The Bronkhorst Spruit, meaning ''
watercress
Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae.
Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf ve ...
stream'' or ''creek'', is a river in the
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...
and
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
provinces of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
. In the 19th century it as was known as the Kalkoenkransrivier or Rhenosterpoortrivier. It is a tributary of the
Wilge River
The Wilge River ( af, Wilgerivier, meaning "willow river") is a tributary of the Vaal River in central South Africa. This river is important as part of the Tugela-Vaal Water Transfer Scheme where water is transferred from the Tugela River basi ...
in the
Olifants River basin, and it lends its name to the town of
Bronkhorstspruit
Bronkhorstspruit is a town 50 km east of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa along the N4 highway towards Witbank. It also includes three townships called Zithobeni, Rethabiseng and Ekangala. On 18 May 2011, the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipali ...
, situated mainly on its right bank.
Course
Its sources are located in the
highveld
The Highveld (Afrikaans: ''Hoëveld'', where ''veld'' means "field") is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly 1500 m, but below 2100 m, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of ...
grasslands of western Mpumalanga, about 30 km to the ESE of
Springs, Gauteng
Springs is a former independent city that is now part of the City of Ekurhuleni, based in the east of Johannesburg (East Rand), in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It lies 50 km (31 mi) east of Johannesburg and 72 km (45 mi) ...
. It flows generally northwards and its main tributary, the
Delmas River Delmas may refer to:
People
* Antoine Guillaume Delmas (1766–1813), French revolutionary and Napoleonic general
* Benjamin Delmas (born 1976), French ice dancer
* Bert Delmas (Albert Charles Delmas, 1911–1979), American baseball player
* Cal ...
, joins its left bank. Further downstream it flows into the
Bronkhorstspruit Dam, situated in eastern Gauteng. Then before it bends northeastwards it passes by the Bronkhorstspruit urban area. It finally has a confluence with the Wilge River some 10 km east of the town, at Premiermyn Dam, Gauteng.
History
When a group of
Voortrekkers arrived at it in 1858, they called it the Kalkoenkransrivier, suggesting a breeding site of
bald ibis
__NOTOC__
The small bird genus ''Geronticus'' belongs to the ibis subfamily (Threskiornithinae). Its name is derived from the Greek ''gérontos'' (γέρωντος, "old man") in reference to the bald head of these dark-plumaged birds; in En ...
, and on Merensky's map of 1875 it (including the current lower Wilge) is the Rhenosterpoortrivier.
In 1880 this river was the scene of the
action at Bronkhorstspruit
The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit was the first major engagement of the First Boer War. It took place by the Bronkhorst Spruit (river), a few kilometres east of the town of Bronkhorstspruit, Transvaal on 20 December 1880.
Background
On 12 April 18 ...
, a battle between a Boer commando under the command of Frans Joubert and British troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Anstruther. It was one of the first serious clashes in the early days of the
First Boer War
The First Boer War ( af, Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880–1881, also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 betwee ...
.
[Castle, Ian. ''Majuba 1881: The Hill of Destiny.'' Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 1996, ]
Dams in the river
*
Bronkhorstspruit Dam
*
Premiermyn Dam
See also
*
List of rivers of South Africa
This is a list of rivers in South Africa.
It is quite common to find the Afrikaans word ''-rivier'' as part of the name. Another common suffix is "''-kamma''", from the Khoisan term for "river"
Meiring, Barbara"South African Toponymic Guideline ...
*
List of reservoirs and dams in South Africa
The following is a partial list of dams in South Africa. __NOTOC__
In South African English (as well as Afrikaans), a dam refers to both the wall as well as the reservoir or lake that builds up as a consequence.
List of dams (reservoirs)
...
References
{{reflist
External links
The Olifants River Basin, South AfricaOlifants River CatchmentChannel Slopes in the Olifants, Crocodile and Sabie River Catchments
Olifants River (Limpopo)
Rivers of Gauteng
Rivers of Mpumalanga