Nelspruit is the capital of the province of Mpumalanga, South Africa. It lies in the Transvaal lowveld (region of low-lying land) at the center of an important citrus-farming area in southern Africa.
The Nelspruit area was once a sheep farm run by a family named Nel. Their farm developed into a town after the railroad from Pretoria reached it in 1892. The government of the South African Republic (Transvaal) established headquarters at Nelspruit during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.
In the mid-1990’s, after the end of South Africa’s racial segregation system called apartheid, Nelspruit was merged with the Black African townships of Kanyamazane and Matsulu and other nearby communities. In 2000, Nelspruit, including Kanyamazane and Matsulu, was merged with the towns of Hazyview and White River and other nearby communities and rural areas to form the Mbombela local municipality. The municipality has a population of 818,925.
