Pretoria, is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Johannesburg is the most populous city in South Africa with 4,803,262 people, and is classified as a megacity; it is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. It is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located within the mineral-rich Witwatersrand hills, the epicentre of the international-scale mineral, gold and (specifically) diamond trade.
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa.
The Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History is a museum that showcases the various stages and forms of culture in South Africa. It is part of the Ditsong Museums of South Africa. The museum is located in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly the Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa. It is located on Paul Kruger Street, between Visagie and Minnaar Streets, opposite the Pretoria City Hall. The museum was established in 1895 by the former South African Republic, also known as the Transvaal. In 2010 it was one of the founding museums of Ditsong Museums of South Africa.
Tswaing is an impact crater enclosed by a 1,946 ha nature reserve, situated in northern Gauteng province, South Africa. The crater and reserve are situated on a base of ancient granite of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, some 40 km to the north-northwest of Pretoria. This astrobleme is 1.13 km in diameter and 100 m deep and its age is estimated to be 220,000 ± 52,000 years (Pleistocene). The impactor is believed to have been a chondrite or stony meteorite some 30 to 50 m in diameter that was vaporised during the impact event. Morokweng impact structure, another South African crater of chondrite origin, lies north-west of Vryburg. Since 1996 it falls under the auspices of Ditsong Museums of South Africa.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to museums, maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Founded in 1946, ICOM also partners with entities such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, Interpol, and the World Customs Organization in order to carry out its international public service missions, which include fighting illicit traffic in cultural goods and promoting risk management and emergency preparedness to protect world cultural heritage in the event of natural or man-made disasters. Members of the ICOM get the ICOM membership card, which provides free entry, or entry at a reduced rate, to many museums all over the world.
The Mapungubwe Collection, held by the University of Pretoria museums in its Old Arts Building, consists of archaeological materials excavated by the former University of Gauteng from the Mapungubwe archaeological site since its discovery in 1933. The collection includes ceramics, metals, trade glass beads, indigenous beads, clay figurines, and artifacts made from bone and ivory, alongside a research collection of potsherds, faunal remains, and other fragmentary materials. In June 2000, the University of Gauteng inaugurated the permanent museum. The collection is maintained on site, serving both educational and tourism purposes.
The CP Nel Museum is a museum in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, which houses exhibits depicting the role of the ostrich trade in the town's history, as well as the cultural history and lifestyle of the people of the Little Karoo region, as it was during the Victorian era and early 20th century.
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 students, including international students from 130 countries worldwide, making it one of the world's mega universities and the only such university in Africa.
The South African National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg was officially opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947 to preserve the history of South Africa's involvement in the Second World War. In 1975, the museum was renamed from the South African National War Museum and its function changed to include all conflicts that South Africa has been involved in. In 1999 it was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based Transvaal Museum and National Cultural History Museum to form the Northern Flagship Institution. In April 2010 Ditsong was officially renamed Ditsong Museums of South Africa and the SANMMH was renamed the Ditsong National Museum of Military History.
The South African Air Force Museum houses exhibits and restores material related to the history of the South African Air Force. The museum is divided into three locations, AFB Swartkop outside Pretoria, AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town and at the Port Elizabeth airport.
The University of Pretoria is a multi-campus public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johannesburg-based Transvaal University College and is the fourth South African institution in continuous operation to be awarded university status. The university has grown from the original 32 students in a single late Victorian house to approximately 53,000 in 2019. The university was built on seven suburban campuses on 1,190 hectares.
Fanie Eloff, (1885-1947) Stephanus Johannes Paulus Eloff was born as the sixth child and second son of Frederik Christoffel Eloff and Elsie Francina Eloff. They lived right next to his grandfather, President Paul Kruger of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek on church street in Pretoria.
The following is a timeline of the history of Pretoria, in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng province, South Africa.
Carolina Commando was a light infantry regiment of the South African Army for the district of Carolina, South Africa. It formed part of the South African Army Infantry Formation as well as the South African Territorial Reserve.
Pionier Opelug Museum, is a cultural and "living" museum in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria that reflects the lifestyle of early pioneers or "Voortrekkers" of the early 19th century. It is housed in the oldest building in Pretoria, the 1848 House, and the museum is operated by Ditsong Museums of South Africa.
Ina Plug is a South African archaeozoologist, and teacher. Her long career included field research and in museums such as Transvaal Museum and for the University of Pretoria on southern African mammals, starting with the animals from Iron Age sites at the Kruger National Park. Her work resulted in her publishing 130 scientific papers mostly on the skeletal remains of animals. She also published a book titled What Bone Is That? A Guide to the Identification of Southern African Mammal Bones.
Bolt's Farm is a palaeontological site in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, Gauteng province, South Africa. With more than 30 fossil deposits dating back 4.5 Ma, it is one of the oldest sites currently discovered in the Cradle of Humankind. It consists of multiple cavities, pits, and quarries, where caves have eroded away, exposing their fossiliferous interiors. Although this site has not yet yielded the hominid fossils for which the Cradle of Humankind is known, Bolt's Farm is still an important source of fossils from various species of Early Pliocene and Plio-Pleistocene fauna, including primates and big cats.
Minnaar's Cave, or simply Minnaar, is a palaeontological site located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, Gauteng province, South Africa. Lost after its discovery in the 1930s, its location was rediscovered in 2009. It is known for its well-preserved jackal skulls, dating to the Plio-Pleistocene at least 2 million years ago.
