Ermelo is a town situated at the intersection of the N2, N11, and N17 National Highways in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
Located approximately 210 km east of Johannesburg, Ermelo is an industrial, educational, and commercial town part of the Msukaligwa Local Municipality in the Gert Sibande District of Mpumalanga province.
Ermelo town is both a mixed agriculture and mining area.
History
Some of the earliest inhabitants of the area were the Leghoya people. Not much is known about them, but ruins of their settlements dating back to c.1400 can be found in the area.
During the mid-1800s, the area was an outspan area for resting teams of draw animals transporting goods across the region mainly due to the small lakes dotting the area.
Modern Ermelo was founded by Dutch Reformed Church Reverend Frans Lion Cachet (1835–1899). He would minister to the many farms in the area. A congregation was started by Cachet in 1870, and was recognised by the 5th annual general meeting of the church in April 1872.
The town was formed on the farm Nooitgedacht purchased from P.J. Fourie in 1879 and proclaimed on 12 February 1880. It was managed by the church until 1895 when the government of the South African Republic took over its management. Cachet named it after a town in the Netherlands. Cachet was an outspoken preacher, who had a strong interest in evangelism to Jews, his own family having Jewish heritage. Cachet had met and been influenced by Hermanus Willem Witteveen from Ermelo in the Netherlands as a young man, and named the settlement in honour of Witteveen.
In 1901, the town was reduced to a single standing home by the British during the Second Boer War. The town would be rebuilt in 1903.
