Vredenburg

Vredenburg
A landscape in Vredenburg
Vredenburg  Vredenburg shown within Western Cape
Coordinates: 32°54′23″S 17°59′45″E / 32.90639°S 17.99583°ECoordinates: 32°54′23″S 17°59′45″E / 32.90639°S 17.99583°E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	West Coast
Municipality	Saldanha Bay
Area[1]
• Total	13.75 km^2 (5.31 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	38,382
• Density	2,800/km^2 (7,200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[1]
• Black African	28.7%
• Coloured	55.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.6%
• White	13.8%
• Other	1.1%
First languages (2011)[1]
• Afrikaans	68.7%
• Xhosa	19.3%
• English	5.0%
• Sotho	2.3%
• Other	4.8%
Postal code (street)	7380
PO box	7380
Area code	022

Vredenburg is a town of the Cape West Coast in the Western Cape province of South Africa. "Vrede" is Afrikaans for peace. It is the transportation and commercial hub of the West Coast area and administrative center of the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality. It is located 12 kilometres inland from the coast at Saldanha Bay on the Cape Columbine Peninsula 138km north of Cape Town.

History

The town was established in 1875 initially as a Dutch Reformed Church to serve the surrounding communities, as the closest church was in Hopefield. The town's original name was "Twisfontein", which in Afrikaans would be translated to troubled fountain or similar. This name came about when two competing farmers fought over the only available freshwater spring in the area. The town's name was later changed to "Prosesfontein" which is process fountain if you translate it directly. The town was renamed as they were discussing the matter of the freshwater spring and were trying to come to an agreement. When this agreement was settled and they have achieved a sense of peace among one another, the name 'Vredenburg' was chosen. The town's population in 2002 was 31,283.^[2]

References

1. "Main Place Vredenburg". Census 2011.
2. "Saldanha Bay Municipality Water Services Development Plan: Executive Summary" (PDF).