Wakkerstroom

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Wakkerstroom
 Wakkerstroom shown within Mpumalanga
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country South Africa
Province Mpumalanga
District Gert Sibande
Municipality Pixley ka Seme
Established {{#property:P571}}
Area[1]
 • Total 87.68 km2 (33.85 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Total 6,852
 • Density 78/km2 (200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[1]
 • Black African 87.8%
 • Coloured 0.3%
 • Indian/Asian 1.3%
 • White 10.2%
 • Other 0.4%
First languages (2011)[1]
 • Zulu 86.2%
 • English 4.2%
 • Afrikaans 3.7%
 • S. Ndebele 1.6%
 • Other 4.2%
Postal code (street) 2480
PO box 2480
Area code 017

Wakkerstroom, (Awake Stream), is the second oldest town in Mpumalanga province in South Africa.

The town is on the KwaZulu-Natal border, 27 km east of Volksrust and 56 km south-east of Amersfoort. The settlement was laid out on the farm Gryshoek by Dirk Cornelis (Swart Dirk) Uys (1814-1910), proclaimed in 1859, and administered by a village council from 1910. Swart Dirk Uys originally named the town Uysenburg, but the name was changed by the Executive Council of the South African Republic to Marthinus-Wesselstroom,[2] also known as Wesselstroom. In 1904 the name of the town was changed again to Wakkerstroom, meaning ‘awake stream’ or ‘lively stream’, which is an Afrikaans translation of the Zulu name for the river uThaka (English: awake) that flows near the town.[3]

Sheep and cattle farming are the primary industries.

The area surrounding the town is mountainous with kloofs, mountain springs, vlei areas, dams, conservation and heritage sites. It is internationally renowned as a "birders paradise".

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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