Kenhardt | |
|---|---|
 Farm in the Kenhardt area. | |
  Kenhardt  Kenhardt | |
| Coordinates:29°21′00″S21°09′00″E / 29.35000°S 21.15000°E /-29.35000; 21.15000 | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Northern Cape |
| District | ZF Mgcawu |
| Municipality | Kai !Garib |
| Established | 1868 |
| Area | |
• Total | 159.35 km2 (61.53 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 4,843 |
| • Density | 30.39/km2 (78.72/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 1.9% |
| • Coloured | 92.2% |
| • Indian/Asian | 1.1% |
| • White | 4.3% |
| • Other | 0.5% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Afrikaans | 96.5% |
| • Other | 3.5% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 8900 |
| PO box | 8900 |
| Area code | 054 |
Kenhardt (founded 1868) is a small town in theNorthern Cape province ofSouth Africa. This little town is about 120 km fromUpington, the largest town in the area.
On 27 December 1868, special magistrate Maximillian Jackson and a police contingent were sent to act as a bulwark against theGriquas (also known as Koranna), who were in open conflict with colonial forces.[2] They arrived in Kenhardt and set up camp under a giantcamelthorn tree.[3]
This has been for a long time the most remote settlement in the North-Western Cape. With time the town developed from under this tree, becoming a municipality in 1909. The Hartbees River, with its many sweet thorn trees, provides a green belt irrigated by the Rooiberg Dam. Kenhardt is famous for being at the heart of theDorper sheep-farming area.
This region contains very little vegetation, primarily very low shrubs and yellow grass among a rocky desert kind of landscape. If you travel south from Kenhardt towardsBrandvlei, you will pass through a huge landscape of yellow grass lands and rocky desert like ares for the next 145 km and more. During the seasons many birds flock to thepans, when they contain water, after some rainfall. Temperature above 40 °C is not uncommon.
This tree is about 500–600 years old. It is under this tree which Magistrate Jackson set up his camp in 1868.
The old library was built in 1897, and it was used until 1977. In 1978 it was declared a national monument, currently it is used bySanlam as their office.[4]
A vast dry pan on which SirMalcolm Campbell tried, inBluebird 1, to set a new world land-speed record in 1929.[5]
Municipalities and communities ofZF Mgcawu District Municipality,Northern Cape | ||
|---|---|---|
District seat:Upington | ||
| Dawid Kruiper | .svg) | |
| Kai !Garib | ||
| Kgatelopele | ||
| !Kheis | ||
| Tsantsabane | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
