Tshimbupfe

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Tshimbupfe
Etymology: "Iron Mountains"
Coordinates: 23°20′33.13″S30°29′6.99″E / 23.3425361°S 30.4852750°E / -23.3425361; 30.4852750
Country South Africa
Province Limpopo
Area
 • Total16.76 km2 (6.47 sq mi)
Elevation
823.8 m (2,702.8 ft)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total14,653
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)

Tshimbupfe is a region in South Africa's Limpopo province encompassing Tshimbupfe village and the nearby area south of the Soutpansberg mountain range.

Contents

People

The area is home to members of the Vhavenda people, a Bantu-language speaking group composed of multiple subgroups with distinct origins and cultural heritage. [1] [2] Mining and iron smelting have long been important to the economic, commercial, and ritual lives of the Vhavenda people. [3] Today, Tshimbupfe is in the Makhado Local Municipality within the Vhembe District Municipality; according to the 2011 South African National Census, Tshimbupfe has a population of 14,653 and an area of 16.76 km2. [4] Most residents speak Venda (also known as Tshivenda) or Xitsonga [4]

Geography and geology

The settlement area lies 823.8 m above sea level [3] and the province is bordered by Botswana to the west and Zimbabwe to the north. The word “Tshimbupfe” translates to “Iron Mountains” in the Venda language. [5] The settlement area sits at the foot of Manobi Mountain, [3] part of the Schiel Alkaline Complex, a carbonatite complex. [5] The nearby mountain is rich in iron ore (hematite), [3] [6] which was mined for bartering, profit, the creation of domestic utensils, and smelting until the mid-20th century. [3] [5] The complex is part of the Kaapvaal Craton, [7] part of Earth's original crust (3.6 - 2.5 Ga).

Archaeological significance

The tradition of bloomery iron smelting in this region extends back to the Early Iron Age (AD 200–900). [6] This long tradition is reflected in the numerous remnants of this practice that dot the landscape. The mountains of Tshimbupfe, to which Venda people would travel from the surrounding lowlands for iron ore, [8] are lined with shallow trenches from pre-European mining that remained visible until the 1990s. [5] The mining and transportation of this ore was documented in the late 1800s by E.D. Gieseke, the wife of a missionary based in the region [6]

The iron smelteries used in this region were clay cylinders measuring approximately one meter in diameter and height built into the ground. Each smelter had three vertical slits at even intervals around its circumference, into which tuyères were inserted to facilitate airflow. These furnaces were reused to produce additional blooms, and the vertical slits may have allowed each bloom to be removed from the smelter without destroying it. Schuynshoogte, a farm to the north of Tshimbupfe village, was the location of an iron production center with a smelter that remained in good condition until being vandalized in the 1990s. [5] [6]

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Limonite is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as the ratio of oxide to hydroxide can vary quite widely. Limonite is one of the three principal iron ores, the others being hematite and magnetite, and has been mined for the production of iron since at least 400 BC.

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References

  1. ↑ Mabogo, Dowelani Edward Ndivhudzannyi (July 1990). "The ethnobotany of the Vhavenda". University of Pretoria. hdl:2263/28881 . Retrieved 30 January 2021.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ↑ Mesthrie, Rajend (1995). Language and social history: Studies in South African sociolinguistics. New Africa Books. ISBN   0-86486-280-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Munzhedzi, Mudzunga (January 2013). "An evaluation of the conservation status of the Vuu and Tshimbupfe Iron-Smelting sites in Vuwani, Limpopo Province" . Retrieved 27 January 2021.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 Frith, Adrian. "Tshimbupfe". Census 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Killick, David; Miller, Duncan (March 2014). "Smelting of magnetite and magnetite–ilmenite iron ores in the northern Lowveld, South Africa, ca. 1000 CE to ca. 1880 CE". Journal of Archaeological Science. 43: 239–255. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.12.016. ISSN   0305-4403 . Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Mathoho, Eric Ndivhuwo; Bandama, Foreman; Moffett, Abigail J.; Chirikure, Shadreck (2 April 2016). "A technological and anthropological study of iron production in Venda, Limpopo Province, South Africa". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 51 (2): 234–256. doi:10.1080/0067270X.2016.1177937. ISSN   0067-270X. S2CID   163473838 . Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  7. ↑ Walraven, F.; Frick, C.; Lubala, R. T. (July 1992). "Pb-isotope geochronology of the Schiel complex, northern Transvaal, South Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences (and the Middle East). 15 (1). Elsevier: 103–110. Bibcode:1992JAfES..15..103W. doi:10.1016/0899-5362(92)90011-Z.
  8. ↑ Friede, H.M. (April 1980). "Iron Age mining in the Transvaal" (PDF). Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. 80 (4). Sabinet: 156–165. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
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