Soutpansberg
The Soutpansberg (previously Zoutpansberg) meaning "Salt Pan Mountain" in Afrikaans, is a range of mountains in the far north of South Africa. It is named for the salt pan (Venda: Letshoyang, or "place of salt" 22°58′S 29°20′E / 22.967°S 29.333°E) located at its western end. The mountain reaches the opposite extremity at 22°58′S 30°20′E / 22.967°S 30.333°E in the Matikwa Nature Reserve, some 107 kilometres (66 mi) due east. The mountain is intersected by two defiles, the Waterpoort in the west, containing the Sand River and railway line, and Wyllie's Poort, which allows N1 road traffic to pass from Louis Trichardt to Musina. Lajuma is the highest peak at 1,747 metres (5,732 ft). Soutpansberg is known for a high level of endemism of its invertebrate fauna.[1][2]
[edit] History
The first white person to reach, and name, the mountain was Coenraad de Buys, a colonist who fled from Graaff Reinet after a failed rebellion in 1795. He settled near the mountain in 1820 and was the patriarch of a half-caste clan, the "Buysvolk" or Buys People, who are still to be found at Buysdorp. De Buys was followed by voortrekker Louis Tregardt who sojourned at the salt pan from May to August 1836. In November 1836 Tregardt moved camp to the vicinity of the later Schoemansdal and Louis Trichardt town, where he stayed until June 1837. From June to August 1837 Tregardt's party camped at the Doorn River, on the current Doorn River farm, whereafter they departed for good to find a trading route to the sea.
[edit] Early settlement
Eleven years later, in 1848,[3] a settlement named Zoutpansbergdorp was established at the site of an earlier Tregardt camp. It was founded by Jan Valentyn Botha,[4] who led a faction of Andries Potgieter's trek. Potgieter died at Zoutpansbergdorp in 1852, and his son shortly afterwards. In 1855 the town's de facto leader was Stephanus Schoeman[4] who named the growing, though disorderly reed-hut settlement Schoemansdal, after himself. Augmented by renegades, the town was a successful ivory trading centre by 1855, when its population numbered 200.
Venda hunters supplied the Voortrekkers with ivory, and were in return supplied with fire arms. Relations between the Voortrekkers and Venda soured due to taxation, cattle rustling and lax control over the supply of fire arms.[4] Total discord broke out in 1866, when the voortrekkers intervened in a Venda succession dispute, and one claimant, Makhado, attacked an outlying voortrekker settlement.[3] Despite the arrival of a relief commando, the Venda's mountain strongholds could not be taken. The voortrekkers abandoned the town on 15 July 1867[4] and established Pietersburg. An open-air museum was established to recreate the modest settlement.
[edit] First town
In October 1898 the Boere returned to regain control over the territory. General Piet Joubert's commando occupied a strategic position over the Doorn River in preparation. In November, Mphefu's kraal suffered a three-pronged attack and his royal village was torched. Mphefu's clan fled across the Limpopo River to Zimbabwe. The farms Rietvlei and Bergvliet were set aside in 1898 for a new town, and Trichardtsdorp was proclaimed the next year, named in honour of Louis Tregardt. Today the town commemorates his full name, Louis Trichardt.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Schönhofer, A.L. (2008). "On harvestmen from the Soutpansberg, South Africa, with description of a new species of Monomontia (Arachnida: Opiliones).". African Invertebrates 49 (2): 109–126. http://www.africaninvertebrates.org.za/Schoenhofer_49_2_420.aspx.
- ^ Haddad, C.R. (2009). "Vendaphaea, a new dark sac spider genus apparently endemic to the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa (Araneae: Corinnidae).". African Invertebrates 50 (2): 269–278. http://www.africaninvertebrates.org.za/Haddad_2009_50_2_454.aspx.
- ^ a b Knight, Ian; Gerry Embleton (1996). The Boer Wars (1): 1836-98. Osprey Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 1855326124.
- ^ a b c d Hopkins, Pat (2006). Ghosts of South Africa. Zebra. pp. 75–76. ISBN 1770073035.
