Mpumalanga Province
Mpumalanga, formerly Eastern Transvaal is a province in South Africa. The name means "the place where the sun rises". Mpumalanga
lies in the east of South Africa, north of KwaZulu-Natal and bordering Swaziland and Mozambique. It occupies 6.5% of the country's land. In the north it borders with
Limpopo and in the east is Free State and Gauteng provinces.
The capital is Nelspruit.
History
To see pre-1994 history see Transvaal.
Geography
The Drakensberg Escarpment cuts through Mpumalanga. The top half consists
mainly of grassland called the Highveld
while bottom half is a subtropical Lowveld/Bushveld. In this
area is the southern half of the Kruger National Park.
Fauna and flora
- Blyderivierspoort Nature Reserve
- Great Limpopo Transfrontier
Park previous known as Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park. This international game park brings together some of the
best and most established wildlife areas in southern Africa. The park is managed as an integrated unit across an unprecedented
three international boundaries which includes the Kruger
National Park (South Africa), Coutada 16 (Mozambique) and Gonarezhou (Zimbabwe).
- Sabi-Sand Game
Reserve which is built up of numerious private reserves : Chitwa Chitwa Game
Lodge, Djuma Game
Reserve, Exeter Game
Lodge, Idube Game
Reserve, Inyati Private Game Reserve, Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, Lion
Sands Private Game Reserve, Londolozi Game Reserve, Mala Mala Game Reserve, Savanna
Private Game Reserve and Ulusaba Game Lodge
Law and government
Economy
The climatic contrasts between the drier Highveld region, with its cold winters, and the hot, humid Lowveld allows for a
variety of agricultural activities. More than 68% of Mpumalanga is utilised by agriculture. Crops include maize, wheat,sorghum,
barley, sunflower seed, soy beans, groundnuts, sugar cane, vegetables, coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, citrus, subtropical and deciduous fruit and Forestry, especially around Sabie in the far north of the province, is
extensive.
Natural grazing covers approximately 14% of Mpumalanga. The main products are beef,
mutton, wool, poultry, and dairy.
Extensive mining is done and the minerials found include: Gold, Platinum group metals, Silica, Chromite, Vanadiferous Magnetite, Argentiferous Zinc, Antimony, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Tin, Coal, Andalusite, Chrysotile Asbestos, Kieselguhr, Limestone, Magnesite, Talc,
and Shale.
Close to the coal deposits are most of South Africa’s coal Power
Stations. Secunda is the site of one of the country's two petroleum-from-coal.
Demographics
| Population groups |
|
|
Languages Spoken |
| African |
92.4% |
|
|
SiSwati |
30.8% |
| White |
6.5% |
|
|
IsiZulu |
26.4% |
| Asian |
0.2% |
|
|
IsiNdebele |
12.1% |
| Coloured |
0.2% |
|
|
Sepedi |
10.8% |
Major cities and towns
External links
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