Upington //Khara hais (Nama) | |
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Coordinates: 28°27′S21°15′E / 28.45°S 21.25°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Northern Cape |
District | ZF Mgcawu |
Municipality | Dawid Kruiper |
Established | 1873 [1] |
Government | |
• Type | Local Municipality |
• Mayor | Limakatso Koloi [2] (ANC) |
Area | |
• Total | 580.8 km2 (224.2 sq mi) |
Elevation | 835 m (2,740 ft) |
Population (2011) [3] | |
• Total | 74,834 |
• Density | 130/km2 (330/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 25.6% |
• Coloured | 62.6% |
• Indian/Asian | 0.6% |
• White | 10.1% |
• Other | 1.1% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Afrikaans | 85.5% |
• Xhosa | 6.1% |
• Tswana | 3.2% |
• English | 2.1% |
• Other | 3.1% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 8800 |
PO box | 8800 |
Area code | +27 (0)54 |
Website | www www |
Upington (Khoekhoe : //Khara hais) is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of olive wood trees[ clarification needed ] in the area, but later renamed after Sir Thomas Upington, Attorney-General and then Prime Minister of the Cape. It originated as a mission station established in 1871 and run by Reverend Christiaan Schröder. The mission station now houses the Kalahari Orange Museum. The museum is also the home of a donkey statue, which recognises the enormous contribution that this animal made to the development of the region during the pioneering days of the 19th century.
The elevation of Upington is 2,742 feet (835 metres). It is the closest large centre to the Augrabies Falls (arguably the greatest of South African waterfalls) and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The landscape is very arid but the soil is fertile and crops such as fruit are grown in irrigated fields. The area is best known for its export-quality grapes, raisins and wines, which are cultivated on the rich flood plains of the Orange River.
On 13 November 1985, a black policeman was killed following a disturbance at a political meeting in Paballelo, a black township on the outskirts of Upington. Twenty-six people were charged with the killing, of whom twenty-five were convicted of murder on the basis of common purpose, and one convicted of attempted murder. Fourteen were sentenced to death, although the death sentences were later overturned on appeal. [4] [5] [6] [7] In 2011, a memorial in honour of the Upington 26 was unveiled in Upington by Hazel Jenkins, the Premier of the Northern Cape. [8] In 2014, the Australian film A Common Purpose was made about the case. [9] [10]
Upington's most famous wines are produced by an organisation known as Orange River Cellars. The organisation has six depots in the area (all of them on the banks of the Orange River) at Upington, Kanoneiland, Grootdrink, Kakamas, Keimoes and Groblershoop. Their wines are exported, inter alia, to Europe and the USA.
Upington Airport has scheduled flights provided by SA Airlink. [11] Due to the combination of high elevation and temperature, one of the airport's runways is 4,900 m long [12] (the fourth longest in the world), and thus allows Boeing 747 and other heavy aircraft to use the airport without limitations on take-off weight.
In the first half of the 20th century, there was a passenger train service from Cape Town to Upington. Until the 1950s, a narrow-gauge railway line (two-foot gauge) ran from Upington to Kakamas and Keimoes, two nearby towns. The trains carried passengers and freight, being mainly dried fruit. The line to Kakamas was still in use during the November 2010 grape harvest season. [13]
There are four libraries that serve the community in Upington, viz, Rosedale Library, Upington Library, Korrektiewe and Forum Library. [14]
Upington | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Upington is located on the northern banks of the Orange River and is surrounded by irrigated vineyards. [16] The hottest month of the year is January, with average daily temperatures swinging from 36 °C (97 °F) to 20 °C (68 °F), while in the coolest month of July temperatures range between 21 °C (70 °F) and 4 °C (39 °F). [15] Also the driest month of the year, July sees an average rainfall of only 2 millimetres (0.079 in), while the wettest month of March sees 37 millimetres (1.5 in). Upington has been noted as being the sunniest location on the planet for three months of the year, from November through January. [17]
Upington has a hot desert climate (BWh) with long, hot summers and short, mild winters. Precipitation peaks during late summertime.
Climate data for Upington (1991−2020, extremes 1951–1990) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 42.3 (108.1) | 44.1 (111.4) | 42.3 (108.1) | 38.1 (100.6) | 33.7 (92.7) | 30.4 (86.7) | 29.5 (85.1) | 33.6 (92.5) | 39.3 (102.7) | 40.5 (104.9) | 42.0 (107.6) | 44.4 (111.9) | 44.4 (111.9) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 36.4 (97.5) | 35.7 (96.3) | 33.6 (92.5) | 29.3 (84.7) | 25.6 (78.1) | 21.8 (71.2) | 21.7 (71.1) | 23.9 (75.0) | 28.0 (82.4) | 31.2 (88.2) | 33.4 (92.1) | 35.7 (96.3) | 29.7 (85.5) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 28.3 (82.9) | 27.9 (82.2) | 25.8 (78.4) | 21.4 (70.5) | 17.1 (62.8) | 13.1 (55.6) | 12.9 (55.2) | 14.7 (58.5) | 18.6 (65.5) | 22.4 (72.3) | 24.7 (76.5) | 27.2 (81.0) | 21.2 (70.2) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 20.2 (68.4) | 20.0 (68.0) | 17.9 (64.2) | 13.4 (56.1) | 8.6 (47.5) | 4.3 (39.7) | 4.1 (39.4) | 5.4 (41.7) | 9.2 (48.6) | 13.5 (56.3) | 16.0 (60.8) | 18.6 (65.5) | 12.6 (54.7) |
Record low °C (°F) | 6.7 (44.1) | 7.6 (45.7) | 4.7 (40.5) | −1.7 (28.9) | −5.2 (22.6) | −7.9 (17.8) | −7.8 (18.0) | −7.0 (19.4) | −3.5 (25.7) | −1.7 (28.9) | 4.4 (39.9) | 5.7 (42.3) | −7.9 (17.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 39.5 (1.56) | 38.8 (1.53) | 44.7 (1.76) | 18.5 (0.73) | 10.1 (0.40) | 5.1 (0.20) | 3.3 (0.13) | 1.2 (0.05) | 3.5 (0.14) | 15.1 (0.59) | 13.9 (0.55) | 21.9 (0.86) | 215.6 (8.49) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 25.0 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 33 | 39 | 44 | 49 | 49 | 50 | 45 | 39 | 35 | 33 | 31 | 30 | 40 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 344.3 | 292.3 | 302.3 | 285.4 | 285.7 | 268.6 | 285.7 | 298.6 | 299.5 | 326.5 | 332.1 | 351.8 | 3,672.9 |
Source 1: NOAA (humidity 1961-1990), [18] [19] Deutscher Wetterdienst (extremes) [20] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: South African Weather Service [15] |
Upington have a professional football club named Upington City F.C.
Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, north of South Africa. Botswana occupies an area of 581,730 square kilometres (224,610 sq mi), of which 566,730 km2 (218,820 sq mi) are land. Botswana has land boundaries of combined length 4,347.15 kilometres (2,701.19 mi), of which the constituent boundaries are shared with Namibia, for 1,544 km (959 mi); South Africa 1,969 km (1,223 mi); Zimbabwe, 834 km (518 mi) and Zambia, 0.15 km (0.093 mi). Much of the population of Botswana is concentrated in the eastern part of the country.
The Orange River is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of 2,432 km (1,511 mi), the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Lesotho and between South Africa and Namibia, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Except for Upington, it does not pass through any major cities. The Orange River plays an important role in the South African economy by providing water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. The river was named the Orange River in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange, by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon. Other names include simply the word for river, in Khoekhoegowab orthography written as !Garib, which is rendered in Afrikaans as Gariep River with the intrusion of a velar fricative in place of the alveolar click, Groote River or Senqu River, derived from ǂNū "Black". It is known in isiZulu as isAngqu.
Upington Airport is an airport located in Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa. At 4,900 metres (16,100 ft), runway 17/35 is one of the longest runways in the world. The high elevation of the airport, extremely high summer temperatures and the fact that it was designed for the Boeing 747 necessitated the extreme length of the main runway.
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Kenhardt is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. This little town is about 120 km from Upington, the largest town in the area.
//Khara Hais Local Municipality was a local municipality in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It fell within the ZF Mgcawu District Municipality and governed the town of Upington and surrounding rural areas. As of 2011 the municipality had a population of approximately 93,500 people, and covered an area of 21,780 square kilometres (8,410 sq mi). The unusual spelling of the name comes from the original transcription of the Khwe language name, where the click consonant became "//".
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Keimoes is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It lies on the Orange River and is about halfway between Upington and Kakamas.
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