Dordrecht, Eastern Cape
Encyclopedia
Dordrecht is situated in the Eastern Cape 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...
. Dordrecht was founded in 1856 by a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
and named after a city of South-West Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. The name Dordrecht comes from Thyre, the name of a river, and Middle Dutch drecht "channel", meaning "Thure river crossing". Some documentation speaks of the river actually being called Thuredrith. Inhabitants of Dordrecht are Dordtenaren (singular: Dordtenaar).
Dordrecht lies nestled in the Stormberg Mountains
Stormberg Mountains
The Stormberg Mountains are a range of mountains situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and are a subsection of the greater Drakensberg mountain range. They form part of the 'Amatola and Stormberg' region which includes major towns like Grahamstown, East London and Port Alfred.Towns...
, just north of Queenstown between Middelburg
Middelburg
Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...
and Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. Its many historical buildings and museum display turn-of-the-century furniture and clothing. Dodrecht is a small town surrounded by a number of farms with a large number of merino sheep and cattle ranchers in the region. Farmers around Dordrecht also grow potatoes. Dordrecht prides itself with a number of historical sites including a unique 1873 colonial country B&B. There are farmstay holidays available in the region. They are well known in South Africa for trout fishing, pheasant hunting and game hunting. The town is also situated near to the Western Drakensberg Mountains where the only snow skiing resort is in South Africa.
Its population was about 8,741 in 2001. It has two high schools, Masikhanyise High School and Dordrecht high school (that is 102 years old). Its oldest townships are Sinako township, Munikville and Marabastad.
Climate
Dordrecht has a subtropical highland climateOceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
(Cwb, according to the Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
), with warm summers and chilly, dry winters, with occasional snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
falls. It borders on a cold semi-arid climate (BSk). The average annual precipitation is 466 mm (18 in), with most rainfall occurring mainly during summer.
The village of Buffelsfontein, located between the towns of Dordrecht and Molteno
Molteno, Eastern Cape
Molteno is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.It was founded in 1874 and named for Sir John Molteno, the first prime minister of the Cape Colony....
, has the coldest recorded temperature in South Africa, of -18.6 °C, on June 28, 1996.