Merweville
Place in Western Cape, South Africa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Merweville is a town located in Beaufort West Municipality, Western Cape.
Merweville | |
|---|---|
 View of Merweville | |
  Merweville  Merweville | |
| Coordinates: 32°40′S 21°31′E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Western Cape |
| District | Central Karoo |
| Municipality | Beaufort West |
| Government | |
| • Councillor | Japie Van der Linde[1] (DA) |
| Area | |
• Total | 32.59 km2 (12.58 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
• Total | 1,592 |
| • Density | 48.85/km2 (126.5/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 9.3% |
| • Coloured | 78.1% |
| • Indian/Asian | 2.6% |
| • White | 8.9% |
| • Other | 1.1% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Afrikaans | 95.0% |
| • Zulu | 1.4% |
| • Other | 3.6% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| PO box | 6940 |
| Area code | 023 |
Village 45 km north-west of Prince Albert Road and 130 km south-west of Beaufort West.
History
It was established on the farm Vanderbylskraal in 1904 and administered by a village management board from 1921. Named after the Reverend P van der Merwe (1860-1940), minister at Beaufort West of the Dutch Reformed Church, and chairman of the church council which established the town.[3]
Description
The town is an isolated community that maintains an old-world charm, about 150 km from Beaufort West. The surrounding region has been likened to that of Nevada or Arizona. It was one of the few towns or villages in the province not to be serviced by a sealed highway until the 40 km stretch of gravel road from the N1 was tarred in 2015.
