Verwoerdburg (G 8)

Name: Verwoerdburg

Source: Wikipedia
Centurion (previously known as Verwoerdburg, after Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd) is a city with approximately 300,000 inhabitants in Gauteng Province of South Africa.

It is located between Pretoria and Midrand (Johannesburg), and part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the intersection of the N1 and N14 highways. The R21 also passes through Centurion.

The Waterkloof Air Force Base, as well as the Swartkop Air Force Base (which includes the South African Air Force Museum) are located in the town.


Pre-Historic

Fossils discovered at the Sterkfontein Caves show that hominids lived in the vicinity of Centurion between 2 to 3 million years ago. The Sterkfontein Caves, a World Heritage Site, is less than 50 km from Centurion, near the town of Krugersdorp.

However, the earliest evidence of modern human habitation in the Centurion area itself does not go this far back. It dates back to 1 200 AD when black African communities settled in this area. They cultivated lands, grazed their cattle, made earthenware containers and smelted iron.

19th Century

From 1825 to 1826 the Matabele peoples defeated the Bakwena tribe and settled along the banks of the Magalies River under the leadership of Mzilikazi.

In 1841 the Erasmus family arrived and settled in the area that would later become Centurion. Daniel Jacobus Erasmus settled on the farm Zwartkop, Daniel Elardus Erasmus on the farm Doornkloof and Rasmus Elardus Erasmus developed the farm Brakfontein. Several of the suburbs like Erasmia, Elardus Park, Zwartkop and Doornkloof were named after these 19th century owners of the land and their properties.

In 1849 Rev Andrew Murray visited the farm Doornkloof and christened 129 babies, heard the confession of their faith of 29 new members of the Reformed Church and the next day, 29 December 1849, celebrated communion.

In 1889 Alois Hugo Nelmapius bought the northern and north-eastern portions of the farm Doornkloof and named it after his daughter Irene (who died 1961).

First Anglo-Boer War

As part of the First Boer War, the battle for Rooihuiskraal (Afrikaans for "Red House Kraal") took place in 1881 nearby here. A Boer commando under the leadership of D.J. Erasmus Jr defeated Colonel Gildea, or "The Blasted Colonel" as they called him, the British Officer Commanding of the Pretoria Garrison. After the cornered British garrison tried to escape to Natal to join General George Pomeroy Colley, the Boers entrenched themselves behind a stone wall surrounding the animal stockade, and wounded the colonel in the backside, who was standing upright in his stirrups. This was no doubt a serious blow to British morale.


Second Anglo-Boer War
During the Second Boer War the Irene Concentration Camp was established in 1901 on the farm Doornkloof, as part of the British scorched earth policy, where Boer women and children were housed under extremely poor conditions. At its peak the camp had 5,500 inhabitants, mostly women and children. Between February 1901 and the end of the war in 1902, 1249 lost their lives here, about 1000 of them children. The Irene Camp Cemetery is well preserved and contains 576 of the original slate tombstones that was carved by hand in the camp.

20th Century
The town of Irene was established in 1902 when 337 plots were laid out on the farm Doornkloof. Jan Smuts later owned part of this farm, and died there in 1950. The Smuts House is a museum today, and regularly hosts open air fleamarkets on its grounds.

Centurion developed from the initial Lyttelton Township that was marked out on the farm Droogegrond in 1904. Lyttelton Manor Extension 1 was established in 1942. These two townships initially resorted under the Peri Urban Board in Pretoria.

Centurion was granted City Council status in 1962 as Lyttelton. It was formed by combining the areas of Doornkloof, Irene and Lyttelton. Lyttelton was renamed Verwoerdburg in 1967, after Hendrik Verwoerd, the so-called "architect of apartheid". The surrounding areas, as they grew, came under the same name and Lyttelton became known as one of the suburbs of Verwoerdburg. Others included Clubview, Eldoraigne, Wierdapark, Zwartkops and their extensions.

The politically neutral name Centurion has no significance, and was presumably chosen by residents in 1995 to match the name of the Centurion Park (now called SuperSport Park) cricket ground, located in the area after the end of apartheid.

Following the end of Apartheid, the Indian township of Laudium and surrounding suburbs including Erasmia and Claudius, which were formerly a part of Pretoria, were made part of Centurion. A black township, called Olievenhoutbosch was created in Centurion at around the same time.

In 2000, the Centurion local government became part of the newly-created City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, which also includes Pretoria, and the town ceased to have its own Town Council.

Geography

The Hennops River flows through the heart of Centurion, and causes occasional flooding when heavy rainfall has occurred.

Climate
Centurion is located on the Highveld like Johannesburg and Pretoria and has a similar climate, with dry, sunny winters (max daytime temperature around 20°C dropping to a crisp average minimum of 5°C) , and warm to hot summers (October - April) tempered by late-afternoon showers often accompanied by spectacular thunder and lightning. Hailstorms are not uncommon, but a serious hailstorm has not happened for many years. Summer temperatures range from the mid 20's to the mid 30's (°Celsius). Centurion's weather tends to follow the slightly warmer Pretoria, when compared to that of Johannesburg.

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