Saturday, September 4, 2010

Pietersburg (H 5)

Name:Pietersburg


Source Wikipedia

Polokwane, meaning "Place of Safety",[2][4] is a city in the Polokwane Local Municipality and the capital of the Limpopo province, South Africa. It is also often referred to by its former name,[3] Pietersburg. Polokwane is a major urban centre, the biggest and most important north of Gauteng. The population of the municipality exceeds 500,000 (2001). Polokwane was one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

History
In the 1840s, Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Potgieter established Zoutpansbergdorp, a town 100 km to the north west. This settlement had to be abandoned because of clashes with the local tribes. They founded a new town in 1886 and named it Pietersburg in honour of Voortrekker leader Petrus Jacobus Joubert. The British built a concentration camp at Pietersburg during the Boer War to house almost 4,000 Boer women and children. The town officially became a city on April 23, 1992; on February 25, 2005, the government declared the official English name of the city to be the Northern Sotho one, Polokwane. The city was the site of the ANC national conference which saw Jacob Zuma take over as head of the party.[5


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