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Map of the two Karoo ecoregions as delineated by the WWF on a satellite image from NASA. The yellow line encloses the two ecoregions, with the green line separating the Succulent Karoo to the west, from the Nama Karoo to the east.^{[n 1]}

The Karoo (a Khoisan word of uncertain etymology^[1]) is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. Its inland section, the Nama Karoo, has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The western section is the Succulent Karoo, situated in a winter rainfall region near the Atlantic coast.

In geological terms the Karoo Supergroup refers to an extensive and geologically recent (100 to 260 million years old) sequence of sedimentary and igneous rocks, which is flanked to the south by the Cape Supergroup, and to the north by the more ancient Witwatersrand Supergroup. It covers two-thirds of South Africa^{[n 2]} and extends in places to 8,000 m below the land surface, constituting an immense volume of rocks which was formed, geologically speaking, in a short period of time.^[2][3]

Geological history[link]

Extinct Karoo vertebrates

Bradysaurus

Lystrosaurus

The Great Karoo has an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers. From a geological point of view it has been a vast inland basin for most of the past 250 million years. At one stage the area was glaciated and the evidence for this is found in the widely-distributed Dwyka tillite. Later, at various times, there were great inland deltas, seas, lakes or swamps. Enormous deposits of coal formed and these are one of the pillars of the economy of South Africa today. Ancient reptiles and amphibians prospered in the wet forests and their remains have made the Karoo famous amongst palaeontologists. About 180 million years ago, volcanic activity took place on a titanic scale, which brought an end to a flourishing reptile evolution.^[4] The following genera represent some of the extinct animals of the Karoo:

• Mesosaurus, aquatic Dwyka carnivore
• Bradysaurus, Beaufort Group herbivore
• Diictodon, Permian mammal-like reptile
• Rubidgea, Permian predator
• Lystrosaurus, Triassic mammal-like herbivore
• Thrinaxodon, Triassic mammal-like carnivore
• Euparkeria, early dinosaur
• Massospondylus, late Triassic to early Jurassic herbivorous, bipedal dinosaur
• Megazostrodon, early mammal^[4]

The first Karoo fossils were discovered in 1838 by Scots-born Andrew Geddes Bain at a road cutting near Fort Beaufort. He sent his specimens to the British Museum, where fellow Scotsman Robert Broom recognised the Karoo fossils' mammal-like characteristics in 1897.^[4]

Modern history[link]

Afrikaner Trekboers in the Karoo

Western people first settled in the Cape in 1652 but made almost no inroads into the Karoo prior to about 1800. Before that time, large herds of antelope, zebra and other large game roamed the grassy flats of the region. The Khoi and Bushmen, last of the southern African Stone Age peoples, wandered far and wide. There were no Europeans and no Africans of Bantu extraction. (The area was never wet enough for cattle and this is probably the main reason why it was never occupied by the Bantu). The two ethnic groups mentioned above differed substantially in their cultures and lifestyles; the Hottentots were described as grazers of sheep and cattle, while the Bushmen were hunter-gatherers. (These were the original names given to these tribes by the Dutch. The terms may not be regarded as politically correct today). With the occupation of the region by European settlers, sheep gradually replaced the game and the cover of grass degenerated, owing to changes in the pattern of grazing and in the climate.

Starting in the middle years of the 19th century, a railway track was extended into the Karoo from Worcester in the south. This was eventually extended into Bechuanaland, South West Africa, Johannesburg, Rhodesia and far beyond. The impact of this railroad on the history of southern Africa is difficult to exaggerate.

During the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, three Republican commando units, reinforced by the rebels from the Cape Colony, conducted widespread operations throughout the Karoo. Countless skirmishes took place in the region, with the Calvinia magisterial district, in particular, contributing a significant number of fighters to the Republican cause. Fought both conventionally and as a guerrilla struggle over the Karoo's vast expanses, it was a bloody war of attrition wherein both sides used newly developed technologies to their advantage. Numerous abandoned blockhouses can still be seen at strategic locations throughout the Great Karoo; a prime example is located next to the Geelbeks River, 12 kilometres outside the town of Laingsburg.

Currently sheep farming is still the economic backbone of the Karoo, with other forms of agriculture established in areas where irrigation is possible. Lately game farms and tourism have also started to make an economic impact.

Little Karoo[link]

As the name implies, the Little Karoo is the smaller (and more southerly) of the two Karoo sub-regions. Locally it is usually called the Klein Karoo, which is Afrikaans for Little Karoo. Geographically it is a fertile valley (bounded on the north by the Swartberg, and on the south by the Langeberg and Outeniqua mountains). Although the boundaries of the region are not strictly defined, most people consider the western limit of the Little Karoo to be in the region of Barrydale and the eastern extremity around Uniondale.

The main town of the region is Oudtshoorn. Other towns/settlements in the region include Ladismith, Calitzdorp, De Rust,and well-known mission stations such as Zoar, Amalienstein, Barrydale and Dysselsdorp.

This area was first explored by European settlers in the late 17th century, who encountered only Khoisan people living in this rather dry area. Modern farming methods have brought productivity and wealth to this district.

Karoo in literature[link]

Poet Thomas Hardy wrote in his poem The Dead Drummer:^[5]

Young Hodge the Drummer never knew -
Fresh from his Wessex home -
The meaning of the broad Karoo,
The Bush, the dusty loam,
And why uprose to nightly view
Strange stars amid the gloam.

A blockhouse in the eastern Karoo

In Bridge-Guard in the Karroo, Rudyard Kipling evoked the loneliness experienced by blockhouse soldiers at Ketting station on the Dwyka River while guarding the Karoo railway track, a lifeline during the South African War (excerpts):^[6]

<poem>Sudden the desert changes, The raw glare softens and clings, Till the aching Oudtshoorn ranges Stand up like the thrones of Kings – We hear the Hottentot herders As the sheep click past to the fold – And the click of the restless girders As the steel contracts in the cold – And the solemn firmament marches, And the hosts of heaven rise Framed through the iron arches – Banded and barred by the ties, ...</poem>

Karoo gallery

Dolerite outcrops of the Nuweveld range, central Great Karoo

Nuweveld range and its foothills, central Great Karoo

Cape Fold Belt at Anysberg, northern Little Karoo

See also[link]

• Karoo National Park
• Karoo District Municipality
• Central Karoo District Municipality
• Karoo Ice Age

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.karoospace.co.za

v t e Subfields of physical geography Biogeography Climatology / Paleoclimatology Coastal geography Edaphology Geomorphology Glaciology Hydrology / Hydrography Landscape ecology Limnology Oceanography Palaeogeography Pedology/Soil science Quaternary science

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2010)

Steve Tesich
Born	(1942-09-29)September 29, 1942 Užice, Yugoslavia
Died	July 1, 1996(1996-07-01) (aged 53) Sydney, Nova Scotia

Stojan Steve Tesich (Serbian: Стојан Стив Тешић, Stojan Stiv Tešić; September 29, 1942 – July 1, 1996) was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.

Career[link]

Steve Tesich was born as Stojan Tešić (Serbian: Стојан Тешић, pronounced Tesh-ich) in Užice, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) on September 29, 1942, but immigrated to the USA in 1957 with his family when he was 14 years old. His father died in 1962.

His family settled in East Chicago, Indiana. Tesich graduated from Indiana University in 1965 with a BA in Russian, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He went on to do graduate work at Columbia University, receiving an MA in Russian Literature in 1967. He also wrote his first plays while at Columbia University. After graduation, he worked as a Department of Welfare caseworker in Brooklyn, New York in 1968.^[1]

He had been an alternate rider in 1962 for the Phi Kappa Psi team in the Little 500 bicycle race. His teammate was Dave Blase, who rode 139 of 200 laps and was the victory rider crossing the finish line for his team. They subsequently developed a friendship. Dave Blase was the model for the main character in Tesich's award-winning screenplay Breaking Away in 1979.

At a special screening of the 1985 cycling movie American Flyers starring Kevin Costner and Rae Dawn Chong in 1985, Tesich told the audience: “Many of you are better cyclists than I ever was, but I love this sport as much as anyone."

His play Division Street opened on Broadway in 1980 starring John Lithgow and Keene Curtis and was revived in 1987. The 1980 production of Division Street played at the Ambassador Theatre in New York City. The production opened on October 8, 1980 and closed after 21 performances. Frank Rich reviewed the 1987 revival in the New York Times.

Death[link]

After achieving critical and box office success writing for both stage and screen in the 1970s and 1980s, he died following a heart attack at the age of 53 in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada on July 1, 1996.

Posthumous[link]

His novel Karoo was published posthumously in 1998. Arthur Miller described the novel: "Fascinating—a real satiric invention full of wise outrage.” The novel was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. The novel also appeared in a German translation as Abspann.

Honors and awards[link]

Steve Tesich won the following awards for the Breaking Away screenplay in 1979, whose original working title was Bambino:

• National Society of Film Critics Award, Best Screenplay

• New York Film Critics Circle Award, Best Screenplay

• Oscar, Best Original Screenplay

• Writers Guild of America Award, Best-Written Comedy Written Directly for the Screen

• Screenwriter of the Year, ALFS Award from the London Critics Circle Film Awards, 1981

Steve Tesich also received a nomination in 1980 for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay-Motion Picture. The movie Breaking Away won the 1980 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Musical/Comedy.

The screenplay to the movie was also published in book form as Breaking Away, 1979 (St. Martin's Original Screenplay Series). As a movie tie-in, a novelization of the screenplay was also published in 1979 by Warner Books in New York written by Joseph Howard based on the screenplay by Steve Tesich.

In 1973, Tesich won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright for the play Baba Goya, which is also known under the title Nourish the Beast.

In 2005, the Serbian Ministry for diaspora established the annual Stojan—Steve Tešić Award, to be awarded to the writers of Serbian origin that write in other languages.

Screenplays[link]

Movies[link]

Steve Tesich wrote the screenplays to several major motion pictures:^[2]

• Breaking Away (1979), Academy Award winner, Best Original Screenplay, directed by Peter Yates, starring Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley, and Hart Bochner
• Eyewitness (1981), starring William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods, and Morgan Freeman
• Four Friends (1981), directed by Arthur Penn, starring Craig Wasson, Jodi Thelen, Michael Huddleston, and Jim Metzler
• The World According to Garp (1982), based on the John Irving novel, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Robin Williams, Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt, John Lithgow, Hume Cronyn, and Jessica Tandy
• American Flyers (1985), starring Kevin Costner and Rae Dawn Chong
• Eleni (1985), based on the Nicholas Gage book, directed by Peter Yates, starring John Malkovich, Kate Nelligan, and Linda Hunt

Television[link]

Steve Tesich wrote screenplays for television:^[2]

• Breaking Away, television series, 1980-1981, "The Cutter" and "La Strada" episodes. The series received nominations for two Primetime Emmys, for cinematography and for acting
• Apple Pie, television series, 1978
• Nourish the Beast, play for television, 1974, directed by Norman Lloyd, starring Eileen Brennan as Baba Goya and John Randolph as Mario
• The Carpenters, play for television, 1974, directed by Norman Lloyd, starring Vincent Gardenia and Joseph Hardy

Plays[link]

His plays included:

• The Carpenters, 1970, first produced by the American Place Theatre, New York
• Lake of the Woods, 1971
• Nourish the Beast, also performed under the title Baba Goya, Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright, 1973
• Gorky, 1975
• Passing Game, 1977
• Touching Bottom, 1978
• Division Street. opened on Broadway in 1980 starring John Lithgow and Keene Curtis, revived in 1987
• The Speed Of Darkness, 1989
• Square One, 1990
• The Road, 1990
• Baptismal, 1990
• On the Open Road, 1992
• Arts & Leisure, 1996

Novels[link]

Steve Tesich's two novels were:

• Summer Crossing (1982), was also published in a German translation as Ein letzter Sommer and in a French translation as Rencontre d'été
• Karoo (1996, posthumously released 1998), paperback edition in 2004 with new introduction by E. L. Doctorow; German language version entitled Abspann and a French language version Karoo same as original.

Collections[link]

• Division Street & other plays. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1981. 171 pages. Contents: Division Street -- Baba Goya -- Lake of the Woods -- Passing Game.

Quotations[link]

• "Life, it seems, is not meaningless but, rather, so full of meaning that its meaning must be constantly murdered for the sake of cohesion and comprehension. For the sake of the storyline."

• "No birth certificate is issued when friendship is born. There is nothing tangible. There is just a feeling that your life is different and that your capacity to love and care has miraculously been enlarged with out any effort on your part. It's like having a tiny apartment and somebody moves in with you. But instead of becoming cramped and crowded, the space expands, and you discover rooms you never knew you had until your friend moved in with you."

References[link]

External links[link]

• A photograph of Steve Tesich: http://www.srpska-mreza.com/authors/Tesich/photo/Steve.jpg
• A Few Moments with Steve Tesich by Dejan Stojanović

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