Pair

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pair
Paarl (South Africa)
Pair
Pair
Coordinates 33 ° 43 '27 "  S , 18 ° 57' 21"  E Coordinates: 33 ° 43 '27 "  S , 18 ° 57' 21"  E
Basic data
Country South Africa

province

Western cape
District Cape Winelands
ISO 3166-2 ZA toilet
local community Drakenstein
height 132 m
surface 64.6 km²
Residents 112,045 (2011)
density 1,734.2  Ew. / km²
founding 1690
Post Code 7620
Paarl view.jpg

After Cape Town, Paarl is the largest industrial city in the South African province of Western Cape . In 2011, Paarl had 112,045 residents. The city is located about 50 kilometers northeast of Cape Town and was officially founded in 1690. The first farms in the valley of the Berg River were built around 1687 ; In the following years Huguenots expelled from France settled here . From these and other French farms, the South African wine industry emerged , the center of which is still in the area around Paarl and Stellenbosch . In addition to other wineries, the KWV ( Kooperatieve Wijnbouwers-Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bepracht ), one of the largest winegrowers' cooperatives, has its headquarters in Paarl. Other well-known wineries from Paarl are Backsberg Estate , Boland Kelder , Nederburg and Simonsvlei .

By the time the Cape Town railroad reached the city around 1860, Paarl was already known throughout the Cape Colony for its outstanding wagon builders. Today, in addition to wine, mainly fruit is grown and processed here.

The name Paarl means "pearl" and goes back to the first white man who reached the place. When Abraham Gabbema reached the valley on October 22nd, 1657, he was amazed at the sight of a large granite ridge on the ridge on the western edge. This hill was damp from rain or dew and shone like a pearl in the morning sun - hence the name. Today this 728 meter high mountain is called Paarl Mountain and has been a national monument since 1963.

Afrikaanse Taalmonument

The name of the city is treated separately in Afrikaans : the Afrikaans equivalent of the Dutch Paarl is Pêrel . When the town of Paarl is spoken of, it is said to be Pêrel in Afrikaans , but the spelling Paarl is retained. This only applies to Afrikaans, in English the name is pronounced according to the spelling.

Paarl also played a major role in the development of Afrikaans. The Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (German: "Community of real Afrikaans") was founded here on August 14, 1875 with the aim of establishing Afrikaans as a written language. From January 15, 1876, the cooperative published the first magazine in Afrikaans, initially only monthly, later also weekly. This first newspaper was replaced in 1905 by today's local newspaper Paarl Post . The Afrikaanse Patriot was printed in the manor of Gideon Malherbe, one of the founders of the Genotskap ; Since August 14, 1975, the Afrikaans Language Museum , also known as the Gideon Malherbe Museum, has been located on the first floor . The ground floor of the manor house is true to the original as it was at the time of the Malherbes, who lived here from 1860 to 1921. The importance of Afrikaans is also demonstrated by the construction of the Afrikaanse Taalmonument (roughly: "Afrikaans Monument") above the city.

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Paarl  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2011 census , accessed October 2, 2013