Heidelberg (Gauteng)
| Heidelberg | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 26 ° 30 '0 " S , 28 ° 21' 0" E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| Gauteng | |||
| District | Sedibeng | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA-GP | ||
| local community | Lesedi | ||
| surface | 40.3 km² | ||
| Residents | 35,563 (2011) | ||
| density | 883.3 Ew. / km² | ||
| founding | 1866 | ||
 Heidelberg City Hall
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Heidelberg is a city in the South African province of Gauteng . In 2011 it had 35,563 inhabitants. The city is the administrative seat of the municipality of Lesedi ( Sesotho lesedi , "light") in the Sedibeng district . It is located near the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve . The trunk road N3 from Johannesburg to Durban passes close to Heidelberg. The city is located about 50 kilometers southeast of Johannesburg near the border with Mpumalanga Province .
history
In 1862, the German Heinrich Julius Ueckermann established a trading post around which the city of Heidelberg developed over time, which Uekermann named Heidelberg after his German place of study . In 1866 the trading post received city rights .
Heidelberg played an important role in the history of South Africa . The city acted in the first war of independence (1880/81), the so-called First Boer War with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the triumvirate of Paul Kruger , Petrus Jacobus Joubert and Marthinus Wessel Pretorius from 1880 to 1883 as the capital of the South African Republic , a of the Boer Republics .
The gold rush also hit Heidelberg on the edge of the gold belt from 1885 and gave the city a modest heyday.
During the Second Boer War (1899–1902), the British set up a concentration camp to fix Boer women and children in the city .
From 1916 to 1929 Heidelberg was the hometown of the South African poet Andries Gerhardus Visser . His house is still standing, but can only be viewed from the outside.
On July 27, 1927, a serious railway accident occurred near Heidelberg when a freight train going south and a passenger train going from Durban to Johannesburg collided head-on. 29 people died and 54 were also injured.
politics
Today Busi Modisakeng is the city's mayor. During a visit to Heidelberg, Germany, in October 2006, she and Lord Mayor Beate Weber signed a friendship treaty (“Charter of Friendship”). Beate Weber was made an honorary citizen of the city of Heidelberg (Gauteng), an honor she shares only with Nelson Mandela .
economy
The city is home to the Karan Beef cattle ranch, the largest cattle ranch in the southern hemisphere.
Culture
The Corroboration Gumboot Dance Company is a youth group for rubber boot dance from the township Ratanda , a suburb of Heidelberg. It is the dance group of the Corroboration Cultural Group .
Attractions
Klipkerk
The Klipkerk is the city's landmark; the name means "stone church". The foundation stone for the church was laid in 1890 - 25 years after the city was founded.
Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve
The nearby reserve on the Highveld is on the Suikerbosrand ("Sugar Summit", 1903 m ). There are numerous camping, picnic and barbecue areas and hiking trails. The park is around 13,000 hectares and is home to zebras , several species of antelope and white-tailed wildebeest, as well as over 200 species of birds.
The old prison
The building was built in 1888 and initially served as a hospital and poor house. When a new prison was built in 1963, it stood empty for years. It was later renovated.
AG Visser House
In the Van der Westhuizen Street , the home of lies Andries Gerhardus Visser , which can be visited from the outside. He also had his doctor's office here.
Concentration camp cemetery
This is where women and children are buried who died in the concentration camps set up by the British during the Second Boer War.
Diepkloof Farm Museum
The farmhouse, built and renovated in 1850, can be visited. It is about 20 kilometers from Heidelberg on the road to Nigel .
Heidelberg Transport Museum
In the sandstone building of the old train station (built in 1895), a museum has been operated here by the Rembrandt group since 1975 .
Bakoond
During the Second Boer War, the Boers hid their water source from the British troops, thereby securing their water supply.
sons and daughters of the town
- Godfrey Khotso Mokoena (* 1985), track and field athlete
Web links
- Official Website of Heidelberg (English)
Remarks
- ^ Peter WB Semmens: Catastrophes on rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , p. 80, expressly mentions Heidelberg, Cape Province , as the scene of the accident. Since the passenger train was on the way from Durban to Johannesburg, the accident site can only have been Heidelberg in what is now Gauteng.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2011 census , accessed October 3, 2013
- ^ Peter WB Semmens: Catastrophes on rails. A worldwide documentation. Transpress, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-344-71030-3 , p. 80.
- ^ South Africa , Baedeker Verlag 2000