Polokwane

Province

The city of Polokwane ( Pietersburg to 2005 ) is located in the town of Polokwane, Capricorn District, Limpopo Province in South Africa. It is the capital of the province of Limpopo.

History

The 1312 meters above sea level, the town on the main route north towards Zimbabwe was founded in 1886 by Voortrekkers and named after the General Petrus Jacobus Joubert Piet Pietersburg. During the Second Boer War, the city was the capital of the Boer Republic of the Transvaal. In 1901 the city was conquered by the British.

Pietersburg experienced since 1960 a strong industrialization, which emerged around this time five factories. The Industrial Development Corporation established in 1966 in the city of an entire industrial complex, which consisted of twelve units. In the context of the then -industries- operated border policy for the settlement of production in the marginal area of the Homelands, it was called factory nest. For workers needed for this next door was a township.

1984 lived 79,000 people (including 14,000 whites) in the city. In Polokwane lived 2011 130.028 inhabitants. In addition to a train station and the airport Polokwane International Airport has around a diamond mine and it is particularly pure quartz sand mined. Many industrial companies are active here.

The South African government launched in 2002 a nation-wide renaming of cities, remembered their names to the apartheid past. In 2005, also Pietersburg was renamed Polokwane. Polokwane is the Sepedi word for " a safe place ".

Climate

Polokwane has thanks to its high altitude, a temperate climate with average daytime highs of 25 ° C to 26 ° C and average minimum temperatures to 15 ° C in the summer months from November to February. During the winter months of June and July, the average low temperatures to fall to 5 ° C, the highest temperature values ​​reach a monthly average of about 18 ° C to 19 ° C. Rain falls mainly in the summer (around 90 mm per month), the winter months are rather dry.

Tourism

In the vicinity is the sprawling nature park Polokwane Nature Reserve, in the especially many species of birds. The Bakone Malapa Open-Air Museum presents the history and culture of the Sotho people.

Polokwane was the venue of matches of the Football World Cup in 2010. Four group matches were held in the Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Famous sons and daughters of the town

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