Griekwastad

Griekwastad is a country town in South

Africa. It is sometimes still called
Griquatown (the meaning of the town's
name in Afrikaans), a name which is now
considered historical. The town is on the
N8 road in the Northern Cape Province of
South Africa 168 kilometres (104 mi) by
road[3] west from the city of Kimberley. It
was the first town to be established in the
country north of the Orange River.
 Griekwastad

Flint Biface Lower Paleolithic Former

collection of Edward John Dunn

History
Road in
Griekwastad
In 1801 William
Anderson and
Cornelius Kramer, of
Griekwastad
the London
Missionary Society,
established a
station among the
Griekwastad
Griqua at
Leeuwenkuil. The
Show map of
site proved too arid
Northern Cape
for cultivation. In Show map of
South Africa
about 1805 they Show all
moved the station to Coordinates:
28°51′S 23°15′E (ht
another spring tps://geohack.toolf
further up the valley orge.org/geohack.
php?pagename=Gr
and called it iekwastad&params
Klaarwater. Their =28_51_S_23_15_E
_region:ZA_type:cit
second choice was y(6428))
little better than Country South
their first, and for Africa
Province Northern
many years a lack of
Cape
water prevented any District Pixley
further ka
Seme
development. The Municipality Siyanc
name of the Established 1812[1
settlement was
changed later to Area[2]
Griquatown or • Total 77.74 km2
(30.02 sq m
Griekwastad in
Population (2011)[2]
Afrikaans. They
• Total 6,428
lived among a • Density 83/km2
mixed nomadic (210/sq m

community of the Racial makeup

(2011)[2]
Chaguriqua tribe • Black 33.3%
and "bastaards" African
• Coloured 60.2%
(people of mixed
• Indian/Asian 0.5%
origin) from • White 3.8%
Piketberg. Their two • Other 2.2%
leaders Andries First languages
(2011)[2]
Waterboer and
• Afrikaans 95.4%
Adam Kok II later • Tswana 2.3%
had a dispute and • Other 2.4%
Kok left for Time UTC+2
zone (SAST)
Philippolis.
Postal 8365
From 1813 to 17 code
(street)
July 1871, the town PO box 8365
and its surrounding Area 053
area functioned as code

Waterboer's Land.
Waterboer himself lived in a "palace",
which in reality was a house with six
rooms. A monument for Waterboer was
later erected near the town's hospital.

Robert Moffat and his wife Mary Moffat,

on their way to the town of Kuruman, were
residing in Griquatown when their
daughter, also Mary (later Mrs. David
Livingstone), was born in 1821.[4] There is
now a museum that is dedicated to her
rather than the founder of the town,
William Anderson.

That Griekwastad was later the capital of

British Colony Griqualand West from 1873
to 1880, with its own flag and currency,
before it was annexed into the Cape
Colony. During the Apartheid era from
1969 till 2001, it was the garrison of the 4
Armoured Regiment, an SADF Tank
Battalion equipped with Eland Mk7
Tanks.[5]
Nowadays, the town is best known for the
semi-precious stones found there,
particularly tiger's eye and jasper. Sheep
farming occurs with dorpers, a South
African breed, which can now be found in
places such as Australia.

Crime

On 6th April 2012 (Good Friday),

Griekwastad farmer Deon Steenkamp (44),
his wife Christelle (43) and their daughter
Marthella (14) were killed. Later, Marthella
was also found to have been raped during
the last 24 hours of her life. Eventually the
family's sole survivor, fifteen-year-old Don
Steenkamp, who stood to gain a sizable
inheritance,[6] was suspected and accused
of murdering his father. In 2014, he was
found guilty of the murders, of raping his
sister and of lying to the police and
sentenced to twenty years
imprisonment.[7]

References

1. Robson, Linda Gillian (2011). "Annexure A"

(https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/han
dle/2263/26503/05back.pdf?sequence=6
&isAllowed=y#page=31) (PDF). The Royal
Engineers and settlement planning in the
Cape Colony 1806–1872: Approach,
methodology and impact (https://reposito
 ry.up.ac.za/handle/2263/26503) (PhD
thesis). University of Pretoria. pp. xlv–lii.
hdl:2263/26503 (https://hdl.handle.net/22
63%2F26503) .
2. "Main Place Griekwastad" (http://census2
011.adrianfrith.com/place/376004) .
Census 2011.
3. Distances from Griekwastad (http://www.s
aexplorer.co.za/south-africa/distance/grie
kwastad_distance.asp)
4. "Moffat, Robert (1795–1883), missionary
in Africa and linguist" (https://www.oxford
dnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198
614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-
e-18874) . Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography (online ed.). Oxford University
Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18874
 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%
2F18874) . ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8.
Retrieved 2020-03-25. (Subscription or UK
public library membership (https://www.oxfo
rddnb.com/help/subscribe#public)
required.)

5. "British Empire: The Map Room:

Griqualand West" (http://www.britishempir
e.co.uk/maproom/griqualandwest.htm) .
britishempire.co.uk. August 27, 2007.
6. "Griekwastad teen to inherit R23m" (http
s://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/
Griekwastad-teen-to-inherit-R23m-201304
24) . News24. 2013-04-24. Retrieved
2020-03-25.
7. "Meet Don Steenkamp, the Griekwastad
killer" (https://www.news24.com/You/Arc
 hive/meet-don-steenkamp-the-griekwasta
d-killer-20170728) . News24. 2014-08-15.
Retrieved 2022-05-29.

See also

Griqua Coinage

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This page was last edited on 10 November 2023,

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