De Aar is a town situated at the intersection of the N10 National Route, R48 Provincial Route, and R388 Regional Route in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The is also affectionately known as “Die SES” deriving its nickname from the six farms that have surrounded De Aar since the 1900s.
De Aar falls within Emthanjeni Local Municipality under the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality of the Northern Cape Province. It is the main town as well as the administrative centre/seat of both the Local Municipality and District.
The town is the second-most important railway junction in the country, situated on the line between Cape Town and Kimberley. The junction was of particular strategic importance to the British during the Second Boer War.
De Aar is also a primary commercial distribution centre for a large area of the central Great Karoo. Major production activities of the area include wool production and livestock farming. The area is also popular for hunting, although the region is rather arid.
History
De Aar was originally established on the Farm “De Aar.” The name means “the artery”, a reference to its underground water supply.
The Cape Government Railways were founded in 1872, and the route that the government chose for the line to connect the Kimberley diamond fields to Cape Town on the coast, ran directly through De Aar. Because of its central location, the government also selected the location for a junction between this first railway line, and the other Cape railway networks further east, in 1881.
In 1899, two brothers who ran a trading store and hotel at the junction, Isaac and Wulf Friedlander, purchased the farm of De Aar.
Following the Anglo Boer War, the Friedlander brothers surveyed the land for the establishment of a town. The municipality was created a year later and the town’s first mayor, Dr Harry Baker, was elected in 1907.
The South African Defence Force’s 97 Ammunition Depot is located 7 km outside of De Aar. This is a large facility, and includes 186 magazines and an internal railway system. The South African Army’s School of Ammunition is also located at the facility.
