Prieska is a town on the south bank of the

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 Namibi ...

, in the province of the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

, in western

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 ...

. It is located on the southern bank of the

, 130 km north-west of

Britstown Britstown is a small farming town situated in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, Emthanjeni Local Municipality. The town is named after Hans Brits who settled here after he accompanied David ...

and 75 km south-east of Marydale.

History

It developed from a place to which farmers migrated when the pans were full, after rains. It was originally named ''Prieschap'', the name is derived from

Korana The Korana is a river in central Croatia and west Bosnia and Herzegovina. The river has a total length of and watershed area of . The river's name is derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*karr-'' 'rock'. It was recorded in the 13th century as ''Co ...

and means ‘place of the lost she-goat’. It was administered by a village management board from 1882 and attained municipal status in 1892. In 2011 the town had a population of 14,246.

The 1878 murders

In October 1878 at Luisdraai near Koegas a group of Korana and San indigenous people were savagely attacked by a 'military patrol' and 46 were killed. It later came to light that the indigenous people were killed in cold blood, after being disarmed and taken prisoner, eleven of the slain were women and children. The perpetrators were mounted militia, consisting of several white and Griqua farmers.

Koegas Asbestos Mine

Many residents, historically, worked at the nearby Koegas mine which extracted and processed blue asbestos. The town is 240 km south of

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

and lies on the R357 road.

Notable natives and residents

* Gert Thys - marathon runner * Dricky Beukes - writer

References

External links

Prieska's website
Populated places established in 1882 Populated places in the Siyathemba Local Municipality Karoo {{NorthernCape-geo-stub