Dordrecht, Eastern Cape

Dordrecht
View over Dordrecht
Dordrecht Location in the Eastern Cape
Dordrecht
Coordinates: 31°22′0″S 27°3′0″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Eastern Cape
District	Chris Hani
Municipality	Emalahleni
Area
• Total	15.67 km2 (6.05 sq mi)
Elevation	1,600 m (5,200 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	4,454
• Density	284/km2 (740/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
• Black African	82.8%
• Coloured	9%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	7.9%
First languages (2001)
• Xhosa	81.3%
• Afrikaans	15.8%
• English	2.0%
• Other	0.9%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Postal code	5435

Dordrecht is situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Dordrecht was founded in 1856 by a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and named after a city of South-West Netherlands. The name Dordrecht comes from Thyre, the name of a river, and Middle Dutch drecht "channel", meaning "Thure river crossing". Some documentation speaks of the river actually being called Thuredrith. Inhabitants of Dordrecht are Dordtenaren (singular: Dordtenaar).

Dordrecht lies nestled in the Stormberg Mountains, just north of Queenstown between Middelburg and Durban. Its many historical buildings and museum display turn-of-the-century furniture and clothing. Dodrecht is a small town surrounded by a number of farms with a large number of merino sheep and cattle ranchers in the region. Farmers around Dordrecht also grow potatoes. Dordrecht prides itself with a number of historical sites including a unique 1873 colonial country B&B. There are farmstay holidays available in the region. They are well known in South Africa for trout fishing, pheasant hunting and game hunting. The town is also situated near to the Western Drakensberg Mountains where the only snow skiing resort is in South Africa.

Grain mill with bevel gears outside local museum

Its population was about 8,741 in 2001. It has two high schools, Masikhanyise High School and Dordrecht high school (that is 102 years old). Its oldest townships are Sinako township, Munikville and Marabastad.

Geography

Climate

Dordrecht has a subtropical highland climate (Cwb, according to the Köppen climate classification), with warm summers and chilly, dry winters, with occasional snowfalls. It borders on a cold semi-arid climate (BSk). The average annual precipitation is 466 mm (18 in), with most rainfall occurring mainly during summer.

The village of Buffelsfontein, located between the towns of Dordrecht and Molteno, has the coldest recorded temperature in South Africa, of −18.6 °C (−1 °F), on June 28, 1996.

Dordrecht
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     70   26 12     80   25 11     77   23 10     38   20 6     18   17 2     7   14 0     5   14 −1     9   16 0     17   19 4     33   21 7     53   23 9     59   25 10 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: SA Explorer
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.8   79 54     3.1   77 52     3   73 50     1.5   68 43     0.7   63 36     0.3   57 32     0.2   57 30     0.4   61 32     0.7   66 39     1.3   70 45     2.1   73 48     2.3   77 50 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

External links

• Map with information on Dordrecht and surrounding towns

• GoogleMap Of Dordrecht