Roodepoort
| Roodepoort | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 26 ° 10 ′ S , 27 ° 52 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| Gauteng | |||
| metropolis | City of Johannesburg | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA-GP | ||
| Residents | 326,416 (2011) | ||
| founding | 1884 | ||
| Website | www.roodepoortinfo.co.za (English) | ||
 Main Reef Road - an important road that connects the suburbs with the city center
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Roodepoort is a city in the South African province of Gauteng . It belongs to the metropolitan municipality City of Johannesburg and is located northwest of downtown Johannesburg.
Surname
The name Roodepoort comes from Dutch and means "Red Gate", after the red earth there.
geography
Roodeport is at the western end of the Witwatersrand . In 2001 the city had 326,416 inhabitants.
history
After the Struben brothers discovered gold on a nearby farm in 1884 , permission was granted to mine it, which marked the beginning of mining in the region. Due to the gold finds, there was an increased settlement of gold diggers in the places Roodepoort, Florida, Hamberg and Maraisburg, which later grew together into one place. Although gold mining was not worthwhile in the long term, the place developed rapidly.
In 1904 the Roodepoort Municipality was founded. In 1977 the area of today's Roodepoort received city rights under the name Roodepoort-Maraisburg .
Roodepoort has not had an independent city administration since 2000, but is part of District 5 of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
Roodepoort is one of the fastest growing cities in South Africa. This is mainly due to the growing black middle class in the region and in Johannesburg, but also to Monash South Africa , founded in 2001 , a branch of the Australian University of Monash University .
Attractions
Roodepoort is known for its 300 hectare botanical garden , which is named in honor of the ANC member Walter Sisulu Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden . It was formerly called the Witwatersrand Botanical Gardens .
sons and daughters of the town
- Leonard Sachs (1909–1990), South African-British actor
- Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé (1915-2004), South African theologian and anti-apartheid activist
- Anselm van der Linde (* 1970), South African abbot in Austria
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2011 census , accessed October 4, 2013
- ↑ Information on Roodepoort ( en ) roodepoortinfo.co.za. Retrieved June 30, 2010.