North West: 20 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know

The North West province is one of the 9 provinces of South Africa. There’s probably a lot that you don’t know about this province, but today my aim is to change that.

Here’s are 20 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The North West Province

1. North West is bordered by the Gauteng and Limpopo provinces and Botswana in the North and by the Free State and Northern Cape provinces in the South.

2. It’s the 6th biggest province in South Africa (by area) and occupies 104,882 square kilometres (40,495 square miles). It’s slightly smaller than the US State of Pennsylvania.

3. According to 2017 statistics, the province has a population of +/- 3.9 million.

4. North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, and includes parts of the former Transvaal Province and Cape Province, as well as most of the former Bophuthatswana homeland.

5. The North West Province is divided into four district municipalities. The district municipalities are in turn divided into 18 local municipalities.

6. The four biggest cities in the province are Mahikeng (which has a population of +/- 291 000), Klerksdorp (which has a population of over 185,000), Rustenburg (which has a population of +/- 555 000) and Potchefstroom (which has an estimated population of +/- 196,000). Strangely enough, only 35% of the province is urbanised.

7. The mainstay of the economy of North West Province is mining, which generates more than half of the province’s gross domestic product and provides jobs for a quarter of its workforce.

The chief minerals are gold, uranium, platinum and diamonds. Rustenburg and Brits (a town about 50 km from Pretoria) produces over 90% of South Africa’s platinum. That’s were the province gets its “Platinum Province” nickname from. This area produces more platinum than any other single area in the world. North West also produces a quarter of South Africa’s gold.

8. Klerskdorp was established in 1837, Potchefstroom was established in 1838 and Rustenburg was established in 1851.

9. Two of South Africa’s UNESCO World Heritage sites are located in the North West province. They are the Taung Skull Fossil Site (where the Taung Skull was found in 1924) and the Vredefort Dome (the oldest meteorite impact structure on Earth). The meteorite that struck over 2 billion years ago was bigger than Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

10. Sun City (one of the world’s biggest entertainment centres) is located North of Rustenburg. It was opened in 1979. There is a casino, an 18-hole golf course, theatres and concert halls, beaches and even a wave pool at the Valley of the Waves. Sun City also encompasses a fantastically reconstructed tropical rainforest. There are a number of world-class hotels that are part of the resort, including the remarkable Palace of the Lost City.

11. Mahikeng (formerly known as Mafikeng) is the capital of North West Province. It was established as a town in 1852.

12. More than 63% of people in North West speak Setswana. Nearly 9% speak English, and less than 6% speak Xhosa in the province.

13. The province produces about a third of South Africa’s wheat.

14. The tallest building in the North West Province is the Rustenburg City Council building, which has 8 floors above ground.

15. The largest mall in the North West is the 65,000 square metre Matlosana Mall (in Klerksdorp).

16. Rustenburg hosted games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at its Royal Bafokeng stadium.

17. Hartbeespoort Dam (located in the heart of the Magaliesberg) is known for its fun times and leisure activities. Here tourists can enjoy a range of water sports and general activities from fishing, canoeing, paragliding, hangliding to hot-air ballooning.

18. The Pilanesberg National Park (which covers +/- 55 000 hectares) and is located in the province is the fourth largest National Park in Southern Africa. This malaria-free park is perched on the eroded vestiges of an alkaline volcanic crater.

19. The province is sometimes referred to as the country’s Texas. It’s home to some of the largest cattle herds in the world. They are found at Stellaland near Vryburg.

20. The town of Brits (which is part of the Madibeng municipality today) was founded in 1924 on the farm Roode Kopjes (Red Hills). It was named after the owner, Johannes Nicolaas Brits.

Well, there you have it, 20 interesting facts you might not have known about the North West Province. If I’ve left out something important, feel free to comment below.

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