Prince Albert (South Africa)
| Prince Albert | |||
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| Coordinates | 33 ° 13 ′ S , 22 ° 2 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| Western cape | |||
| District | Central Karoo | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA toilet | ||
| local community | Prince Albert | ||
| height | 650 m | ||
| Residents | 7054 (2011) | ||
 Look at Prince Albert
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Prince Albert ( English ) or Prins Albert ( Afrikaans ) is a city in the Western Cape Province of South Africa . It is the administrative seat of the municipality of the same name in the Central Karoo district , in the Great Karoo . 400 kilometers northeast of Cape Town , the R328 branches off the N1 motorway . The city is 44 kilometers east at the foot of the Swartberge with the Swartberg Pass . Prince Albert is 650 meters above sea level, has more than 300 days of sunshine and an average of just 220 mm of rainfall per year. Today 7,054 people live here (as of 2011). Neighboring towns are Beaufort West (159 kilometers away), Willowmore (134 kilometers) and Oudtshoorn (72 kilometers).
history
Rock carvings are evidence that the San settled here many years ago. The present city is located on a farm that was assigned as a fief to a Zacharias De Beer in 1762 , who planted orchards, vineyards and wheat fields here. The year-round guaranteed water supply from the Swartberg Mountains resulted in rich harvests. Soon the farm became a stopover for travelers who had to recover from their strenuous journeys through the Karoo. Until 1842 the place was called Albertsberg . In 1842 a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church was founded in the city . In the same year the place was renamed Prince Albert, after Queen Victoria’s husband of Great Britain , Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . In 1881 the construction of the Swartberg Pass began, which was completed in 1886 by Thomas Baine. In 1891 there was a gold find by a shepherd. A brief gold rush began, but it quickly ended after 504 ounces . In 1901 Prince Albert received city rights.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2011 census , accessed November 23, 2013