Jacaranda executive capital in the Magaliesberg foothills
Pretoria is South Africa's executive capital, hosting national departments and a major diplomatic corps. It straddles the Apies River into Magaliesberg foothills and forms the core of City of Tshwane metro. Named for Voortrekker Andries Pretorius, it is nicknamed Jacaranda City for thousands of purple-flowering trees.
Marthinus Pretorius founded the town in 1855 on the banks of the Apies, Afrikaans for Monkeys River, naming it for his father Andries, hero of the 1838 Battle of Blood River against Dingane's Zulus and negotiator of the 1852 Sand River Convention, by which Britain recognised Transvaal independence. From 1 May 1860 it served as seat of the Boer republic, replacing Potchefstroom, a moment often read as the close of the Great Trek.
War came twice. Republican forces besieged the town in December 1880 and March 1881, and the Pretoria Convention signed there on 3 August 1881 ended the First Boer War. Forts went up just before the second conflict, yet the city surrendered to Frederick Roberts on 5 June 1900, and the Peace of Vereeniging was signed at Melrose House on 31 May 1902. After union in 1910 it became the administrative capital, alongside legislative Cape Town and judicial Bloemfontein, and it served as Transvaal's provincial capital until 1994. Official city status came on 14 October 1931.
The city lies about 56 kilometres north-northeast of Johannesburg at roughly 1,339 metres, in a sheltered valley between Highveld and Bushveld. That valley traps heat, giving a mean annual temperature of 18.7 degrees, and though frosts can bite in the dry winters, snowflakes have been seen only in 1959, 1968 and 2012 without ever settling. Some 60,000 to 70,000 jacarandas line its streets, which is why purple appears on council logos and the A Re Yeng buses.
Estimates of population range from 700,000 to 2.95 million depending on the boundaries used, and the wider City of Tshwane absorbed towns such as Centurion, Cullinan and Soshanguve. Its 134 embassies and high commissions rank second only to Washington. Landmarks include the Union Buildings, the Voortrekker Monument, the Palace of Justice and the 150-metre Reserve Bank tower.
Source: Pretoria
