Kempton Park
| Kempton Park | |||
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| Coordinates | 26 ° 6 ′ S , 28 ° 14 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| Gauteng | |||
| metropolis | Ekurhuleni | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA-GP | ||
| Residents | 171,575 (2011) | ||
| founding | 1903 | ||
 Aerial view of Kempton Park
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Kempton Park is a large city in South Africa . It belongs to the Gauteng Province and is located in the metropolitan municipality of Ekurhuleni , which was previously known in a similar location as East Rand . In 2011, Kempton Park had 171,575 residents.
Geographical location
Kempton Park is northeast of the Witwatersrand . Closest cities are Johannesburg in the southwest, Germiston in the south, Benoni in the east and Tembisa in the north. Tembisa is one of the largest townships in the country and was founded in 1957.
history
The German Carl Friedrich Wolff played an important role as a mediator between the South African government and the Nobel Trust , which established a dynamite factory , since 1881 . Wolff acquired land through negotiations with landowners. So he became the owner of the farm Zuurfontein ( Afrikaans ; German: "Saure Quelle"), from which he separated part as a residential area. He named it Kempton Park after his Bavarian hometown Kempten (Allgäu) .
In 1952, Jan Smuts Airport was built on the Kempton Park area. It is the most important airport in South Africa and has been called OR Tambo International Airport since 2006 .
In 1992, Kempton Park was declared a City . On June 25, 1993, the Kempton Park World Trade Center was occupied by around 3,000 members of the Boer resistance movements. At the time, negotiations on the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa were taking place in the building.
In 2000 the city became part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
economy
There are many industries in Kempton Park, especially the chemical industry . A hard coal power station can also be found here. South African Airways is also based in Kempton Park .
traffic
Kempton Park is in close proximity to OR Tambo International Airport . The Gautrain (short for: Gauteng Train ) has been operating on a railway line that connects the airport with Johannesburg and Pretoria since 2010 .
The city is connected to the R21, R23 and R24 highways. The N12 runs south of Kempton Park in an east-west direction.
sons and daughters of the town
- Frantz Kruger (* 1975), Finnish athlete of South African descent
- Ryan Cox (1979-2007), racing cyclist
- Chanel Simmonds (* 1992), tennis player
- Steven van Heerden (* 1993), South African cyclist
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2011 census , accessed October 3, 2013
- ↑ History Kempton Park at joburghappenings.co.za (English), accessed on September 19, 2012
- ↑ Status of the operation of the Gautrain (English), accessed on September 19, 2012