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.
The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Ermelo and only about 240 kilometres (150 mi) from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its confluence with the Orange River southwest of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. It is 1,458 kilometres (906 mi) long, and forms the border between Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West Province on its north bank, and the Free State on its south.
The Great Trek was a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial administration. The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Cape's original European settlers, known collectively as Boers, and the British. It was also reflective of an increasingly common trend among individual Boer communities to pursue an isolationist and semi-nomadic lifestyle away from the developing administrative complexities in Cape Town. Boers who took part in the Great Trek identified themselves as voortrekkers, meaning "pioneers" or "pathfinders" in Dutch and Afrikaans.
The Boer republics were independent, self-governing republics formed by Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders – variously named Trekboers, Boers, and Voortrekkers – settled mainly in the middle, northern, north-eastern and eastern parts of present-day South Africa. Two of the Boer republics achieved international recognition and complete independence: the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The republics did not provide for the separation of church and state, initially allowing only the Dutch Reformed Church, and later also other Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition. The republics came to an end after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, which resulted in British annexation and later incorporation of their lands into the Union of South Africa.
Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius was a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the South African Republic, as well as the earlier but short-lived Natalia Republic, in present-day South Africa. The large city of Pretoria, executive capital of South Africa, is named after him.
Potchefstroom, colloquially known as Potch, is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooirivier, roughly 120 km (75 mi) west-southwest of Johannesburg and 45 km (28 mi) east-northeast of Klerksdorp.
Kroonstad is a town in Free State, South Africa, consisting of the following suburbs: Brentpark, Constantia, Constantia Park, Dawid Malanville, Elandia, Gelukwaarts, Goedgedacht, Heuningspruit, Industria, Jordania, Koekoe Village, Kroonheuwel, Maokeng, Morewag, Noordhoek, Ou Dorp, Panorama, Phomalong, Presidensia, Prison Area, Seisoville, Suidrand, Tuinhof, Uitsig, Vooruitsig, West Park and Wilgenhof. Being the fourth largest town in the Free State, Kroonstad lies approximately two hours' drive along the N1 from Gauteng. It is the second-largest commercial and urban centre in the Northern Free State, and an important railway junction on the main line from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
Kestell is a small maize farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
Petrus Steyn is a small farming town between Tweeling and Kroonstad, 35 km north-east of Lindley in the Free State province of South Africa. It is at the centre of an agricultural area known for wheat, maize, sunflower, potato, cattle, hunting, sheep production and forms part of the breadbasket in the Free State. It is the highest town above sea level in the Free State. Farming industries in Petrus Steyn provide potatoes worldwide.
Bothaville is a maize farming town situated near the Vaal River in the Lejweleputswa DM of the Free State province, South Africa. It is situated 60 km east of the Vaal, on the bank of its Vals River tributary. Bothaville and the adjacent Kgotsong township have a total of approximately 46,000 residents.
Winburg - Makeleketla is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
Christiana is an agricultural town of about 3,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Vaal River in North West province, South Africa. The town is located on the N12 national route between Bloemhof and Warrenton, on the way to Kimberley. It is the administrative centre and seat of Lekwa-Teemane Local Municipality.
Lichtenburg is a town situated in North West Province, South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
Warrenton is an agricultural town of approximately 22,588 people in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, situated 70 kilometres (40 mi) north of Kimberley on the Vaal River.
Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Dutch Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans-speaking population, because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists.
Grootdraai Dam is a combined gravity and earth-fill type dam located on the Vaal River, near Standerton, Mpumalanga, South Africa. It was established in 1981.
Lekwa Municipality is a local municipality situated in the southwest of the Gert Sibande District Municipality, in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Standerton, an urban node, is the seat of the municipality. It was inaugurated on 5 December 2000 after the amalgamation of the Standerton, Sakhile and Morgenzon councils. Agriculture, forestry and fishing constitute about 30% of its economy. It is situated on open grassland plains of the Highveld region, which is traversed by the west-flowing Vaal River, for which it is named. Lekwa is the Sesotho name for the Vaal River. Lekwa's first two decades were marked by increasing maladministration, which culminated in a collapse in governance and service delivery by 2020. This had negative consequences for its residents and businesses, the environment, and utilities which were not paid for their services.
Hoërskool Voortrekker is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the municipality of Boksburg in the city of Ekurhuleni in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The academic school was established in 1920.
AfriForum is a South African non-governmental organisation which mainly focuses on the interests of Afrikaners, a subgroup of the country's white population. AfriForum has been described as a "white nationalist, alt-right, and Afrikaner nationalist group", though this description is rejected by the organisation's leadership, who refer to themselves as a civil rights group.
The South African Republic, which existed from 1852 to 1877, 1881 to 1902, and 1914 to 1915, used two flags: (1) the so-called 'Vierkleur' from 1857 to 1874, and again from 1875 to 1877 and 1881 to 1902, and (2) the so-called 'Burgers Flag' from 1874 to 1875. They were superseded by the flag of Transvaal. The Vierkleur was also used by the South African Republic declared in 1914 during the Maritz Rebellion, which lasted into February 1915.
