Modimolle Nylstroom | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 24°42′00″S28°24′22″E / 24.70000°S 28.40611°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Limpopo |
District | Waterberg |
Municipality | Modimolle–Mookgophong |
Area | |
• Total | 74.9 km2 (28.9 sq mi) |
Population (2011) [1] | |
• Total | 8,671 |
• Density | 120/km2 (300/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 44.3% |
• Coloured | 1.1% |
• Indian/Asian | 0.7% |
• White | 53.6% |
• Other | 0.3% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Northern Sotho | 27.4% |
• Afrikaans | 53.2% |
• English | 4.1% |
• Tsonga | 3.8% |
• Other | 11.5% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 0510 |
PO box | 0510 |
Area code | 014 |
Modimolle, also known as Nylstroom, is a town located near the southern edge of the Waterberg Massif in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is a medium-sized town that focuses primarily on agriculture and farming (citrus, grapes and cattle) as well as wildlife and tourism. Nylstroom is also located approximately 135 kilometres (84 miles) north of Pretoria, South Africa's capital city.
The Waterberg Biosphere spreading north, a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve, contains approximately 15,000 square kilometres (5,792 square miles). Waterberg is the first region in the northern part of South Africa to be named as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The extensive rock formation was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of riverine erosion to yield diverse bluff and butte landform. [2] The ecosystem can be characterised as a dry deciduous forest or Bushveld.
In the 1860s, a group of Voortrekkers known as the Jerusalem Trekkers set off for the Holy Land. After discovering a wide river flowing northwards, they consulted the maps at the back of their Bibles and decided that it was the Nylrivier (Nile river). [3] They called the stream Nyl River and settled the town and called it Nylstroom in 1866. [4] [5] After discovering what they believed to be a ruined pyramid, they were convinced that they had found the Nile. It was in fact, a natural hillock, known to the locals as Modimolle. [6] In March 1866, the district of Waterberg was created out of some of the districts of Rustenburg and Zoutpansberg with a landdrost established in Nylstroom. [7] : 230 A Dutch Reformed Church was built in 1889 and is the oldest church in South Africa north of Pretoria. It was also used as a hospital during the Second Boer War. The river is the Nyl River, a tributary of the Mogalakwena River.
The first South African railway line reached Modimolle in 1898, connecting the town to Pretoria. During the Second Boer War, the British government operated a concentration camp in Modimolle, where Boer women and children where interned as part of the Lord Kitchener's scorched earth policy. 544 of those interned at the camp died of various causes before it was closed upon the conclusion of the war in 1902. Strijdom Huis (Strijdom House) was the primary residence of the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa, JG Strijdom, and is situated in Modimolle. [8]
The South African government officially changed the name of the town to Modimolle in 2002. [9] The name comes from the Sotho-Tswana phrase, Modimo o lle, meaning "the forefather's spirit has eaten", or "God has eaten". [5] [10]
Other numerous name changes include the renaming of both a municipal building and the town hall after Oliver Tambo, the library being renamed the Ruth First Memorial Library, as well as the renaming of several streets. [11]
The Province of the Transvaal, commonly referred to as the Transvaal, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Transvaal" refers to the province's geographical location to the north of the Vaal River. Its capital was Pretoria, which was also the country's executive capital.
Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom, also known as Hans Strijdom and nicknamed the Lion of the North or the Lion of Waterberg, was the fifth prime minister of South Africa from 30 November 1954 to his death on 24 August 1958. He was an uncompromising Afrikaner nationalist and a member of the largest, baasskap faction of the National Party (NP), who further accentuated the NP's apartheid policies and break with the Union of South Africa in favour of a republic during his rule.
The Volksraad of the South African Republic was the parliament of the former South African Republic (ZAR), it existed from 1840 to 1877, and from 1881 to 1902 in part of what is now South Africa. The body ceased to exist after the British Empire's victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Volksraad sat in session in Ou Raadsaal in Church Square, Pretoria.
Vaalwater is a small town situated on the Mokolo River in the Limpopo province of South Africa.
The Bushveld is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. The ecoregion straddles the Tropic of Capricorn and constitutes the southern part of the Zambezian region. It encompasses most of Limpopo and a small part of North West in South Africa, the Central and North-East Districts of Botswana and the Matabeleland South and part of Matabeleland North provinces of Zimbabwe. The Kruger National Park has a number of 'Bushveld' camps, but these are strictly speaking in the lowveld, as these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Although their limits are somewhat blurred, lowveld is generally restricted to the more easterly parts of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The following lists events that happened during 1954 in South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 1958 in South Africa.
The Waterberg District Municipality is one of the 5 districts of the Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat is Modimolle. As of 2016, the majority of its 745,758 residents spoke Sepedi, also known as Northern Sotho. The district code is DC36.
The Waterberg is a mountainous massif of approximately 654,033 hectare in north Limpopo Province, South Africa. The average height of the mountain range is 600 m with a few peaks rising up to 2,000 m above sea level. Vaalwater town is located just north of the mountain range. The extensive rock formation was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of riverine erosion to yield diverse bluff and butte landform. The ecosystem can be characterised as a dry deciduous forest or Bushveld. Within the Waterberg there are archaeological finds dating to the Stone Age, and nearby are early evolutionary finds related to the origin of humans.
The Palala or Lephalala River, also called the Rhooebok-river by Thomas Baines, is a river in South Africa. This river's catchment basin is a sub-watershed of the Limpopo River.
Carel Willem Hendrik Boshoff was a South African professor of theology and Afrikaner white nationalist.
The University of Pretoria Faculty of Law was established in 1908. It consists of six academic departments, six centres, two law clinics and the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP). This faculty has Departments of Jurisprudence, Mercantile Law, Private Law, Procedural Law, Public Law and Centre for Human Rights. The faculty offers the undergraduate LLB degree, and postgraduate LLM/MPhil and LLD/PhD degrees.
The R101 is a Regional Route in South Africa that is the designation for some of the old sections of roads that were previously the N1, prior to upgrading. It only has 2 sections, from Bellville to Worcester and from Johannesburg to Polokwane.
The Nyl River is a watercourse in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It flows at the head of the Mogalakwena River, being its southernmost tributary or uppermost section. It is located near Mookgophong (Naboomspruit) in the northern part of the Springbok Flats, a particular geological formation.
The Heroes' Acre is a section of Church Street Cemetery in Pretoria, South Africa. It was established in 1867, and contains the graves of renowned citizens and public figures. It is the burial place of a number of historical figures including Andries Pretorius, Paul Kruger and Hendrik Verwoerd. Australian Boer War war criminal Harry "Breaker" Morant is also buried here.
The Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway 26 Tonner 0-6-0ST of 1896 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in Transvaal.
Magol Commando was a light infantry regiment of the South African Army. It formed part of the South African Army Infantry Formation as well as the South African Territorial Reserve.
Waterberg Commando was a light infantry regiment of the South African Army. It formed part of the South African Army Infantry Formation as well as the South African Territorial Reserve.
Wynand Johannes Boshoff is a South African academic and politician from the Northern Cape serving as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) since 2019. He has been serving as the Provincial Leader of the FF+ since 2015. He previously served as a municipal councillor of the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019. Boshoff is the grandson of the assassinated apartheid-era Prime Minister of South Africa, Hendrik Verwoerd, who served from 1958 until 1966, and the son of Afrikaner enclave Orania founder, Carel Boshoff.