Barberton, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa (25°47′S 31°03′E) is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is surrounded by the Mkhonjwa Mountains. It is 43km south of Nelspruit and 360 to the east of Johannesburg. Province motto Omnia labor vincit Capital Nelspruit Largest city Nelspruit Area  - Total Ranked 8th 79,490 km² Premier (List) Thabang Makwetla (ANC) Population   - 2001   - Density Ranked 7th 3,122,994 39/km² (2001) Languages SiSwati (30. ... A compass rose with South highlighted South is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Nelspruit is a city of 21,474 people (1991) situated in northeastern South Africa. ... A compass rose with east highlighted East is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ...

History

Prehistoric

The area around Barberton is home to some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet dating back to 3,500,000,000 BC (Only rocks from Greenland are older!). These 3.5 billion year old volcanic rocks, which scientists call the Barberton Greenstone Belt, have given up direct evidence of conditions of life on the surface of the very early earth.

The first form of life on earth, a bacterial microfossil Archaeospheroides barbertonis was discovered here and has been identified as being 3.2 billion years old.

Gold

In 1881 gold in the Barberton area was discovered by Tom McLachlan who found alluvial gold at Jamestown. However due to the location (the hot lowveld region was rife with malaria)no-one wanted to go there until Auguste Roberts (French Bob) discovered gold in Concession Creek in June 20, 1883. This discovery resulted in a gold rush to the area. 1881 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Gold rush ad A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. ...

On June 21, 1884, Graham Barber wrote a letter to the State Secretary to inform him that he and his two cousins Fred and Harry discovered payable gold on state land where the Umvoti Creek entered the De Kaap valley. The State Secretary then asked the Magistrate in Lydenburg to investigate the matter and for David Wilson, the Gold Commissioner, to submit a report. Wilson investigated on July 24, 1884 and declared the township of Barberton. June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. ... 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... Lydenburg is a town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. ... July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ...

At first it was just a simple mining camp but grew when Edwin Bray, a prospector discovered gold in the hills above Barberton in 1885 and with 14 partners started the Sheba Reef Gold Mining Company. 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Large amounts of money flowed into Barberton and the first Stock Exchange to operate in the then Transvaal opened its doors. More buildings were erected, billiard saloons and music halls established. The Criterion and Royal Standard hotels were opened. Flag of Transvaal The Transvaal (lit. ...

Barberton flourished for only a brief period and soon the inhabitants began to move away to the newly discovered goldfields on the Reef.

Songimvelo Nature Reserve

This reserve is situated in the Barberton Mountainlands and is the Mpumalanga Parks Board's largest reserve, extending over 500 square kilometres. Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ...

Trivia

• The British built a concentration camp here during the Boer War to house Boer women and children.
• Sheba mine is today one of the oldest and richest working gold mines in the world, having been in production for more than a century. It is estimated that production will continue for several decades to come.
• Barberton was home to Percy Fitzpatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld.
• A flower, the Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesoni) was discovered here in 1889 by Robert Jameson.

A concentration camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ... Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one from December 16, 1880-March 23, 1881 and the second from October 11, 1899-May 31, 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch, French and German origin (called Boers, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South... Boer is the Afrikaans (and Dutch) word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the Afrikaans-speaking migrating farmers of the expanding eastern Cape frontier. ... Sir Percy FitzPatrick (24 July 1862 - 24 January 1931) was a South African author, politician and pioneer of the fruit industry. ... The original Jock of the Bushveld is a true story, rich in episodes of hunting, real life characters and adventures in the lowveld. ... 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Robert Jameson Professor Robert Jameson (1774-1854) was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist, born in Leith, near Edinburgh, in July 1774. ...

External links

• Google Map