is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Deriving its name from the geothermic hot springs

Hot Springs

Hot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas** Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Placer County, California...

 around which the town was built, it is widely known by the name Warmbaths, officially changed to the current name in 2002. Likewise, the Afrikaans name for the town was Warmbad before the name change. It was also previously called Hartingsburg until the early twentieth century.

The town is situated in the Waterberg District

Waterberg District Municipality

Waterberg is one of the 5 districts of Limpopo province of South Africa. The seat of Waterberg is Modimolle . The majority of its 614 139 people speak Northern Sotho . The district code is DC36.-Geography:...

 of the Limpopo Province. It lies off the N1

N1 (South Africa)

The N1 is a South African National Route, running from Cape Town to Beit Bridge on the border with Zimbabwe. It is also the main road link between Johannesburg and Cape Town, and forms the first section of the famed Cape to Cairo Road....

 road between Pretoria

Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...

 and Polokwane

Polokwane

Polokwane, meaning "Place of Safety",is a city in the Polokwane Local Municipality and the capital of the Limpopo province, South Africa. It is also often referred to by its former name, Pietersburg. Polokwane is a major urban centre, the biggest and most important north of Gauteng. The population...

 (Pietersburg). Its hot springs produce 22,000 litres per hour at 52 °C (125.6 °F).

History

When the Tswana tribes first moved in to the region in about the 1800s, they discovered hot springs in the area.

The Voortrekker Carl Van Heerden established the first farm in what is now Bela-Bela and called it Het Bad. In 1873, President Burger's

Thomas Francois Burgers

-Literature:...

 Transvaal

South African Republic

The South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...

 government bought the land and established a resort called Hartingsburg after the prominent Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 biologist Pieter Harting

Pieter Harting

Pieter Harting was a Dutch biologist and naturalist, born in Rotterdam. He made contributions in a number of scientific disciplines, and is remembered for his work in the fields of microscopy, hydrology, botany, and biostratigraphy.In 1835 he obtained his medical degree from the University of...

. The British occupied the town during the Anglo Boer War, and renamed the post office Warm Baths in 1903, and proclaimed the boundaries of Warmbaths to be the entire farm of Het Bad.

In 1920 Warmbaths was proclaimed a township (in the legal, not racial sense) and the township was designed by architect John Abraham Moffat in that year. In 1950, it became a magisterial district. In 1932 Warmbaths became a village town and got a town council in 1960.

On 14 June 2002 the South African government officially renamed the town to Bela-Bela (meaning "boiling boiling") .

Incorrect variations on this spelling can also be sometimes found, such as "Bella Bella" and "Bela Bela".