View source for Hopetown

{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Hoopstad}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2007}}
{{Use South African English|date = May 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Hopetown
| pushpin_map        = South Africa Northern Cape#South Africa
| coordinates        = {{coord|29|37|33|S|24|05|08|E|region:ZA|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = [[South Africa]]
| subdivision_type1  = Province
| subdivision_name1  = [[Northern Cape]]
| subdivision_type2  = District
| subdivision_name2  = [[Pixley ka Seme District Municipality|Pixley ka Seme]]
| subdivision_type3  = Municipality
| subdivision_name3  = [[Thembelihle Local Municipality|Thembelihle]]
| subdivision_type4  = Main Place
| established_title  = Established
| leader_title       = Councillor
| area_footnotes     = <ref name="census2011">{{cite web |url=http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/374001 |title = Main Place Hopetown |work=Census 2011}}</ref>
| area_total_km2     = 73.86
| population_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" />
| population_total   = 10259
| population_as_of   = 2011
| population_density_km2 = auto
<!-- demographics (section 1) -->| demographics_type1 = Racial makeup (2011)
| demographics1_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" />
| demographics1_title1 = [[Bantu peoples of South Africa|Black African]]
| demographics1_info1 = 18.8%
| demographics1_title2 = [[Coloureds|Coloured]]
| demographics1_info2 = 73.1%
| demographics1_title3 = [[Indian South African|Indian]]/[[Asian South African|Asian]]
| demographics1_info3 = 0.7%
| demographics1_title4 = [[White South African|White]]
| demographics1_info4 = 6.9%
| demographics1_title5 = Other
| demographics1_info5 = 0.5%
<!-- demographics (section 2) -->| demographics_type2 = [[First language]]s (2011)
| demographics2_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" />
| demographics2_title1 = [[Afrikaans]]
| demographics2_info1 = 88.1%
| demographics2_title2 = [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]]
| demographics2_info2 = 7.2%
| demographics2_title3 = [[Tswana language|Tswana]]
| demographics2_info3 = 1.5%
| demographics2_title4 = [[South African English|English]]
| demographics2_info4 = 1.3%
| demographics2_title5 = Other
| demographics2_info5 = 2.0%
<!-- blank fields (section 2) -->
<!-- Other information -->| timezone1          = [[South African Standard Time|SAST]]
| utc_offset1        = +2
| postal_code_type   = [[List of postal codes in South Africa|Postal code]] (street)
| postal_code        = 8750
| postal2_code_type  = [[Post-office box|PO box]]
| postal2_code       = 8750
| area_code_type     = [[Telephone numbers in South Africa|Area code]]
| area_code          = 053
| image_skyline      = Orange River ... (Photo JC PLE) (52648313731).jpg
| image_caption      = The [[Orange River]] on the outskirts of town
}}
 
'''Hopetown'''  is a town which lies at the edge of the [[Great Karoo]] in [[South Africa]]'s [[Northern Cape]] province. It is situated on an arid slope leading down to the [[Orange River]]. Two of the largest diamonds discovered in South Africa, the [[Eureka Diamond]] and the Star of Africa were found at Hopetown between 1867 and 1869

==History==
<!-- [[WP:NFCC]] violation: [[File:EurekaDiamond.jpg|thumb|200px|left|The Eureka Diamond found at Hopetown]] -->
Hopetown was founded in 1850 when Sir [[Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet|Harry Smith]] extended the northern frontier of the [[Cape Colony]] to the [[Orange River]]. A handful of settlers claimed ground where there was a natural ford over the Orange River, and by 1854 a frontier town had developed. Hopetown was named after [[William Hope (Cape Colony)|William Hope]], Auditor-General and Secretary of the Cape Colony Government at the time, and is often mistaken for a town in the [[Free State (province)|Free State]], South Africa, called [[Hoopstad]].

Hopetown was a quiet farming area until several large diamonds, most notable the [[Eureka Diamond]] and the [[Star of South Africa (Diamond)|Star of South Africa]], were discovered there between 1867 and 1869.<ref name="williams-115">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Gardner Fred|title=The diamond mines of South Africa|publisher=New York, B. F. Buck & company| year=1904| page=115| url=https://archive.org/stream/diamondminesofso01willrich#page/123/mode/1up|access-date=2009-07-25}}</ref><ref name="KTC-13">{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Brian|title=Kimberley: turbulent city|publisher=New Africa Books|year=1976|page=13|isbn=978-0-949968-62-3}}</ref>
The [[Cape Government Railways]] were founded in 1872, and the [[Cape Colony|Cape]] government decided to run the main western line, between the [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] diamond fields and [[Cape Town]] on the coast, directly through Hopetown. The ford was upgraded to a railway bridge in 1884.
<ref>Burman, Jose (1984). ''Early Railways at the Cape''. Cape Town. Human & Rousseau, p.92. {{ISBN|0-7981-1760-5}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Geographic Location
|Centre    = Hopetown
|North     = Salt Lake, [[Plooysburg]]
|Northeast = [[Belmont, Northern Cape|Belmont]], [[Ritchie, Northern Cape|Ritchie]], [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]]
|East      = [[Orange River]]
|Southeast = [[Orania, Northern Cape|Orania]]
|South     = [[De Aar]]
|Southwest = [[Strydenburg]]
|West      = [[Prieska]]
|Northwest = [[Douglas, Northern Cape|Douglas]]
}}

{{Pixley ka Seme District Municipality}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Populated places established in 1850]]
[[Category:Populated places in the Thembelihle Local Municipality]]
[[Category:1850 in South Africa]]
[[Category:Karoo]]


{{NorthernCape-geo-stub}}