Marthinus Wessel Pretorius - Founding of The City of Pretoria

Founding of The City of Pretoria

In an endeavour to establish a new town, he bought two farms named Elandspoort en Daspoort between 1854 and 1855, on which he founded the city of Pretoria in 1855.

He originally named the town Pretoria Philadelphia, in honour of his father and his father's brothers, but the name of the town was later shortened to just Pretoria.

Five years later the capital of the ZAR (South African Republic) was moved from Potchefstroom to Pretoria.

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