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Pretoria
View from the Union Buildings
Flag Seal
Motto: Præstantia Prævaleat Prætoria (May Pretoria Be Pre-eminent In Excellence)
Pretoria Location of Pretoria
Coordinates: 25°44′46″S 28°11′17″E / 25.74611°S 28.18806°E / -25.74611; 28.18806Coordinates: 25°44′46″S 28°11′17″E / 25.74611°S 28.18806°E / -25.74611; 28.18806
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Tshwane
Established	1855
Area[1]
• Total	513.84 km2 (198.39 sq mi)
Elevation	1,271 m (4,170 ft)
Population (2001)[1]
• Total	525,387
• Density	1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)[1]
• Black African	24.5%
• Coloured	6.2%
• Indian/Asian	1.6%
• White	67.7%
First languages (2001)[1]
• Afrikaans	61.2%
• English	15.0%
• Northern Sotho	5.5%
• Tswana	4.3%
• Other	14%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	012

Pretoria 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 (administrative) and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital. Pretoria is contained within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent former administrations (among which also Centurion and Soshanguve). Pretoria itself is sometimes referred to as "Tshwane" due to a long-running and controversial proposed change of name, which has yet to decided as of 2012.

The city's original name was Pretoria Philadelphia ("Pretoria of brotherly love").^[2] It gave its name to the Pax Praetoriana, referring to the country's relative stability.

Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City due to the thousands of Jacaranda trees planted in its streets, parks and gardens.^[3]

History[link]

The Union Buildings, seat of South Africa's government

Statue of Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius (27 November 1798 – 23 July 1853) in Pretoria

The Southern Transvaal Ndebele occupied the river valley, which was to become the location of the city of Pretoria, by around 1600.^[4]

During the difaqane in Natal, another band of refugees arrived in this area under the leadership of Mzilikazi. However, they were forced to abandon their villages in their flight from a regiment of Zulu raiders in 1832.

Pretoria itself was founded in 1855 by Marthinus Pretorius, a leader of the Voortrekkers, who named it after his father Andries Pretorius. The elder Pretorius had become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. Andries Pretorius also negotiated the Sand River Convention (1852), in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal. It became the capital of the South African Republic (ZAR) on 1 May 1860. The founding of Pretoria as the capital of the South African Republic can be seen as marking the end of the Boers' settlement movements of the Great Trek.

Boer Wars[link]

During the First Boer War, the city was besieged by Republican forces in December 1880 and March 1881. The peace treaty which ended the war was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881 at the Pretoria Convention.

The Second Boer War (1899 to 1902) resulted in the end of the Transvaal Republic and start of British hegemony in South Africa. During the war, Winston Churchill was imprisoned in the Staats Model School in Pretoria but escaped to Mozambique. The city surrendered to British forces under Frederick Roberts on 5 June 1900 and the conflict was ended in Pretoria with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902.

A number of forts were built for the defence of the city just prior to the Second Boer War, though some are today in ruins, a number of them have been preserved as national monuments.

Union of South Africa[link]

The Boer Republics of the ZAR and the Orange Free State were united with the Cape Colony and Natal Colony in 1910 to become the Union of South Africa. Pretoria then became the administrative capital of the whole of South Africa, with Cape Town the legislative capital. Between 1860 and 1994, the city was also the capital of the province of Transvaal, superseding Potchefstroom in that role.

On 14 October 1931, Pretoria achieved official city status. When South Africa became a republic in 1961, Pretoria remained its administrative capital.

After apartheid[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

After the creation of new municipal structures across South Africa in 2000, the name Tshwane was adopted for the Metropolitan Municipality that includes Pretoria and surrounding towns.

Pretoria is "the capital of Apartheid South Africa". However, Pretoria's political reputation was changed with the inauguration of Nelson Mandela on the 10th May 1994 as the country's first non-apartheid President at the Union Buildings close to Pretoria CBD.

Beginning in 2005, portions of the African National Congress wished to change the name of the city to match the name of the Tshwane municipality, however this met with stiff opposition, particularly from Afrikaner civil rights groups and political parties since it denies the history of the city as founded by Pretorius.

In 1994 Peter Holmes Maluleka was elected as transitional mayor of Pretoria, until the first democratic election held later that year, making him the first black mayor of this capital of South Africa. Maluleka later became the chairman of the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan City Council (later City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality), then was elected Speaker of the Tshwane Metro Council and in 2004 was chosen to be a member of the South African Parliament for the Soshanguve constituency.

Geography[link]

Pretoria is situated approximately 50 km (31 mi) north of Johannesburg in the north-east of South Africa, in a transitional belt between the plateau of the Highveld to the south and the lower-lying Bushveld to the north. It lies at an altitude of about 1,350 m (4,500 ft) above sea level, in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of the Magaliesberg range.

Climate[link]

The city has a moderately dry subtropical climate, specifically a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cwa), with long hot and rainy summers and short cool and dry winters. The average annual temperature is 18.7 °C (65.7 °F).^[6] This is rather high considering its relatively high altitude of about 1350 metres and is due mainly to its sheltered valley position, which acts as a heat trap and cuts it off from cool southerly and south-easterly air masses for much of the year. Rain is chiefly concentrated in the summer months, with drought conditions prevailing over the winter months, when frosts may be sharp. Snowfall is an extremely rare event, snowflakes were spotted in 1959 and 1968 in the city center, but the city has never experienced an accumulation in its history. During a countrywide heatwave in November 2011, Pretoria experienced temperatures that reached 39 °C (102 °F), extraordinarily unusual for that time of the year.

Central Business District[link]

The Central Business District (CBD) of Pretoria has been the traditional centre of government and commerce, although today many corporate offices, small businesses, shops and government departments are situated in the sprawling suburbs of the city rather than the CBD. However to bring service delivery back to the people, various Government departments are returning to the CBD. National Departments with their Head Office in the CBD include: Department of Health, Basic Education, Transport, Higher Education and Training, Sport and Recreation, Justice and Constitutional Development, Water and Environmental Affairs and the National Treasury.

Demographics[link]

Depending on the extent of the area understood to constitute "Pretoria", the population ranges from 500,000^[8] to 2.5 million.^[9] The main languages spoken in the Tshwane municipality are Pedi, Afrikaans, Tswana, Tsonga, Zulu and English. Ndebele and Sotho are also widely spoken. The whole Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality had a population of 1,985,997 at the 2001 census. The city of Pretoria has the largest white population of anywhere on the African continent. Since its founding it has been a major Afrikaner population centre, and currently there are roughly 400,000 Afrikaners living in or around the city.

Even since the end of Apartheid, Pretoria itself still has a white majority, albeit an ever increasing black middle-class. However in the townships of Soshanguve and Atteridgeville blacks make up close to all of the population. The largest white ethnic group are the Afrikaners and the largest black ethnic group are the Northern Sothos.

If one considers the lower estimate for the population of Pretoria, this includes largely former-white designated areas and there is therefore a white majority. However if one includes the geographically separate townships, this increases Pretoria's population beyond a million and makes whites a minority.

Pretoria's Indians mostly live in the Indian township of Laudium and surrounding areas, or in white suburbs.

Cityscape[link]

Architecture[link]

Media related to Buildings in Pretoria at Wikimedia Commons

Pretoria has over the years had very diverse cultural influences and this is reflected in the architectural styles that can be found in the city. It ranges from British Colonial Architecture to Art Deco with a good mix of uniquely South African style mixed in.

Some of the notable structures in Pretoria include the Union Buildings, Voortrekker Monument, the main campus of the University of South Africa, Mahlamba Ndlopfu (the President's House), Reserve Bank of South Africa (Office Tower) and the Telkom Lukas Rand Transmission Tower. Other known structures and buildings include the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, The South African State Theatre, University of Pretoria, and Head Quarters of the Department of International Relations and Co-Operation (modern architecture).

• 

  Union Buildings

• 

  National Botanical Gardens

• 

  Pretoria CBD viewed from the southeast

Parks and gardens[link]

Pretoria is home to the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa as well as the Pretoria National Botanical Garden, one of the National Botanical Gardens in South Africa.^[10] There are also a number of smaller parks and gardens located throughout the city, including the Austin Roberts Bird Sanctuary..

Transport[link]

Streetsigns in Pretoria

Railway[link]

Commuter rail services around Pretoria are operated by Metrorail. The routes, originating from the city centre, extend south to Germiston and Johannesburg, west to Atteridgeville, northwest to Ga-Rankuwa, north to Soshanguve and east to Mamelodi.

The Gautrain high-speed railway line runs from the eastern suburb of Hatfield to Pretoria Station and then southwards to Centurion, Sandton, OR Tambo International Airport and Johannesburg.

Pretoria Station is a departure point for the Blue Train luxury train. Rovos Rail,^[11] a luxury mainline train safari service operates from the colonial-style railway station at Capital Park.^[12] The South African Friends of the Rail have recently moved their vintage train trip operations from the Capital Park station to the Hercules station.^[13]

Buses[link]

Various bus companies exist in Pretoria, of which Putco is one of the oldest and most recognised. Tshwane(Pretoria) municipality provides for the rest of the bus transport and to view the time table please visit them at Tshwane Bus Booklet.^[14]

Road[link]

The N1 is the major freeway that runs through Pretoria. The N1 Eastern Bypass bisects the large expanse of the eastern suburbs, routing traffic from Johannesburg to Polokwane and the north of the country. The N4 Platinum Highway forms the Northern Bypass and routes traffic from Witbank to Rustenburg. The N4 runs east-west through South Africa, connecting Maputo to Gaborone. Other major freeways include the N14 which links Pretoria with Johannesburg's West Rand, and the R21 which links the city with OR Tambo International Airport.

Airports[link]

For scheduled air services, Pretoria is served by Johannesburg's airports: OR Tambo International, 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of central Pretoria; and Lanseria, 35 kilometres (22 mi) south-west of the city. Wonderboom Airport in the suburb of Wonderboom in the north of Pretoria services light commercial and private aircraft. There are two military air bases to the south of the city, Swartkop and Waterkloof.

Society and culture[link]

Media[link]

Since Pretoria forms part the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, most radio, television and paper media is the same as what can be found in the rest of the metro area.

Museums[link]

The Voortrekker Monument

• African Window
• Freedom Park
• Kruger House (Residence of the president of the ZAR, Paul Kruger).
• Mapungubwe Museum
• Melrose House (The Treaty of Vereeniging which ended the Anglo-Boer War was signed here in 1902)
• Pretoria Forts
• Transvaal Museum
• Van Wouw Museum
• Voortrekker Monument

Music[link]

A number of popular South African bands and musicians are originally from Pretoria. These include Desmond and the Tutus, Seether, Zebra & Giraffe, popular mostwako rapper JR, and DJ Mujava who was raised in the town of Attridgeville.

The song "Marching to Pretoria" refers to this city. The opening line of The Beatles' song I Am the Walrus, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together", is based on the song "Marching to Pretoria", which contains the lyric "I'm with you and you're with me and we are all together".^{[citation needed]}

Sport[link]

One of the most popular sports in Pretoria is rugby union. Loftus Versfeld is home to the Blue Bulls, who compete in the domestic Currie Cup, and also to the Bulls franchise in the international Super Rugby competition. The Bulls Super Rugby team, which is operated by the Blue Bulls, won the competition in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Loftus Versfeld also hosts the soccer side Mamelodi Sundowns.

Pretoria also hosted matches during the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Loftus Versfeld was used for matches of soccer in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. There are two soccer teams in the city campaigning in the Premier Soccer League. They are Mamelodi Sundowns and Supersport United. Supersport United were the 2008–09 PSL Champions.

Following the 2011/2012 season the University of Pretoria F.C. will gain promotion to the South African Premier Soccer League (PSL), the top domestic league.^[15][16]

Cricket is also popular game in the city. As there is no international cricket stadium in the city, it does not host any major cricket tournament, although the nearby situated Centurion has Supersport Park which is an international cricket stadium and has hosted many important tournaments such as 2003 Cricket World Cup, 2007 ICC World Twenty20, 2009 IPL and 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.

Stadiums[link]

• Loftus Versfeld

Churches[link]

• Anglican Diocese of Pretoria
• Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa
• Central Baptist Church
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa
• Hatfield Christian Church
• Methodist Church of Southern Africa
• Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pretoria
• Seventh-day Adventist Church
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Praise Tabernacle

Commerce and industry[link]

As the national administrative (executive) capital of South Africa, Pretoria is the seat of government and houses the headquarters of the main government departments and ministries. As the de facto capital city, it also hosts the foreign embassies and diplomatic missions. The city is a major commercial centre and an important industrial centre. Its main industries are iron and steel works, copper casting, and the manufacture of automobiles, railway carriages and heavy machinery.

Pretoria has a number of industrial areas, business districts and small home businesses. A number of chambers of commerce exist for Pretoria and it's business community including Pretoriaweb a business networking group that meets once a month to discuss the issues of doing business in Pretoria. The members of Pretoriaweb also discuss issues in various social media environments and on the website.

Education[link]

Tertiary education[link]

University of Pretoria's Old Arts Building

The front part of the Theo van Wyk Building on the Main Campus of UNISA

Tshwane University of Technology

Pretoria is one of South Africa's leading academic cities, it is home to both the largest residential university in the country,^[17] the Tshwane University of Technology and the largest distance education university (the University of South Africa, more commonly known by its acronym, UNISA). The University of Pretoria (colloquially known as Tuks or Tukkies), one of South Africa's leading research and teaching universities, and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are also located in the city.

Private tertiary education[link]

• The Open WIndow School of Visual Communication

Secondary education[link]

Change of name[link]

On 26 May 2005 the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC), which is linked to the Directorate of Heritage in the Department of Arts and Culture, approved changing the name of Pretoria to Tshwane, which is already the name of the Metropolitan Municipality^[18] in which Pretoria, and a number of surrounding towns are located. Although the name change was approved by the SAGNC, it has not yet been approved by the Minister of Arts and Culture. The matter is currently under consideration while he has requested further research on the matter. Should the Minister approve the name change, the name will be published in the Government Gazette, giving the public opportunity to comment on the matter. The Minister can then refer that public response back to the SAGNC, before presenting his recommendation before parliament, who will vote on the change. Various public interest groups have warned that the name change will be challenged in court, should the minister approve the renaming. The long process involved made it unlikely the name would change anytime soon, if ever, even assuming the Minister had approved the change in early 2006.

The Tshwane Metro Council has advertised Tshwane as "Africa's leading capital city" since the name change was approved by the SAGNC in 2005. This has led to further controversy, however, as the name of the city had not yet been changed officially, and the council was, at best, acting prematurely. Following a complaint lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it was ruled that such advertisements are deliberately misleading and should be withdrawn from all media.^[19] Despite the rulings of the ASA, Tshwane Metro Council failed to discontinue their "City of Tshwane" advertisements. As a result, the ASA requested that Tshwane Metro pay for advertisements in which it admits that it has misled the public. Refusing to abide by the ASA's request, the Metro Council was banned consequently from placing any advertisements in the South African media that refer to Tshwane as the capital. ASA may still place additional sanctions on the Metro Council that would prevent it from placing any advertisements in the South African media, including council notices and employment vacancies.^[20][21]

After the ruling, the Metro Council continued to place Tshwane advertisements, but placed them on council-owned advertising boards and busstops throughout the municipal area. In August 2007, an internal memo was leaked to the media in which the Tshwane mayor sought advice from the premier of Gauteng on whether the municipality could be called the "City of Tshwane" instead of just "Tshwane".^[22] This could increase confusion about the distinction between the city of Pretoria and the municipality of Tshwane.

In early 2010 it was again rumoured that the South African government would make a decision regarding the name, however, a media briefing regarding name changes, where it may have been discussed, was cancelled shortly before taking place.^[23] Rumours of the name change provoked outrage from Afrikaner civil rights and political groups.^[24] It later emerged that the registration of the municipality as a geographic place had been published in the government gazette as it had been too late to withdraw the name from the publication,^[25] but it was announced that the name had been withdrawn, pending "further work" by officials.^[26][27] The following week, the registration of "Tshwane" was officially withdrawn in the Government Gazette.,^[28][29] The retraction had reportedly been ordered at the behest of the Deputy President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe, acting on behalf of President Jacob Zuma, as minister of Arts and Culture Lulu Xingwana had acted contrary to the position of the ANC, which is that Pretoria, and the municipality are separate entities, which was subsequently articulated by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.^[30]

In March 2010, the "Tshwane Royal House Committee", claiming to be descendents of Chief Tshwane, called for the name to be changed, and for the descendents of Chief Tshwane to be recognised, and to be made part of the administration of the municipality.^[31]

According to comments made by Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa in late 2011, the change will occur in 2012.^[32][33] However there remained considerable uncertainty about the issue.[1]

International relations[link]

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

Pretoria is twinned with:

Shopping malls[link]

Note: Malls marked with an asterisk are malls with at least a 4-screen cinema complex. Kolonnade Centre is the only mall in the city with a public ice-skating rink.

Places of interest[link]

The Union Buildings

• Pretoria National Botanical Garden
• The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
• Church Square
• Union Buildings
• Marabastad
• Menlyn Park
• Voortrekker Monument
• Hatfield Square

Nature reserves[link]

• Groenkloof Nature Reserve
• Rietvlei Nature Reserve
• Moreletaspruit Nature Reserve
• Faerie Glen Nature Reserve
• Wonderboom Nature Reserve

See also[link]

South Africa portal

• List of Pretoria suburbs
• Ptawug Pretoria Wireless Users Group—a free, non-profit, community wireless network in Pretoria
• Symbolism of the Voortrekker Monument

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pretoria

• City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality official website
• Visit Pretoria Travel Guide to Pretoria
• Pretoria travel guide from Wikitravel

Paul Kruger
5th President of the South African Republic
In office 9 May 1883 – 10 September 1900
Preceded by	Triumvirate (Thomas François Burgers, 1877)
Succeeded by	Schalk Willem Burger (acting)
Member of the Triumvirate
In office 8 August 1881 – 9 May 1883 Serving with M.W. Pretorius and Piet Joubert
Preceded by	The Viscount Wolseley As Governor of the Transvaal
Succeeded by	Himself As President of the South African Republic
Personal details
Born	Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger 10 October 1825 (1825-10-10) Bulhoek, Cape Colony
Died	14 July 1904(1904-07-14) (aged 78) Clarens, Vaud, Switzerland
Resting place	Heroes' Acre, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Spouse(s)	Maria du Plessis (died 1845) Gezina du Plessis (married 1847)
Children	17
Religion	Reformed Churches in South Africa

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Uncle Paul (Afrikaans: "Oom Paul") was State President of the South African Republic (Transvaal). He gained international renown as the face of Boer resistance against the British during the South African or Second Boer War (1899–1902).

Youth[link]

Paul Kruger was a descendant of German, French, Dutch and Danish immigrants to South Africa. One of his ancestors, Jacobus Krüger, immigrated from Berlin, Germany, to South Africa in 1713 to work as a mercenary for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He married and had children with Johanna Kemp, a coloured woman, the daughter of Kruger's Indonesian ancestor, "Nicolaas Kemp van Batavia", a slave.^[1] One of his French ancestors was Francois Villion, who married and had children with Cornelia Campenaar, a Dutch woman^[2] His Khoi ancestor Krotoa (also known as "Eva"), married and had a child with his Danish ancestor, Pieter van Meerhoff (Peder Jacobsen).^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

According to tradition, Kruger was born at Bulhoek, on his grandfather's farm, which was approximately 15 km west of the town of Steynsburg and 100 km to the north of Cradock in the Eastern Cape Province, and he grew up on the farm Vaalbank. He received only three months of formal education, his master being Tielman Roos ^[8], but he became knowledgeable from life on the veld. Paul Kruger became proficient in hunting and horse riding. He contributed to the development of guerrilla warfare during the First Boer War.^[9] Kruger's father, Casper Kruger, joined the trek party of Hendrik Potgieter when the Great Trek started in 1835.

The trekkers crossed the Vaal River in 1838, and at first stayed in the area that is known today as Potchefstroom. Kruger's father later decided to settle in the district now known as Rustenburg. At the age of 16, Kruger was entitled to choose a farm for himself at the foot of the Magaliesberg, where he settled in 1841.

The following year he married Maria du Plessis, and they went together with Paul Kruger's father to live in the Eastern Transvaal. After the family had returned to Rustenburg, Kruger's wife and infant died in 1845 during childbirth. He then married his second wife Gezina du Plessis in 1847, with whom he remained until her death in 1901. The couple had seven daughters and nine sons, some dying in infancy.^[10]

Kruger was a deeply religious man; he claimed to have only read one book, the Bible. He also claimed to know most of it by heart. He was a founding member of the Reformed Church in South Africa .^[11]

Leadership[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011)

Paul Kruger, photograph from 1879

Image of Paul Kruger later in life in characteristic top hat around 1892

1899 Vanity Fair cartoon of Paul Kruger

Kruger began his military service as a field cornet in the commandos and eventually became Commandant-General of the South African Republic. He was appointed member of a commission of the Volksraad, the republican parliament that was to draw up a constitution. People began to take notice of the young man and he played a prominent part in ending the quarrel between the Transvaal leader, Stephanus Schoeman, and M.W. Pretorius. He was present at the Sand River Convention in 1852.^[12]

In 1873, Kruger resigned as Commandant-General, and for a time he held no office and retired to his farm, Boekenhoutfontein. However, in 1874, he was elected as a member of the Executive Council and shortly after became the Vice-President of the Transvaal.

Following the annexation of the Transvaal by Britain in 1877, Kruger became the leader of the resistance movement. During the same year, he visited Britain for the first time as the leader of a deputation. In 1878, he formed part of a second deputation. A highlight of his visit to Europe was when he ascended in a hot air balloon and saw Paris from the air.

The First Boer War started in 1880, and the Boer forces were victorious at Majuba in 1881. Once again, Kruger played a critical role in the negotiations with the British, which led to the restoration of the Transvaal's independence under British suzerainty.

On 30 December 1880, at the age of 55, Kruger was elected President of the Transvaal. One of his first goals was the revision of the Pretoria Convention of 1881; the agreement between the Boers and the British that ended the First Boer War. In April 1883 he defeated Piet Joubert in the presidential elections. That year he again left for Britain, empowered to negotiate with Lord Derby. Kruger and his companions also visited the Continent, and this became a triumph in countries such as Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Spain. In Germany he attended an imperial banquet at which he was presented to the Emperor, Wilhelm I, and spoke at length with Bismarck.

Kruger went on to win presidential elections in the 1888, 1893 and 1898, each time defeating Joubert.

In the Transvaal, things changed rapidly after the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. This discovery had far-reaching political repercussions and gave rise to the uitlander (Afrikaans: foreigner) problem, which eventually caused the fall of the Republic. Kruger acknowledged in his memoirs that General Joubert predicted the events that followed afterwards, declaring that instead of rejoicing at the discovery of gold, they should be weeping because it will "cause our land to be soaked in blood".

At the end of 1895, the failed Jameson raid took place; Jameson was forced to surrender and was taken to Pretoria to be handed over to his British countrymen for punishment.

Joshua Slocum's sailing memoir relates that, calling at Durban in 1897 on his solo round-the-world trip, he was introduced to Kruger, who as an adherent of the Flat Earth theory exclaimed "You don't mean round the world, it is impossible! You mean in the world. Impossible!".^[13]

In 1898, Kruger was elected President for the fourth and final time.

Exile[link]

On 11 October 1899, the Second Boer War broke out. On 7 May the following year, Kruger attended the last session of the Volksraad, and he fled Pretoria on 29 May as Lord Roberts was advancing on the town. For weeks he either stayed in a house at Waterval Onder or in his railway carriage at Machadodorp in the then Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga. In October, he left South Africa and fled to Mozambique. There he boarded the Dutch warship Gelderland, sent by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, which had simply ignored the British naval blockade of South Africa. He left his wife, who was ill at the time, and she remained in South Africa where she died on 20 July 1901.

Kruger went to Marseille and from there to Paris. On 1 December 1900 he travelled to Germany, but Kaiser Wilhelm refused to see him. From Germany he went to The Netherlands, where he stayed in rented homes in Hilversum and Utrecht. He also stayed twice in Menton, France (October 1902 to May 1903 and October 1903 to May 1904) ^[14] before moving to Clarens, Switzerland, where he died on 14 July 1904. His body was embalmed by Prof. Aug Roud and first buried on 26 July 1904 in The Hague, Netherlands. After the British government gave permission he was reburied ^[15] on 16 December 1904 in the Heroes' Acre of the Church Street cemetery, Pretoria.

Physical appearance[link]

Kruger was a large squarely built man, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. As he aged, his hair went snowy white. He wore a moustache and full beard when he started to play a role in public life, but in later years a chinstrap beard and no moustache.^[16] Martin Meredith cited W. Morcom's statement that he had very oily hair and sunken eyes.^[17] He was most often dressed in a black frock coat with a top hat. Never far from his pipe, he was a chain smoker. The image of Kruger in his top hat and frock coat, smoking his pipe was used to great effect in the Anglo-Boer war by British cartoonists.

According to legend, he was named Mamelodi'a Tshwane (Tswana: "whistler of the Apies River") by the inhabitants of the surrounding area for his ability to whistle and imitate bird calls.

Legacy[link]

A gold Krugerrand coin

Statue of Paul Kruger on Church Square, Pretoria

His former Pretoria residence is now the Kruger House Museum.

A statue of Paul Kruger in his characteristic formal dress stands in Church Square, Pretoria.

The Kruger National Park is named after him, as is the Krugerrand coin, which features his face on the obverse.

Pipe manufacturers still produce a style named "Oom Paul", the characteristic large-bowled full-bent shape often seen in photographs of Paul Kruger and believed to have been designed especially for him.

In 2004 he was voted 27th in the SABC3's Great South Africans poll conducted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

The Nazis used his biography (Kruger had German ancestors) for one of their anti-British propaganda films: Ohm Krüger (Uncle Krüger), shot by director Hans Steinhoff in 1940–41. The role of Kruger in this movie was played by Emil Jannings.

There are streets and squares named after Kruger in Dutch towns and cities. In Amsterdam's Transvaalbuurt where most of the names of the streets and squares are taken from the Boer wars there is a Krugerstraat and a Krugerplein. There are other "Transvaalbuurts" in other Dutch towns and cities. These names were given some years after the Second Boer War.

In Ireland, in the early years of the Gaelic Athletic Association a number of clubs were named after opponents of the British. In Tuam, one local club was named after Kruger around 1900,^[18] although the name disappeared when the club merged with another Tuam club later that decade.

A street in St. Gallen, Switzerland – Krügerstrasse – was named after Kruger, most likely because he enjoyed a reputation as a freedom fighter in late 19th-century Switzerland.^[19] The street was, however renamed in 2009 by the local authority due to Kruger's racist statements (typical of his period) about indigenous Africans. The street is now renamed after Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt in 2009. A South African diplomat attended the ceremony for the name change.^[20]

In Den Haag, the Netherlands, a renowned market street is still called, de Paul Krugerlaan.

See also[link]

• List of South Africans

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Kruger

• Brief biography on the Kruger National Park web page
• Longer biography at the Kruger House Museum web site
• The memoirs of Paul Kruger, four times President of the South African Republic (1902) at archive.org