Bronkhorstspruit is a town 50 km east of

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

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 O ...

along the N4 highway towards

eMalahleni 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 wago ...

. It also includes three townships called

Zithobeni Zithobeni (a Zulu word meaning ''humble yourselves'') is a township situated in Gauteng, South Africa, just north of Bronkhorstspruit Bronkhorstspruit is a town 50 km east of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa along the N4 highway towards ...

, Rethabiseng and

Ekangala Ekangala is a large township falling under the City of Tshwane in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It lies remotely in Gauteng, tucked into the border with Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name ...

. On 18 May 2011, the

Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ), also known as the City of Tshwane (), is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pre ...

took over the municipal administration from the abolished Kungwini Local Municipality, which makes Bronkhorstspruit part of Tshwane.

History

In 1858, a group of Voortrekkers settled beside the Bronkhorst Spruit creek, which was originally called Kalkoenkransrivier ('

turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

cliff river'). The town was laid out on land of the farm ''Hondsrivier'' in 1904 owned by C.J.G. Erasmus and was initially named after him. It adopted the name Bronkhorstspruit in 1935. On 20 December 1880 it was the scene of the

Battle of Bronkhorstspruit The battle of Bronkhorstspruit was the first major engagement of the First Boer War. It took place by the Bronkhorstspruit river, near the town of Bronkhorstspruit, Transvaal, on 20 December 1880. Threatened by the growing numbers of militan ...

, an important event in the early days of the

First Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British ad ...

when a Boer Commando ambushed a British army column, 94th Regiment of Foot, near the present town en route from

Lydenburg Lydenburg, also known as Mashishing, is a town in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, on the Mpumalanga highveld, South Africa. It is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Lepelle River at the summit of the Long Tom Pass. It h ...

. There is disagreement about where the town got its name from. Some believe it was named after the farmer J.G. Bronkhorst, while others say that it was named after the plant, bronkors (Afrikaans for

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 Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...

), that grew in the region of the creek. Bronkhorstspruit was the seat of the

Metsweding District Municipality Metsweding District Municipality was, from 2000 until 18 May 2011, a district municipality in Gauteng province, South Africa. Metsweding, and its component local municipalities, was disestablished and absorbed into the Tshwane Metropolitan Municip ...

as well as the Kungwini Local Municipality. Then, on the day of South Africa's 2011 general elections (18 May 2011), the entire Metsweding District ceased to be its own municipality and became part of the

Parks and greenspace

Ten kilometers to the south of the town lies the Bronkhorstspruit Dam.

Suburbs

*Erasmus *Masada *Riamar Park *Bester Park *Cultura Park *Bronkhorstbaai

Economy

Agriculture

Being an agricultural area, maize, sorghum, groundnuts, sunflower seeds, sheep and cattle are grown and raised.

Mining

Fire clay Fire clay is a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines fire clay very generally as a "mineral aggregate composed of hydrous silicates of alumi ...

is as well as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

mined in the area.

Places of interest

Cultura Park, a suburb of Bronkhorstspruit, hosts the largest

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple in Africa. Nan Hua Temple houses the South African headquarters of the

Fo Guang Shan Fo Guang Shan (FGS) () is an international Chinese Buddhism, Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhist organization and monastic order based in Taiwan that practices Humanistic Buddhism whose roots are traced to the Linji school of Chan Buddhism. The headqu ...

sect, a Humanistic Buddhist order.

References

External links

Bronkhorstspruit Information
Populated places established in 1858 Populated places in the City of Tshwane Populated places founded by Afrikaners {{Gauteng-geo-stub