Brits is a large
townA town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
and
districtDistricts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
situated in a fertile,
citrusCitrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
, vegetable and
grainCereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
-producing area that is irrigated by the waters of the
Hartbeespoort DamHartbeespoort Dam also known as Harties is a dam situated in the North West Province of South Africa . It lies in a valley to the south of the Magaliesberg mountain range and north of the Witwatersberg mountain range, about 35 kilometres west of Pretoria...
in North West Province of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is close to the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in
GautengGauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
, which includes
PretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
and it has the same dialling code as Pretoria. In addition to being a centre for agriculture, the town is home to several heavy industries, it is worth mentioning the presence of a factory of the Italian car manufacturer
Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
that produced cars for the domestic market and export to Asia from 1974 to 1985. The town also plays an important role in the South African
miningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
industry: 94% of South Africa's
platinumPlatinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
comes from the Rustenburg and Brits districts, which together produce more platinum than any other single area in the world. In addition, there is a large
vanadiumVanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...
mine in the district.
The Indian area in Brits is called Primindia. Brits is part of the
Madibeng Local MunicipalityThe Local Municipality of Madibeng is a local municipality in Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa. The seat of local municipality is Brits. The popular tourist area of Hartebeespoort is also located in the municipality....
. Brits was linked to the Pretoria by the
N4The N4 is a National Route which forms the South African section of the Walvis Bay to Maputo highway, which links the east and west coasts of Southern Africa...
Platinum Bakwena Toll Road in the early 2000s, which significantly cut travel time between Brits and the major cities of Gauteng.
, Brits was experiencing a development boom, because of increased mining activity in the region.
History
Brits was founded in 1924 on the farm
Roode Kopjes (Red Hills) and was named after the owner, Johannes Nicolaas Brits. The armistice treaty for the
Transvaal civil warThe Transvaal civil war was a series of skirmishes in the Transvaal Colony in the early 1860s. It began after the British government had recognized trekkers living in the Transvaal Colony independent in 1854,. The Boers divided into numerous political factions...
was signed in 1864 beneath a karee tree just to the south of Brits. A speech by
General HertzogJames Barry Munnik Hertzog, better known as J. B. M. Hertzog was a Boer general during the second Anglo-Boer War who later went on to become Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1939...
in 1912 at the nearby De Wildt railway station led to the formation of the
National PartyThe National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
.
Animals
The
De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife CentreThe De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre is a captive breeding facility for cheetahs and other animals that is situated in the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountain range in the North West Province of South Africa....
, renowned for its success in breeding and studying
cheetahThe cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
, king cheetah,
brown hyenaHyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
,
suniSuni is a very small species of antelope. It occurs in south-east Africa in dense underbrush.Suni are around 12-17 inches high at the shoulder and weigh 10-12 pounds . They are usually reddish brown, darker on their back than their sides and legs. The belly, chin, throat and insides of legs are...
,
blue duikerA duiker is any of about 21 small to medium-sized antelope species from the subfamily Cephalophinae native to Sub-Saharan Africa.Duikers are shy and elusive creatures with a fondness for dense cover; most are forest dwellers and even the species living in more open areas are quick to disappear...
and wild dogs is situated in the small town of De Wildt, just east of Brits.
Brits is also the birthplace of the first
clonedCloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
animal in Africa, a cow.
Notable people
- Johannes Nicolaas Brits, farmer
- Katlego Mphela
Katlego Mphela is a South African footballer who currently plays for Mamelodi Sundowns in the Premier Soccer League and South Africa....
(born 1984), footballer