Lydenburg

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Lydenburg is a town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The town is slated to be renamed Mashishing, according to an announcement made on June 30, 2006 by the South African Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan. Lydenburg is situated on the Spekboom tributary of the Olifants River at the base of the Long Tom Pass. The name is derived from Dutch meaning "Town of Suffering." It has become the centre of the South African fly-fishing industry and is an agricultural and mining centre.

[edit] Population

Lydenburg is part of the Thaba Chweu municipality, with a population, according to the 2001 Census, of 81,236. Of these, 86% were African, 11.7% White, 2% Coloured and 0.4% Asian. The white population is likely to have been undercounted, a general problem with the 2001 Census figures.

[edit] History

The earliest known forms of African sculpture in southern Africa dating back to AD 400 was found in the area in the late 1950s. Lydenburg was founded in 1849 by a group of Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Potgieter when they abandoned their previous settlement Ohrigstad (to the north) due to a malaria epidemic. The town became the capital of De Republiek Lydenburg in Zuid Afrika in 1856 and later in 1857 joined the Republic of Utrecht but in 1860 both these republics joined the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR).

Lydenburg became important because it was on the wagon route to the port of Delagoa Bay (Maputo) which was free of British control. In 1871 construction of the road was started by Abraham Espag under the orders of President Thomas Francois Burgers. The first wagons arrived in Lydenburg from Delagoa Bay in 1874.

On 6 February 1873 alluvial gold was discovered and within 3 months the Lydenburg goldfields was proclaimed. The First Boer War broke out between Britain and the Transvaal Repulic in 1880. A British garrison under Lieutenant W.H. Long took control of Lydenburg to control the goldfields. It was from here that the ill-fated 94th Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Anstruther marched to Pretoria. The remainder of the garrison at Lydenburg was besieged.

By 1910 the railway reached Lydenburg. In 1927 it became a municipality.