Potchefstroom
Sign in to savePotchefstroom ( ; ), known colloquially as Potch, is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University. Potchefstroom is situated on the Mooi River (Afrikaans for "pretty river"), approximately west-southwest of Johannesburg and east-northeast of Klerksdorp.
OverviewAI-generated
Potchefstroom is a city in the North West province of South Africa, serving as the capital of the Tlokwe Local Municipality. Established in 1838, the city has an area of 184.2 square kilometers and sits at an elevation of 1350 meters above sea level. It is located in the UTC+02:00 time zone and uses the local dialing code 018.
The city’s population is recorded as 148,804, with another source citing 178,285. Postal codes for the area include 2531 and 2520. Potchefstroom is described in the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition and is referenced by 1,520 other encyclopedia articles.
Synthesized by Vinony from 44 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Open Meteo, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Weather now
cached 9h ago7-day forecast
via Open-Meteo
Place details
- Locality
- Potchefstroom
- Region
- North West
- Country
- South Africa
- Population
- 178,285
- Timezone
- Africa/Johannesburg
via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames
Key facts
- Settlement.demographics_type1
- Racial makeup (2011)
- Settlement.name
- Potchefstroom
- Settlement.image_caption
- Clockwise from top: Town Hall (on Potgieter Street), Reformed Church, and Dutch Reformed Church.
- Settlement.motto
- City of ExpertiseMotswe Wa BoitseanapeStad van Deskundigheid
- Settlement.pushpin_map
- South Africa North West#South Africa#Africa
- Settlement.subdivision_type
- Country
- Settlement.subdivision_type1
- Province
- Settlement.subdivision_type2
- District
- Settlement.subdivision_name2
- Dr Kenneth Kaunda
- Settlement.subdivision_type3
- Municipality
- Settlement.subdivision_name3
- JB Marks
- Settlement.subdivision_type4
- Main Place
- Settlement.established_title
- Established
- Settlement.established_date
- 1838
- Settlement.leader_party
- ANC
- Settlement.leader_title
- Mayor
- Settlement.area_total_km2
- 162.44
- Settlement.elevation_m
- 1340
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- big city
- Country
- South Africa
- Located in
- Tlokwe Local Municipality
- Population
- 148804
- Area
- 184.2
- Elevation
- 1350
- Time zone
- UTC+02:00
- Capital of
- Tlokwe Local Municipality
- Official website
- www.potch.co.za
- Image
- Building Potchefstroom University.jpg
- Dialing code
- 018
Show 10 more facts
- Commons category
- Potchefstroom
- topic's main category
- Category:Potchefstroom
- inception
- 1838-01-01
- postal code
- 2520
- category for people born here
- Q10978815
- category of associated people
- Category:People from Potchefstroom
- native label
- Potchefstroom
- P8168
- Wolfgang Wippermann
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- P12749
- Corral
via Wikidata · CC0
Travel guide
Understand
thumb|Building Potchefstroom University Early on, Potchefstroom was destined to be an academic city after a series of Anglo-Boer war events ended up making Pretoria the capital of the South African Republic. And today, it is home to the tertiary institutional giant, North-West University, along with many other schools.
Potchefstroom is an industrial, service and agricultural growth point of North West province. Industries include steel, food, and chemical processing. The chicken industry is an important agricultural sector.
Get in
It is 120 km (75 mi) west-southwest of Johannesburg and 45 km (28 mi) east-northeast of Klerksdorp.
Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
21 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Population
- Education
- Sports facilities
- Government
- {{anchor|Main sites}}Attractions
- Listed monuments
- Grade I: National Heritage Sites
- Grade II: Provincial Heritage Sites
- {{anchor|Grade III: Local Heritage Sites}}Provisional Grade III sites
- Other places of interest
- Economy
- Military
- Training areas and facilities
- Historical significance
- Military heritage and ceremonies
- Climate
- References
- Sources
- External links
Potchefstroom ( ; ), known colloquially as Potch, is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University. Potchefstroom is situated on the Mooi River (Afrikaans for "pretty river"), approximately west-southwest of Johannesburg and east-northeast of Klerksdorp.
==Etymology== Several theories exist about the origin of the city's name. According to one theory, it originates from Potgieter + Chef + stroom. This refers to Voortrekker leader and town founder Andries Potgieter, with "chef" indicating the leader of the Voortrekkers and "stroom" referring to the Mooi River.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Potchefstroom” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Gallery (2)
On the map
3 mapped locations