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History of Vryburg


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Vryburg has a strong sense of history, one which its citizens nurture with pride. The name Vryburg comes from the period in the 1882 when Vryburg was established as the capital of Republic of Stellaland. The Republicans called themselves Vryburgers ("free citizens"), hence the name of the town.

Vryburg was founded on September 20, 1882, when a site for a township was selected and named Endvogelfontein. On November 15 the same year, the name was changed to Vryburg. In December that year, newly laid out plots were apportioned to the volunteers by means of a lottery and by February 1883 some 400 farms had been established.

On August 16, 1883, Administrator Van Niekerk proclaimed the Republic of Stellaland with Vryburg as capital and himself as President. Stellaland split into two rival factions – those who supported annexation into the Cape Colony as mooted by Cecil Rhodes, and those who preferred independence.

In February 1884, the London Convention was signed, making Stellaland a British protectorate, with the Reverend John McKensie appointed Commissioner to British Bechuanaland. Vryburg today is the industrial and agricultural capital of the Bophirima (Western) region. When the Boer Republic of Stellaland was established in 1882, Vryburg ('Fort of Freedom') was established as its capital. The first and only president was G.J. van Niekerk. By 1884 the town consisted of around 20 houses. In 1885, theBritish seized the town and incorporated the area into British Bechuanaland, which in turn became part of the Cape Colony in 1895. During the Second Boer War, the British built a concentration camp here to house Boer women and children. In 1910, the Cape Colony became the Cape Province, one of the four provinces of the Union of South Africa and later the Republic of South Africa. When nine provinces were established in 1994, it became part of the North West Province
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