Vryburg is a large agricultural town in the North West Province of South Africa, situated at the intersection of the N14 and N18 National Routes. The town lies approximately 86.7 km south-west of the historical Setswana village of Setlagole.
The town falls under the Naledi Local Municipality in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality of North West Province. It is the administrative seat of both the Local Municipality and District, as well the industrial and agricultural heartland of the region.
Vryburg is located halfway between Mahikeng (the capital of the North West Province) to the north and Kimberley (the capital of the Northern Cape Province) to the south.
Vryburg is home to Huhudi, a township situated just south of the town.
History
The name Vryburg comes from the period in 1882 when Vryburg was established as the capital of the Republic of Stellaland. The Republicans called themselves Vryburgers (“free citizens”), and since the Afrikaans word for “citizen” is burger and the word for “borough” (or “fortress”) is burg the name of the town followed.
The first and only president was G.J. van Niekerk. A site for the township was selected and named Endvogelfontein.
On 15 November the same year, the name was changed to Vryburg. In December that year, newly laid out plots were apportioned to the volunteers by means of a lottery and by February 1883 some 400 farms had been established. The plots were taken by Afrikaners from native tribes.
On 16 August 1883, Administrator Van Niekerk proclaimed the Republic of Stellaland with Vryburg as capital and himself as president. By 1884, the town consisted of about 20 houses.
Stellaland split into two rival factions – those who supported annexation into the Cape Colony as mooted by Cecil Rhodes, and those who preferred independence.
In February 1884, the London Convention was signed, making Stellaland a British protectorate, with the Reverend John McKenzie appointed Commissioner to British Bechuanaland.
In 1885, the British seized the town and incorporated the area into British Bechuanaland, which in turn became part of the Cape Colony in 1895.
During the Second Boer War, the British built a concentration camp here to house Boer women and children.
By 1910, the Cape Colony became the Cape Province, one of the four provinces of the Union of South Africa and later the Republic of South Africa. When nine provinces were established in 1994, Vryburg finally became part of the North West Province.
