The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo and the Little Karoo. A dune in the Egyptian desert Desert in California In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation, less than 200 mm per year. ...

Great Karoo

The Great Karoo has an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers. A vast inland sea covered this region approximately 250 million years ago, but as the world's climate gradually changed from cold to hot the water evaporated leaving a swamp where reptiles and amphibians prospered. Orders  Crocodilia - Crocodilians scary crocodiles. ... For other uses, see Amphibian (disambiguation). ...

In recent history - less than two hundred years ago - large herds of antelope and zebras still roamed the Karoo's grass flats. The Hottentots and Bushmen, last of the Southern African Stone Age peoples, shared what they called the "Place of Great Dryness" (from which the name "Karoo" is derived). The two groups differed substantially in their cultures and lifestyles; the Hottentots were sheep and cattle farmers while the Bushmen were classic hunter-gatherers. With the occupation of the region by European settler stock farmers the sheep gradually replaced the game, while the grass receded due to the changed grazing and weather patterns. Genera Aepyceros Alcelaphus Antidorcas Antilope Cephalophus Connochaetes Damaliscus Gazella Hippotragus Kobus Madoqua Neotragus Oreotragus Oryx Ourebia Pantholops Procapra Sylvicapra Taurotragus Tragelaphus and others The antelope are a group of herbivorous African animals of the family Bovidae, distinguished by a pair of hollow horns on their heads. ... Species Equus zebra Equus quagga Equus grevyi See Equus for other species. ... The Khoikhoi (men of men) or Khoi are a division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south-western Africa, closely related to the Bushmen (San). ... The Bushmen or San peoples of South Africa and neighbouring Botswana and Namibia, who live in the Kalahari, are part of the Khoisan group and are related to the Khoikhoi. ... Stone Age fishing hook. ... Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries), which probably descends from the wild moufflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (called simply cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ...

During the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 three Republican Commandos, reinforced by the rebels from the Cape Colony, conducted widespread operations throughout the Karoo. Countless skirmishes took place in the region, with the especially the Calvinia magisterial district contributing a significant number of fighters to the Republican cause. Fought both conventionally and as a guerilla struggle over the Karoo's vast expanses, it was a bloody war of attrition wherein both sides used newly developed technologies to their advantage. Numerous abandoned blockhouses can still be seen at strategic locations throughout the Great Karoo; a prime example is located next to the Geelbeks River 12 kilometers outside the town of Laingsburg. Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one in 1880-81 and the second from October 11, 1899-1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch origin (called Boere, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South Africa that put an end to the two independent... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Map of European presence in 1652 The Cape Colony was a part of South Africa under British occupation during the 19th century. ... Guerrilla (also called a partisan) is a term borrowed from Spanish (from guerra meaning war) used to describe small combat groups. ... A 19th-century-era block house in Fort York, Toronto In military science, a blockhouse is a small, isolated fort in the form of a single building. ... Laingsburg is a town located in the Western Cape province in South Africa. ...

Currently sheep farming is still the economic backbone of the Karoo with other forms of agriculture taking place in areas where irrigation is possible. Lately game farms and tourism have also started to make an economic impact. Irrigation in the Heart of the Sahara Irrigation (in agriculture) is the replacement or supplementation of rainfall with water from another source in order to grow crops. ... A tourist boat travels the River Seine in Paris, France Beaches make popular tourist resorts Tourist redirects here; for the album by Athlete, see Tourist (album) Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. ...

Little Karoo

As the name implies, the Little Karoo is the smaller (and more southerly) of the two Karoo sub-regions. Geographically it is a fertile valley (enclosed by the Swartberg, Langeberg and Outeniqua mountains) that features many spectacular rock formations and passes. This article needs to be wikified. ...

The main town of the region is Oudtshoorn, but some well-known mission stations such as Zoar, Amalienstein and Dysselsdorp are also situated here. Oudtshoorn is the largest town in in the Little Karoo region of South Africa. ...

This area was first explored by European settlers in the late 17th century, who encountered the Khoisan people living in a semi-arid area. Due to modern farming methods it was later turned into a productive farming district. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Khoisan is the name for several ethnic groups of southern Africa, where they seem to have appeared many tens of thousands of years ago, that share some specific physical and linguistic characteristics. ...