Orkney, North West

Province

Orkney [ ɔ ː knɪ ] is a city in the South African province northwest. It is located in the municipality in the district Matlosana Dr Kenneth Kaunda.

Geography

Orkney has 13,435 inhabitants ( 2011 census ). North West of the center is the Kanana Township.

Orkney lies on the border with the province of Free State 1301 meters above sea level. The boundary runs south of the city and is formed here by the Vaal. The larger town of Klerksdorp is located a few kilometers north. The region around Klerksdorp and Orkney has over 350,000 inhabitants and is the industrial center of the North-West Province.

History

In the 1880s, has been found in the area of ​​today's Orkney gold. One of the pioneers was Simon Fraser, who was born in Orkney in northern Scotland and the area gave the name. 1940, the city was founded in Orkney in the field of farm Witkoppen. The city was planned by a Scotsman with surname Machonachie. He named all the streets after British writers. Amidst a Afrikaans shaped by Afrikanerdom environment, this was unusual. In the 1960s, some of the streets were renamed in accordance with the Boers.

1991 42 people were trampled to death in the football stadium Nicky Oppenheimer Stadium in a friendly match. It was the second serious accident in South African sport. During the World Cup in 2010, the stadium was expanded to 40,000 seats, but then not selected as the Venue.

Economy and Transport

To Orkney, on both sides of the Vaal, gold will continue to be promoted, such as the Vaal Reef Gold Mine, one of the largest gold mines in South Africa. The Ground Nut Factory in Orkney is the biggest peanut factory in the southern hemisphere.

The N12 national road that leads from Johannesburg to Cape Town, runs through Klerksdorp. Thither leads from Orkney the road R30, which connects the north later in Bloemfontein in the south and Rustenburg.

Orkney is a railway junction. From here, run routes to Klerksdorp and further towards Johannesburg, Cape Town and Kimberley direction after Kroonstad on the route Johannesburg Bloemfontein. Orkney is happening once a day in each direction of passenger trains of the relation Johannesburg - Cape Town, stopping in Klerksdorp. Orkney has extensive rail facilities for the handling of freight.

Local air traffic is possible via the Orkney Airport.

Others

Orkney was the late 1980s and early 1990s, venue of the Afrikaans sitcom series with the rhyming title Orkney snork never, German: " Orkney does not snore ." The title referred to the alleged " Verschnarchtheit " the place that never dorp previously in the word game never Ook, ook was never Plaas never claimed German: "Neither town nor farm " where ook never sounds like Orkney. The larger Recreational found actually in Klerksdorp.