Victoria West is a town in the central Karoo

Karoo

The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...

 region of South Africa's Northern Cape

Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

 province. It is situated on the main N12 route, at an elevation of 1300 metres (4,265.1 ft). It is the seat of the Ubuntu Local Municipality

Ubuntu Local Municipality

Ubuntu Local Municipality is a municipality in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality of the Northern Cape province of South Africa.Its seat is Victoria West; other towns in the municipality are Richmond, Loxton and two small railway villages Hutchinson and Merriman.-References:...

 within the Pixley ka Seme DM.

The town was laid out on the bank of the Brakrivier watercourse in 1843, when the Dutch Reformed Church bought the farm Zeekoegat from a local farmer. It was named Victoria in 1844, after Queen Victoria, though amended to Victoria West in 1855 to distinguish it from an Eastern Cape

Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...

 district. The town has a small airport , used only by light aircraft, but until the 1970s when they stopped operating piston engined airliners such as the Douglas DC-3

Douglas DC-3

The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...

, it was a refueling stop for South African Airways

South African Airways

South African Airways is the national flag carrier and largest airline of South Africa, with headquarters in Airways Park on the grounds of OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. The airline flies to 36 destinations worldwide from its hub at OR Tambo International...

between Cape Town and destinations to the north.