931), Canadian painter, draftsman and war artist *William Henry Bateman Hope (1865–1919), British Member of Parliament for North Somerset, 1906–1910 *William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918), English author of horror, fantastic fiction and science fiction * William John Hope (1900–1962), English–American film and television producer, also known as Jack Hope *William Hope (actor) William Hope is a Canadian actor, best known for his numerous roles in the '' Alien'' and '' Alien vs. Predator'' franchises, portraying Lieutenant Scott Gorman in '' Aliens'' (1986) and '' Alien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
