Cradock, Eastern Cape

Province

Cradock is a town in the municipality Inxuba Yethemba, Chris Hani District, Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The town lies in the valley of the upper reaches of the Great Fish River. It is the administrative seat of Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, formerly Cradock Local Municipality. 2011, the city had 36,671 inhabitants.

Location and transport

The city was built in a broad, flat valley of the Great Fish River and is situated between the foothills of winter mountains in the east and those of the banking mountain massif in the west. This valley floor belongs to the Great Fish River Basin (Fish River Basin ).

By Cradock lead the N10 national road and a railway line. Both create connections to the northern Middelburg and on to Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth for lying south of the Indian Ocean.

The regional road R61 crosses Cradock as east-west connection. The traffic coming from Graaf -Reinet happened on this route Cradock and continues eastbound towards Tarkastad and Queenstown.

The city has a small regional airport ( IATA code: CDO).

Population, employment situation

The population consists mainly of immigrant descendants of members of the Xhosa and Europeans.

The majority of jobs provided by operations for the processing and production of wool, mohair, fruit and cattle farming, dairy and food industry.

History

The city was founded in 1812 (other indication, 1813) and was named after John Francis Cradock, then governor of the Cape Colony from 1811 to 1813. The city was intended as a fort, but never got into a military conflict with the Xhosa. In 1848 Thomas Baines visited Cradock. He reported 9,000 inhabitants ( 4300 Europeans, 4490 native ) and noted in his records the remarkable for the remote region English and Dutch -influenced architecture.

In 1867 they built a church representative. A railway connection was Cradock 1881.

In June 1985, the Cradock Four, four members of the opposition United Democratic Front, were kidnapped on their way from Cradock and taken to Port Elizabeth, where they were killed. After the end of apartheid, it became known that the act was initiated by hidden operating officers of the South African Defence Force.

Attractions

  • Built in 1867 the church of the local Dutch Reformed Church is modeled on the construction of London's St. Martin-in -the-Fields, and has to its prominent role model very similar.
  • Some old houses dating from the Victorian historicism are located on the Market Street ( The Tuishuise ) in the center of Cradock.
  • Great Fish River Museum, founded in 1979, shows his collections in the history of the first settlers of 1806, regional culture and lifestyle, old furniture, ceramics and photographs. His buildings within the historic architectural heritage of the city.
  • The Schreiner House is a small museum commemorating the South African writer and feminist Olive Schreiner, who worked here 1867-1870. She was known for her novel The Story of an African Farm. The museum is a branch of the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown. Her younger brother William Philip Schreiner worked from 1899 to 1902 as prime minister of the Cape Colony.
  • An old water mill ( Old Water Mill )
  • The Van Riebeeck Karoo Garden is an area with botanical features of the region.
  • South of the city is located at Buffelkop the grave of Olive Schreiner.

Environment

  • To the west lies a large area of the company founded in 1937 Mountain Zebra National Park.
  • The panorama in the environment of the city is dominated by a mountain landscape, which is used for tourism purposes.
  • In the expiring winter mountains is located on the Tarka River, a tributary of the Great Fish River, the Arthur Lake ( Lake Arthur).
  • North of Cradock is worldwide with 82 kilometers of one of the longest irrigation tunnel that carries its water in the catchment area of the Orange River.
  • About the Swaershoek Pass (1590 meters) in the bank mountain massif (2013 m ) the old regional road R337 runs after Pearston and Somerset East.

Climate, geology

Cradock is in the range of the Great Karoo and benefited economically from the soil and low water conditions. The annual rainfall in the mountains allows for intensive agriculture by the available surface water. The climatic situation in the valley to Cradock is characterized by symptoms of evapotranspiration in the Great Fish River Basin.

The formative rock in the area of Cradock is sandstone Escourt the formation of the lower Beaufort Group. There are some quarries, where a light gray, fine-grained calcitic and bound Sandstone is mined.

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Neville Alexander (1936-2012), German scholar, linguist, historian and anti-apartheid fighters
  • Frederick Guy Butler ( born January 21, 1918 † 26 April 2001), poet and writer
  • Thomas ox Honiball ( born December 7, 1905 † 22 February 1990), cartoonist
  • George Weideman ( born July 2, 1947 † 27 August 2008), writer
Chris Hani District Municipality Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality Winterberg, Eastern Cape Middelburg, Eastern Cape Graaff-Reinet List of airports by IATA code: C Xhosa people St. Martin-in-the-Fields Victorian architecture Mountain-Zebra-Nationalpark
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