Amsterdam, Mpumalanga

Amsterdam
Amsterdam  Amsterdam shown within Mpumalanga
Coordinates: 26°37′01″S 30°40′01″E / 26.617°S 30.667°ECoordinates: 26°37′01″S 30°40′01″E / 26.617°S 30.667°E
Country	South Africa
Province	Mpumalanga
District	Gert Sibande
Municipality	Mkhondo
Established	1866
Area[1]
• Total	8.13 km^2 (3.14 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	6,769
• Density	830/km^2 (2,200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[1]
• Black African	90.4%
• Coloured	0.8%
• Indian/Asian	0.4%
• White	7.4%
• Other	0.9%
First languages (2011)[1]
• Zulu	78.6%
• Afrikaans	8.0%
• Swazi	6.2%
• English	2.1%
• Other	5.1%
Postal code (street)	2375
PO box	n/a
Area code	017

Amsterdam is a small sheep farming town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Other than large sheep farms, there are large plantations of gum, pine and wattle trees in the area. The town also lies close to the border with Swaziland.

Town some 77 km east of Ermelo. Part of a Scottish settlement established by Alexander McCorkindale in 1868, it was proclaimed a town in June 1881. At first called Roburnia, in honour of Scottish Poet Robert Burns, the name was changed on 5 July 1882 to Amsterdam, after the Dutch city where the State Secretary, Eduard Bok, was born, and out of gratitude for Dutch sympathy during the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-1881).^[2]

This was the home of Oom Tjaart who was a local farmer and well known Boer in the town. He was tall, had a black beard and he wore short brown trousers 'wif a beld' as well as a pair of brown 'boer' farming shoes that were used to stomp the 'bleddy rats'. Oom Tjaart was feared by the local community as well as visitors from other small towns. He was made famous in the community by his phrase: "I will knock you off your birth certificate".

References

1. "Main Place Amsterdam". Census 2011.
2. "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain)". Human Science Research Council. p. 60.

Carleton Jones High School year book 1992