Francistown
| Francistown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Coordinates | 21 ° 10 ′ 0 ″ S , 27 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Botswana | ||
|
self-governing city |
Francistown | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | BW-FR | ||
| height | 987 m | ||
| surface | 79 km² | ||
| Residents | 98,961 (2011) | ||
| density | 1,252.7 Ew. / km² | ||
| founding | 1897 | ||
 Satellite image of Francistown
|
|||
Francistown is the second largest city in the South African state of Botswana with around 99,000 inhabitants (2011 census) . It is self-governing as the City of Francistown and is located within the North East District . Francistown is located about 450 kilometers north-northeast of the capital Gaborone on the Tati River .
history
Settlement of the region dates back 80,000 years, when the ancestors of the San lived here.
The region experienced its first boom after 1868 when gold was found here . The Briton Daniel Francis, after whom the town was later named, acquired the mining rights from the local Matabele in 1869 and founded the Tati Concessions .
Today's Francistown was built in 1897. Until Botswana's independence in 1966, the city was the supply center for the Tati Concessions and other gold mines in the region. With the country's independence, the city became a hub for trade with Zimbabwe and Zambia . Up until around 1990 the city attracted businesses that circumvented the international sanctions against South Africa as an apartheid state .
economy
In the slaughterhouses of Francistown, a large proportion of the Botswana cattle destined for export are slaughtered. The clothing, knitwear, shoe, textile, ceramic and chemical industries are still located here.
In the service economy, the transport industry in particular is flourishing. The large hinterland, which extends over sparsely populated areas as far as Zimbabwe, Zambia and the central Kalahari , provides many small and wholesalers.
In 2006 the automobile manufacturer Harper Sports Cars had its headquarters in Francistown , which was then relocated in the same year for strategic market reasons.
traffic
Francistown is on the A1 trunk road that connects the capital Gaborone with Zimbabwe, the A3 that runs from Francistown to Maun , and the A30 that runs to Orapa . In terms of rail transport, Francistown is also connected to the main line in the country (see Rail transport in Botswana ), which is also served by passenger trains to Lobatse and Bulawayo ; Another route operated in freight traffic leads to Sowa .
Francistown Airport is in the northwest of the city .
tourism
Francistown offers hardly any tourist attractions and there are no buildings from the colonial times to visit. However, a small museum is operated that provides information about the Botswana people of the Kalanga . The Makgadikgadi salt pans and the Tuli block with its many wild animals are easy to reach from here.
Climate table
| Francistown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate diagram | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Francistown
Source: wetterkontor.de
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personalities
- Onkabetse Nkobolo (* 1993), athlete, born in Francistown
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Census 2011, p. 4 ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2017 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; PDF), accessed on April 24, 2018
- ↑ R [ené]. A [rthur]. Pelletier: Mineral Resources of South-Central Africa . Oxford University Press, Cape Town / London / New York / Toronto 1964, p. 134.
