History
Like many other towns in South Africa, Louis Trichardt had its origins in Voortrekker settlement of the area. Two groups of Trekkers reached the Soutpansberg mountain range in 1836, one under the leadership of Louis Tregardt (born near Oudtshoorn, South Africa, 10 August 1783) and another under Hans van Rensburg. Van Rensburg decided to lead his group to Sofala (near current Beira), Mozambique, but his entire party was killed en route.
Tregardt and his group stayed near the mountain, camping near what eventually became the town of Louis Trichardt. They planted crops and started exploring the area northwards in an attempt to locate Van Rensburg and his group. After spending a year in the area, they decided to head for the fort at Delagoa Bay, a journey that took them 7 months to complete, during which more than half the group perished (including Tregardt himself).
Other trekkers soon settled in the area, clashing with the Venda people who dwelt there. The town of Trichardtsdorp was finally founded in February 1899.
The Trekkers settled on the northern part of what would later become a town while the Venda people resided at the southern part, about 800 meters apart. When the Trekkers decided to build a town they moved the Venda people and constructed firms in the exact area. The people moved in different directions but most were moved to the dry lands, west of the town, that would later become known as Madombidzha, and they later stretched further west along the mountain.
Their area grew over the years and was shared amongst two chiefs. The area is well known as Ha-Sinthumule/Kutama. Amongst the youth the name "Western" is fairly popular, as emphasizes that the area is far west of the Venda tribe.
Here are the villages’ names:
|
(a) Ha-Sinthumule:
|
(b) Ha-Kutama:
|
Read more about this topic: Louis Trichardt
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)