Mokopane

Mokopane (officially renamed from Potgietersrus in 2003), is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The village Vredenburg was established by the Voortrekkers and renamed Piet Potgietersrust after the slain Voortrekker leader Piet Potgieter. The name was changed to Mokopane in 2003 in honour of King Mgombane Kekana who resided on the land and ruled the area before he was overthrown and killed by the Voortrekkers. It is home to Northern Ndebele-speaking people, English-, Afrikaans-, Northern Sotho-, and XiTsonga-speakers. Five kingdoms in the vicinity of the town are Kekana (Moshate), Langa (Mapela), Lebelo (Garasvlei) and Langa (Bakenburg).

There is an interest from the Northern Ndebele people (SeNdrebele in the language itself) to revive their language, many want to read and write their own language. The SeNdrebele language is spoken by over half of the community members in Moshate and Mosesetjane villages. Two hours from Gauteng by road, the town acts as a getaway destination and as a stop-over for travelers en route to Botswana, Zimbabwe and Kruger National Park. The area is typical bushveld with many acacia trees and aloes, which display their beautiful blooms in June and July. The Mokopane area is one of South Africa's richest agricultural areas, producing wheat, tobacco, cotton, beef, maize, peanuts and citrus. The Zebediela Citrus Estate, 55 km to the southeast, is one of the largest citrus farms in the southern hemisphere. The area is rich in minerals with the mining of platinum, diamonds and granite.

Limpopo

Limpopo /lɪmˈpɔpɔ/ is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River that flows on the western and northern borders of the province, the name "Limpopo" has its etymological origin from the Sepedi word diphororo tša meetse - meaning strong gushing waterfalls. (The Sepedi language or Northern Sotho language is spoken by a third of the people in the province.) The capital is Polokwane, formerly named Pietersburg.

The province was formed from the northern region of Transvaal Province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal. The following year, it was renamed Northern Province, which remained the name until 2003, when the name of the province was formally changed to the name of its most important river–on the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana–after deliberation by the provincial government and amendment of the Constitution. A notable consideration for the name was Mapungubwe, the area where the most ancient gold-using civilisation of the province was discovered a few years earlier.

Limpopo (disambiguation)

Limpopo may refer to the following places and landforms:

1490 Limpopo

1490 Limpopo, provisional designation 1936 LB, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 19 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by English-born South Africa astronomer Cyril Jackson at Union Observatory, Johannesburg, on 14 June 1936.

The X-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.7 AU once every 3.61 years (1,318 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.16 and is tilted by 10 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. It has a rotation period of 6.2 to 6.6 hours. According to the surveys carried out by IRAS, Akari, WISE and NEOWISE, it has an albedo of 0.07–0.10.

The minor planet was named after the Limpopo River, which rises in central southern Africa, and flows through Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe into the Indian Ocean.

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