Northern Cape
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See also North Cape for disambiguation.
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| Capital | Kimberley | |||
| Largest city | Kimberley | |||
| Premier | Elizabeth Dipuo Peters (ANC) | |||
| Area - Total |
Ranked 1st 361,830 km² |
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| Population - Total (2001) - Density |
Ranked 9th 822,726 2/km² |
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| Languages | Afrikaans (70%) Tswana (20%) Xhosa (6.5%) |
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| Population composition | Coloured (51.6%) Black (35.7%) Caucasian (12.4%) Asian (0.3%) |
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The Northern Cape is a large, sparsely populated province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, which is part of a trans-frontier park with Botswana. It also includes the Augrabies Falls and the diamond mining regions in Kimberley and Alexander Bay. The Namaqualand region (in the west) is famous for its Namaqualand daisies. The towns of De Aar and Colesburg (in the south) are part of the Great Karoo, and are major transport nodes between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The Orange River flows through the province, forming the borders with the Free State (in the south east) and with Namibia (to the northwest). It is also used to irrigate the many vineyards near Upington, which is very important in this mostly arid province. Kuruman, in the north-east of the province, is famous as a mission station and also for its 'eye'.
Northern Cape has the largest percentage of native speakers of Afrikaans of any province of South Africa.
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[edit] Geography
The Northern Cape is South Africa's largest province, and distances between towns are enormous due to its sparse population. Its size is just shy of the size of the American state of Montana and slightly larger than that of Germany. The province is dominated by the Karoo Basin and consists mostly of sedimentary rocks and some Dolerite intrusions. The south and south-east of the province is high-lying (1200m-1900m) in the Roggeveld and Nuweveld districts. The west coast is dominated by the Namaqualand region, famous for its spring flowers. This area is hilly to mountainous and consists of Granites and other metamorphic rocks. The central areas are generally flat with interspersed salt pans. Kimberlite intrusions punctuate the Karoo rocks, giving the province its most precious natural resource, Diamonds. The north is primarily Kalahari Desert, characterised by parallel red sand dunes and acacia tree dry savanna.
Northern Cape has a shoreline in the west on the South Atlantic Ocean. It borders the following areas of Namibia and Botswana:
- Karas Region, Namibia - northwest
- Hardap Region, Namibia - far northwest
- Kgalagadi District, Botswana - north
Domestically, it borders the following provinces:
- North West - northeast
- Free State - east
- Eastern Cape - southeast
- Western Cape - south
[edit] Climate
Mostly arid to semi-arid, few areas in the province receive more than 400mm of rainfall per annum. Rainfall generally increases from west to east. The west experiences most rainfall in winter, while the east receives most of its moisture from late summer thunderstorms. Many areas experience extreme heat, with hottest temperatures in South Africa measured along the Namibian border. Summers maximums are generally 30ºC or higher, sometimes higher than 40ºC. Winters are usually frosty and clear, with southern areas sometimes becoming bitterly cold, such as Sutherland, which often receives snow and temperatures occasionally drop below the -10ºC mark.
[edit] Municipalities
The Northern Cape Province is divided into thirty two municipalities:
- Siyanda District Municipality,Northern Cape,Siyanda
- Pixley ka Seme District Municipality,Northern Cape,Pixley ka Seme
- Francis Baard District Municipality,Northern Cape,Francis Baard
- Dikgatlong Municipality
- Emthanjeni Municipality
- Gamagara Municipality
- Ga-Segonyana Municipality
- Hantam Municipality
- Kai Garib Municipality
- Kgalagadi District Municipality,Northern Cape,Kgalagadi
- Kamiesberg Municipality
- Kareeberg Municipality
- Karoo Hoogland Municipality
- Kgatelopele Municipality
- Kheis Municipality
- Khara Hais Municipality
- Khai-Ma Municipality
- Magareng Municipality
- Mier Municipality
- Nama Khoi Municipality
- Phokwane Municipality
- Renosterberg Municipality
- Richtersveld Municipality
- Siyancuma Municipality
- Siyathemba Municipality
- Sol Plaatje Municipality
- Thembelihle Municipality
- Tesantsabane Municipality
- Ubuntu Municipality
- Umsombomvu Municipality
- Moshaweng Municipality,Northern Cape,Moshaweng
- Namakwa District Municipality,Northern Cape,Namakwa
[edit] External links
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Eastern Cape · Free State · Gauteng · KwaZulu-Natal · Limpopo · Mpumalanga · North West · Northern Cape · Western Cape
