Bethulie
| Bethulie | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 30 ° 28 ′ S , 25 ° 58 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| free State | |||
| District | Xhariep | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA-FS | ||
| local community | Kopanong | ||
| height | 1295 m | ||
| Residents | 2100 (2011) | ||
| founding | 1829 | ||
| Website | www.bethulie.co.za (English) | ||
 Dutch Reformed Church in Bethulie
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Bethulie is a town in Kopanong Municipality in Xhariep District ( Free State Province ) in South Africa . It has 2100 inhabitants (as of 2011) the neighboring township of Lephoi had 4397 inhabitants. Bethulie lies at an altitude of 1,295 meters, 180 kilometers south of Bloemfontein . East of the city, the Caledon flows into the Oranje , which is dammed up west of Bethulies to Gariep Dam .
history
In 1829 the missionary station Groot Moordenaarspoort was founded by the London Mission Society on the site of the present city to make San a resident. The name means something like "Great Murderer's Gate" and refers to a battle in which Basotho killed numerous Griqua and Batswana .
In 1833 the Société des missions évangéliques de Paris took over the mission and named it Caledon, from 1835 Verhuellpolis and finally Bethulia (“chosen by God”), after the city of the same name mentioned in the book of Judit . The town was founded in 1863 next to the mission and was given the name Heidelberg, which is also the name of other places in what is now South Africa, so that the town got its current name in 1872.
The first and largest concentration camp during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) was in Bethulie. Almost 2000 people died there.
Economy and Transport
Cattle breeding is economically important today.
Bethulie is at the junction of the R701, which connects the N1 west of Gariep Dam with the N6 in Smithfield in a west-east direction , the R715, which leads to Springfontein in the northwest, and the R390, which reaches Venterstad in the south .
Bethulie is on the Springfontein – East London railway .
Attractions
- Gariep Dam Nature Reserve
- Tussen-die-Riviere Nature Reserve
Personalities
- Patrick Mynhardt , actor
Web links
- Official site of the City (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bethulie , accessed July 7, 2017
- ^ Lephoi , accessed July 7, 2017
- ↑ Location of the place
- ↑ a b c History of the city at bethulie.co.za ( Memento from September 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Description at southafrica.net (English), accessed on November 5, 2014