Molteno Pass

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Molteno Pass
Moltenopas
280px
Elevation 1,209 m (3,967 ft)
Location Western Cape, South Africa
Range Nuweveld Mountains
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 389: The value "<strong class="error"><span class="scribunto-error" id="mw-scribunto-error-1">Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.</span></strong>" provided for longitude is not valid.
Location of the Molteno Pass

Molteno Pass is a mountain pass in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

It is considered to be South Africa's first mountain pass. It was built to cross the great Nuweveld Mountain Range, thus connecting the central Karoo and its oldest town Beaufort West, to the vast expanse of the Northern Cape.[1]

View from the Nuweveld Mountains, towards the Karoo plateau in the distance

It was completed in May 1881, and named after the first Prime Minister of the Cape, Sir JC Molteno, a businessman who had owned extensive lands in the area, was instrumental its development, and had represented Beaufort West in parliament.[2]

The pass forms part of the R381, between Beaufort West in the Western Cape and Loxton in the Northern Cape. On its route it passes the Karoo National Park and Victoria West.

References

  1. http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/molteno-pass.htm
  2. Standard Encyclopaedia of South Africa. 1970. Pretoria: Nasou Ltd. Vol 7, p 497


<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>