Potchefstroom
Potchefstroom
(pŏch`əfstrōm, –stro͞om), city, now part and seat of Tlokwe local municipality, North West prov. (in what formerly was part of TransvaalTransvaal, former province, NE South Africa. With the new constitution of 1994, it was divided into Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Veereeniging (now Gauteng), and part of North West prov.
..... Click the link for more information. ), NE South Africa. Located in a fertile farming region, Potchefstroom is the center of one of the world's richest gold-mining districts. Uranium is also mined. The town has malt factories and timber and metal industries.
The oldest European town in what was the Transvaal, Potchefstroom was founded in 1838 and served as capital of the Transvaal until 1860. The fort where British forces were defeated during the Transvaal rebellion of 1880–81 is now a national monument. The British captured Potchefstroom during the South African WarSouth African War
or Boer War,
1899–1902, war of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State against Great Britain. Background
..... Click the link for more information. of 1899 to 1902. The city's main growth dates from 1933, when gold was discovered nearby. A campus of North-West Univ. is there.
Potchefstroom
a city in the Republic of South Africa, in the southern part of the Transvaal Province. Population 55,300 (1970). Founded in 1838, Potchefstroom is an important gold-mining center in the Witwatersrand region. The city is a railroad junction and the commercial center of an agricultural region (corn, durra, cattle); it also has food-processing, lumber, and metalworking enterprises. Potchefstroom has a university and higher technical and commercial schools.