Kimberley << KIHM buhr lee >>, a city in South Africa, is one of the world’s major diamond centers. It lies 520 miles (840 kilometers) northeast of Cape Town in the province of Northern Cape (see Northern Cape). Kimberley is the capital of the province. Huge diamond mines lie near Kimberley, and some diamonds are cut and polished locally. There are also nearby deposits of gypsum and iron. A mining museum in Kimberley displays the remains of the famous Big Hole mine, also known as the Kimberley mine. This mine was in operation from 1871 to 1914.
Prospectors founded Kimberley in 1871, after diamonds were discovered there. In 1877, South Africa’s first training school for nurses was set up in Kimberley. In the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, Boer forces besieged Kimberley for four months (see Anglo-Boer Wars).
In the 1990’s, after the end of South Africa’s racial segregation system called apartheid, Kimberley was expanded to include the black African township of Galeshewe, the Coloured (mixed-race) township of Roodepan, and other nearby communities. By 2001, Kimberley had been merged with the nearby town of Ritchie and the surrounding communities and rural areas to form the Sol Plaatje local municipality. The municipality has a population of 270,078.
See also South Africa.
