Northern Cape

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Northern Cape
Noord-Kaap
Mntla-Koloni
Coat of Arms of the Northern Cape
Location of the Northern Cape
Capital Kimberley
Largest city Kimberley
Premier Elizabeth Dipuo Peters (ANC)
Area
- Total		 Ranked 1st
361,830 km²
Population
 - Total (2007)
 - Density		 Ranked 9th
1,102,200
2/km²
Languages Afrikaans (70%)
Tswana (20%)
Xhosa (6.5%)
Ethnic composition Coloured (51.6%)
Black (35.7%)
White (12.4%)
Asian (0.3%)
edit


Map showing predominant home languages in the province.
Map showing predominant home languages in the province.

The Northern Cape is a large, sparsely populated province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, which is part of a trans-frontier park with Botswana. It also includes the Augrabies Falls and the diamond mining regions in Kimberley and Alexander Bay. The Namaqualand region (in the west) is famous for its Namaqualand daisies. The towns of De Aar and Colesburg (in the south) are part of the Great Karoo, and are major transport nodes between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The Orange River flows through the province, forming the borders with the Free State (in the south east) and with Namibia (to the northwest). It is also used to irrigate the many vineyards near Upington, which is very important in this mostly arid province. Kuruman, in the north-east of the province, is famous as a mission station and also for its 'eye'.

Northern Cape has the largest percentage of native speakers of Afrikaans of any province of South Africa.

Contents

Main article: History of the Northern Cape

The Northern Cape was one of three provinces carved out of the Cape Province in 1994, the others being Western Cape to the south and Eastern Cape to the southeast. Politically, it has been dominated since 1994 by the ANC. However, because of it being dominated by speakers of the Afrikaans language, ethnic issues have taken a prominent position in the politics of the Northern Cape. For instance, it is the site of the controversial Orania settlement, whose leaders have called for a Volkstaat for the Afrikaner people in the province. However, it has faced controversy in the province, where the Afrikaans-speaking Coloureds form a plurality; tensions came to a head in 2005 when a group of 60 coloureds filed a land claim with the government for some 485 hectares in the town from which, they claimed, they had been evicted when the town was founded in the early 1990s, when apartheid was being dismantled.

The Northern Cape is also the home of over 1,000 San who immigrated from Namibia following the independence of the country; they had served as trackers and scouts for the South African government during the war, and feared reprisals from their former foes. They were awarded a settlement in Platfontein in 1999 by the Mandela government.

See also List of cities and towns in the Northern Cape

The Northern Cape is South Africa's largest province, and distances between towns are enormous due to its sparse population. Its size is just shy of the size of the American state of Montana and slightly larger than that of Germany. The province is dominated by the Karoo Basin and consists mostly of sedimentary rocks and some Dolerite intrusions. The south and south-east of the province is high-lying (1200m-1900m) in the Roggeveld and Nuweveld districts. The west coast is dominated by the Namaqualand region, famous for its spring flowers. This area is hilly to mountainous and consists of Granites and other metamorphic rocks. The central areas are generally flat with interspersed salt pans. Kimberlite intrusions punctuate the Karoo rocks, giving the province its most precious natural resource, Diamonds. The north is primarily Kalahari Desert, characterised by parallel red sand dunes and acacia tree dry savanna.

Northern Cape has a shoreline in the west on the South Atlantic Ocean. It borders the following areas of Namibia and Botswana:

Domestically, it borders the following provinces:

Mostly arid to semi-arid, few areas in the province receive more than 400mm of rainfall per annum. Rainfall generally increases from west to east. The west experiences most rainfall in winter, while the east receives most of its moisture from late summer thunderstorms. Many areas experience extreme heat, with hottest temperatures in South Africa measured along the Namibian border. Summers maximums are generally 30ºC or higher, sometimes higher than 40ºC. Winters are usually frosty and clear, with southern areas sometimes becoming bitterly cold, such as Sutherland, which often receives snow and temperatures occasionally drop below the -10ºC mark.

  • Kimberley averages: January maximum: 33ºC (min: 18ºC), June maximum: 18ºC (min: 3ºC), annual precipitation: 414mm
  • Springbok averages: January maximum: 30ºC (min: 15ºC), July maximum: 17ºC (min: 7ºC), annual precipitation: 195mm
  • Sutherland averages: January maximum: 27ºC (min: 9ºC), July maximum: 13ºC (min: -3ºC), annual precipitation: 237mm
Wind mills in Namaqualand, Northern Cape
Wind mills in Namaqualand, Northern Cape

See also: Northern Cape wine

Most famous for the diamond mines around Kimberley, the Northern Cape also has a substantial agricultural area around the Orange River, including most of South Africa's sultana vineyards. Some Wine of Origin areas have been demarcated.

The Northern Cape Province is divided into thirty two municipalities:

 v • d • e Northern Cape Province of South Africa Northern Cape Coat of Arms
Capital Kimberley
Regions Kalahari Desert | Namaqualand
Cities Kimberley
Largest towns Kuruman | Upington | De Aar | Orania | Garies | Griquatown
Municipalities District: Namakwa | Karoo | Siyanda | Frances Baard | Kgalagadi
Local: Benede Oranje | Bo Karoo | Diamondfields | Dikgatlong | Emthanjeni | Gamagara | Ga-Segonyana | Hantam | Kai-Garib | Kalahari | Kamiesberg | Kareeberg | Karoo Hoogland | Kgatelopele | Kheis | Khara Hais | KhGi-Ma | Magareng | Mier | Nama Khoi | Phokwane | Renosterberg | Richtersveld | Siyancuma | Siyathemba | Sol Plaatje | Thembelihle | Tesantsabane | Ubuntu | Umsombomvu
v • d • e
Provinces of South Africa
Eastern Cape · Free State · Gauteng · KwaZulu-Natal · Limpopo · Mpumalanga · North West · Northern Cape · Western Cape
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cape"
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