Transvaal << trans VAHL >> is a historic region in the northern part of South Africa. From 1910 to 1994, the Transvaal was one of South Africa’s four provinces. In 1994, the Transvaal was split into three new separate provinces. The provinces are Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo. In addition, a northwestern section of the historic region became part of South Africa’s North West Province.
The name Transvaal means beyond the Vaal. The Boers (settlers of Dutch, German, and French ancestry) gave this name to the region in the early 1800’s because it lay beyond the Vaal River. The area that was the Transvaal covers 109,621 square miles (283,917 square kilometers). A large majority of the people are Black Africans, mostly of the Sotho and Tswana groups. About 30 percent of the people are white. The Transvaal region contains South Africa’s major industrial area, the Witwatersrand (White Waters Ridge). This area, located in the southern part of old Transvaal, has many factories and the world’s richest gold mines. Johannesburg is the largest city in the Transvaal region.
See also Anglo-Boer Wars; Johannesburg; Pretoria; South Africa, History of.
