Bloemhof, North West
Encyclopedia
Bloemhof is an agricultural town with 14,972 inhabitants situated on the banks of the Vaal River
in North West Province of South Africa
.
It was founded in 1864 when diamond
s were discovered in the area. The town was established on the farm owned by John Barclay, who survived the HMS Birkenhead
shipwreck in 1852. The place became known as Bloemhof (flower court) because of the lovely gardens that were planted by Barclay's daughter. Currently Bloemhof has a variety of social milieus; it has a township called Boitumelong.
Vaal River
The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30 km north of Ermelo and only about 240 km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction...
in North West Province of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
It was founded in 1864 when diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s were discovered in the area. The town was established on the farm owned by John Barclay, who survived the HMS Birkenhead
HMS Birkenhead (1845)
HMS Birkenhead, also referred to as HM Troopship Birkenhead or steam frigate Birkenhead, was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy...
shipwreck in 1852. The place became known as Bloemhof (flower court) because of the lovely gardens that were planted by Barclay's daughter. Currently Bloemhof has a variety of social milieus; it has a township called Boitumelong.
Tourist attractions
- Bloemhof Dam Nature Reserve