North West is an inland South African province that borders Botswana. Its landscape is defined by mountains in the northeast and bushveld scattered with trees and shrubs.
The province is home to Sun City, an upscale resort with hotels, a casino, and a water park with a massive wave pool. Nearby is Pilanesberg National Park, with an extinct volcano and more than 7,000 animals, including lions and elephants.
North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, and includes parts of the former Transvaal Province and Cape Province, as well as most of the former bantustan of Bophuthatswana. It was the scene of political violence in Khutsong, Merafong City Local Municipality in 2006 and 2007, after cross-province municipalities were abolished and Merafong Municipality was transferred entirely to North West. Merafong has since been transferred to Gauteng province in 2009.
This province is the birthplace of prominent political figures: Lucas Mangope, Moses Kotane, Ahmed Kathrada, Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, Ruth Mompati, J. B. Marks, Aziz Pahad, and Essop Pahad, among others.
North West, also spelled North-West, province, north-central South Africa. It was created in 1994 from portions of Transvaal and Cape of Good Hope provinces. North West is bounded by Botswana to the north and northwest, Limpopo province to the northeast, Gauteng province to the east, Free State province to the southeast, and Northern Cape province to the southwest. The provincial capital is Mafikeng.
North West province occupies the relatively flat interior plateau (Highveld) of southern Africa and stretches from the usually dry Molopo River southward to the Vaal River. Savanna and thornveld country predominate, and there are salt pans in the south. Summers are hot, and precipitation averages 20 inches (500 mm) annually.
Blacks constitute more than nine-tenths of the population and are mostly rural Tswana-speaking peoples. Whites make up less than one-tenth of the population and mainly speak Afrikaans.
Corn (maize) and peanuts (groundnuts) are grown throughout the province, and tobacco, wheat, and citrus fruits are raised in the northeast. Cattle and sheep are grazed in large numbers. Mining also plays an important role in the economy. Diamonds, chromite, platinum, and uranium are mined in the province, which forms the western part of the Witwatersrand and contains the Klerksdorp goldfields. The major urban centres in the province are Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom; the latter city has a university. Area 41,125 square miles (106,512 square km). Pop. (2009 est.) 3,450,400.
Klerksdorp, town and principal centre of the Klerksdorp-area goldfields, North-West province, South Africa. It lies approximately 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Johannesburg.
The “old town,” which was founded in 1837 on the Schoonspruit River near its confluence with the Vaal River, was the first Boer settlement in the Transvaal. Opposite, on the eastern bank, lies the “new town,” dating from 1888. An important grain-producing, mining (after 1932; gold and uranium), and industrial centre, Klerksdorp expanded greatly in the second half of the 20th century, with new industrial development and residential suburbs. Pop. (2001) urban agglom., 333,232; mun., 359,203.
Mmabatho, town, North-West province, South Africa. It was formerly (until 1994) the capital of the republic (never internationally recognized) of Bophuthatswana.
Mmabatho is situated between Mafikeng (formerly Mafeking) and the Botswana border. The site of the town was chosen in 1976, and construction began shortly after Bophuthatswana was declared independent in 1977.
Mmabatho (“Mother of the People”) is located in a portion of the southern African veld consisting of scattered acacia trees among a dense cover of grass; cattle raising and subsistence agriculture are the major economic activities. Household industries produce wood products, leather goods, and paper. The town is closely allied with nearby Mafikeng, particularly for employment.
Much of the province consists of flat areas of scattered trees and grassland.
The Magaliesberg mountain range in the northeast extends about 130 km (about 80 miles) from Pretoria to Rustenburg. The Vaal River flows along the southern border of the province.
Temperatures range from 17° to 31 °C (62° to 88 °F) in the summer and from 3° to 21 °C (37° to 70 °F) in the winter. Annual rainfall totals about 360 mm (about 14 in), with almost all of it falling during the summer months, between October and April.
North West borders the following districts of Botswana:
• Kgatleng – far northeast
• South-East – northeast
• Southern – north
• Kgalagadi – northwest
Domestically, it borders the following provinces:
• Limpopo – northeast
• Gauteng – east
• Free State – southeast
• Northern Cape – southwest
North West Province is traversed by the northwesterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
The mainstay of the economy of North West Province is mining, which generates more than half of the province’s gross domestic product and provides jobs for a quarter of its workforce.
The chief minerals are gold, mined at Orkney and Klerksdorp; uranium, mined at Klerksdorp; platinum, mined at Rustenburg and Brits; and diamonds, mined at Lichtenburg, Christiana, and Bloemhof.
About 85% of all money-making activities take place between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom. The economic heart of the province is Klerksdorp.
The northern and western parts of the province have many sheep farms and cattle and game ranches. The eastern and southern parts are crop-growing regions that produce maize (corn), sunflowers, tobacco, cotton, and citrus fruits. The entertainment and casino complex at Sun City and Lost City also contributes to the provincial economy