Mbombela

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Mbombela
Mbombela (South Africa)
Mbombela
Mbombela
Coordinates 25 ° 27 '57 "  S , 30 ° 59' 7"  E Coordinates: 25 ° 27 '57 "  S , 30 ° 59' 7"  E
Basic data
Country South Africa

province

Mpumalanga
District Ehlanzeni
ISO 3166-2 ZA-MP
local community City of Mbombela
surface 72.6 km²
Residents 58,672 (2011)
density 807.8  Ew. / km²
founding 1905
View from Mbombela
View from Mbombela

Mbombela (until the 4th quarter of 2009 Nelspruit ), is the capital of the Mpumalanga province in South Africa . In 2011 the city had 58,672 inhabitants.

geography

Mbombela is located in the Lowveld on the Crocodile River , about 330 kilometers east of Johannesburg on the N4 motorway and 60 kilometers west of the border with Mozambique . In the core city Mbombela has about 24,000, together with suburbs and the former townships KaNyamazane, Msogwaba, Mpakeni and Matsulu about 220,000 inhabitants.

Mbombela is the trade and service center of the surrounding tobacco and fruit growing region and has, among other things, a processing industry, especially for citrus fruits , mangoes , nuts and bananas .

In addition to the Nelspruit station on the Pretoria – Maputo railway line , Mbombela has important transport links to Johannesburg and Cape Town with the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport , which is also frequented by visitors to the Kruger National Park , which is about 50 kilometers away . The city ​​serves as a supraregional supply center for people from Mozambique and Swaziland .

history

The South African Republic (CAR) under President Paul Kruger wanted access to a seaport via a railway line that was independent of the British Crown. The construction of this line was instrumental in Mbombela's early development. The Delagoa Railway between Pretoria and today's Maputo reached what was then Nelspruit in 1892.

During the Second Boer War , Nelspruit briefly served as the seat of government of the CAR in 1900. The place was officially founded on January 27, 1905. It was named after three brothers of the Nel family who grazed their cattle in what is now the city.

The name Mbombela, which the city received in 2010, means "many people in a small place" in Siswati . This name had previously been borne by a township northeast of Nelspruit, whose residents were forcibly relocated in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mbombela was the venue for four group matches of the 2010 Soccer World Cup , the South African Road Cycling Championships in 2012 and the 2013 African Cup of Nations .

Attractions

  • The Lowveld National Botanical Garden in the north of Mbombela is a sea of ​​blossoms of tropical and subtropical plants, especially in spring and summer.
  • The Mbombela Stadium , the venue for the 2010 soccer World Cup, is about seven kilometers west of the city center. It can seat 46,000 spectators.
  • The Emnotweni Casino is just outside of town on the road to Whiteriver.

Personalities

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Government Notice , No. 32632 of October 16, 2009, published by the Department of Arts and Culture in the Government Gazette (English)
  2. ↑ Tshwarelo Mogakane: Nelspruit to be officially renamed to Mbombela . News from October 19, 2009 at SAnews. on www.sanews.gov.za ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sanews.gov.za
  3. ↑ 2011 census , accessed November 16, 2013
  4. ↑ Department of Arts and Culture's list of local and district municipality's names . Retrieved October 27, 2011.