Kimberley is a town in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located at 28.742° S 24.772° E, and is serviced by the nearby Kimberley Airport. Northern Cape is a province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. ... Kimberley Airport is an airport in Kimberley, South Africa. ...

History

In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small white pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm De Kalk, near Hopetown. The pebble turned out to be a 21.25 carat (4.25 g) diamond. In 1871, an even larger 83.50 carat (16.7 g) diamond was found on the slopes of Colesberg Kopje, and led to the first diamond rush into the area. As miners arrived in their thousands, the hill disappeared, and became known as the Big Hole. A town, New Rush, was formed in the area, and was renamed to Kimberley on 5 June 1873, after the British Secretary of State for the Colonies at the time, John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley. The British, who had control of much of South Africa, were prompt to annex the area of the diamond mine. The Boers were upset by this, because they wanted it to be a part of the Orange Free State. See also: 1865 in South Africa, other events of 1866, 1867 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... The Orange River is the major river in South Africa. ... Hopetown, South Africa lies at the edge of the Great Karoo on an arid slope leading down to the Orange River, named by the great explorer Colonel Robert Gordon in honour of William Prince of Orange. ... Meanings of Carat or Karat: Carat is a unit of mass for gems. ... The gram or gramme, symbol g, is a unit of mass. ... For other uses, see Diamond (disambiguation). ... See also: 1870 in South Africa, other events of 1871, 1872 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... June 5 is the 156th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (157th in leap years), with 209 days remaining. ... See also: 1872 in South Africa, other events of 1873, 1874 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley (1826-1902), English statesman, was born on 7 January 1826, being the eldest son of the Hon. ... Afrikaners are white South Africans of predominantly Calvinist Dutch, German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloon descent who speak Afrikaans. ... Capital Bloemfontein Created 1854 Dissolved 1900 Official language Dutch (Afrikaans more common) The Orange Free State (Afrikaans: Oranje Vrystaat) was an independent country in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a province in South Africa. ...

The largest company to operate a diamond mine in South Africa was the De Beers Company, owned by Cecil Rhodes. Very quickly, Kimberley became the largest city in the area, mostly due to a massive African migration to the area from all over the continent. The immigrants were accepted with open arms, because the De Beers company was in search of cheap labour to run the mines with. The De Beers Group is a Johannesburg- and London-based diamond mining and trading corporation. ... Cecil Rhodes. ...

Five big holes were dug into the earth, which followed the kimberlite pipes. The largest, The Kimberley mine or "Big Hole" covering 170 000 m², reached a depth of 1 097 m and yielded 3 tons of diamonds. The mine was closed in 1914, while three of the holes – Du Toitspan, Wesselton and Bultfontein – closed down in 2005. Hewn kimberlite core sample from the James Bay Lowlands region of Northern Ontario, Canada. ... A square metre (US spelling: square meter) is by definition the area enclosed by a square with sides each 1 metre long. ... The Metre (or Meter) is the base fundamental unit of length in the metric measurement system as defined originally by the French Academy of Sciences during the French Revolutionary–Napoleonic war era, and subsequently adopted by various successive International Standards Committees as the utility, elegance, and self-consistency of the... The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water. ... See also: 1913 in South Africa, other events of 1914, 1915 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On 2 September 1882, Kimberley became the first town in the southern hemisphere to install electric street lighting. September 2 is the 245th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (246th in leap years). ... See also: 1881 in South Africa, other events of 1882, 1883 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... Southern Hemisphere The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planets surface (or celestial sphere) that is south of the equator (the word hemisphere literally means half ball). On Earth it contains four continents (part of Africa, Oceania, most of South America, and Antarctica) and four oceans (South Atlantic... Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... A streetlight in front of a red sky at night A street light, also known as a light standard, is a raised light on the edge of a road, turned on or lit at a certain time every night. ...

South Africa's first school of mines was opened here in 1896 and later relocated to Johannesburg, becoming the core of the University of the Witwatersrand. See also: 1895 in South Africa, other events of 1896, 1897 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... The University of the Witwatersrand (pronounced vit-vaters-rant, with flat vowels -- see South African English) is a leading South African university situated in Johannesburg. ...

Soup ration ticket from the siege of Kimberley

On 14 October 1899, Kimberley was besieged at the beginning of the Second Boer War. The British forces trying to relieve the siege suffered heavy losses. The siege was only lifted on 15 February 1900, but the war continued until May 1902. By that time, the British had built a concentration camp at Kimberley to house Boer women and children. Image File history File links Kimberley-ticket. ... Image File history File links Kimberley-ticket. ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in Leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... See also: 1898 in South Africa, other events of 1899, 1900 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... The Second Boer War, also known as the South African War, was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902. ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... See also: 1899 in South Africa, other events of 1900, 1901 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... See also: 1901 in South Africa, other events of 1902, 1903 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... A concentration camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, enemy aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ... 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. ...

In 1913, South Africa's first flying school opened there and started training the pilots of the South African Aviation Corps, later the South African Air Force. See also: 1912 in South Africa, other events of 1913, 1914 in South Africa and the Timeline of South African history. ... SAAF flag The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the Air Force of South Africa. ...

It also housed South Africa's first stock exchange.

Kimberley has proposed the new Kimberley Stadium to be built in May 2007 for the 2010 Football World Cup. Kimberley Stadium will be a new world-class stadium to be built in the diamond city of Kimberley, South Africa in 2007 for the Football World Cup 2010. ... The 2010 Football World Cup will take place in South Africa. ...

External links

• Official homepage
• Google Maps view of Kimberley