De Rust

Province

De Rust ( Afrikaans, German as: " The Rest ") is a town in the municipality in the district of Eden Oudtshoorn, Western Cape Province in South Africa. In 2011, he had 3,566 inhabitants. The village lies at the foot of the Swartberg Mountains in the crossing region of the N12 with the Route 62 The nearest town is Oudtshoorn, 35 km and the nearest airport, George, 84 kilometers away.

History

In the early 19th century drew Petrus Johannes Meiring, a young man from Worcester near Cape Town, in the Little Karoo. He was a grandson of Pastor Arnoldus Meiring from Lingen (Ems ), who immigrated in 1743 to South Africa.

He discovered the route through the Swartberg Mountains, Meiringspoort Pass. It was the first pass, the Little Karoo combined here with the Great Karoo, and was completed in 1858.

Long before the town was established, De Rust was already known as a resting place by the difficult pass crossing. 1900 De Rust was established on part of the farm of Meirings family.