Ottoshoop
| Ottoshoop | |
|---|---|
 Ottoshoop
Ottoshoop
Ottoshoop
Ottoshoop shown within North West
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| Coordinates: 25°45′01″S 25°57′54″E / 25.7502°S 25.965°ECoordinates: 25°45′01″S 25°57′54″E / 25.7502°S 25.965°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | North West |
| District | Ngaka Modiri Molema |
| Municipality | Mahikeng |
| Established | 1876 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 4.95 km2 (1.91 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,417 m (4,649 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 2,043 |
| • Density | 410/km2 (1,100/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 93.1% |
| • Coloured | 1.4% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.6% |
| • White | 4.8% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Tswana | 86.0% |
| • Afrikaans | 6.1% |
| • English | 2.4% |
| • Zulu | 2.4% |
| • Other | 3.1% |
| PO box | 2866 |
| Area code | 018 |
Ottoshoop is one of the small towns in the Mahikeng Local Municipality in the North West Province of South Africa, situated 20km from the city of Mahikeng on the way to the town of Zeerust. Residents serve the scanty needs of a few locals, underwater divers and railway users. During the town's boom years from 1879 to 1880, Ottoshoop was, however, the commercial capital of South Africa. This spirit of the town still lives on in today's commercial capital of Africa – Johannesburg. Before the Europeans' arrival in mid-1800, the area was populated by the baRalong tribe, who built extensive walls to steer game into traps.
Mzilikazi's Wall is a stone wall measuring some 1000 metres which was built by renegade Zulu general Mzilikazi in the 1830s along the Molemane River to act as a 'hopo' or animal trap.
Mosega was general Mzilikazi's military headquarters during the battle of Mosega on 17 January 1837.
Gopane (Mabotsa) was David Livingston's first mission station 1834–1846. There is a stone monument and ruins.
Molemane Farmhouse was owned by a former lawyer turned farmer and amateur historian, John Gaspard Gubbins (1877–1935), who named the farm after the original seTswana name of the area, "Molemane", which means "place of much water". The farmhouse contains the Gubbins Africana collection, parts of which formed the basis for the Africana collection at the University of Witwatersrand.
Molemane Store Ruins was where the men who arrived from Pitsane and (then named) Mafeking gathered before setting off on the ill-fated Jameson Raid, a prelude to the Anglo Boer War in which the disenfranchised English mining magnates, including Cecil John Rhodes tried to overthrow the government of the Transvaal Republic under President Paul Kruger.
Old Water Mill, The oldest water mill from the Old Transvaal is restored and in working condition.
Stinkhoutboom farm was where a young Irish ship-jumper-turned-farmer, M.J. Kelly, discovered gold in 1879. Kelly's discovery led to the first gold fields in South Africa, which President Paul Kruger visited under the guidance of the local magistrate, a Mr Otto. Otto reportedly said he hoped the gold fields would turn Melemani into a large town, upon which President Kruger was said to answer: "good, then we shall call it Ottoshoop".
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Wikipedia