Griekwastad
{{More citations needed|date=November 2007}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Griekwastad
| image_skyline = Griekwastad road.jpg
| image_caption = Road in Griekwastad
| pushpin_map = South Africa Northern Cape#South Africa
| coordinates = {{coord|28|51|S|23|15|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
| subdivision_type3 = Municipality
| subdivision_name3 = Siyancuma
| subdivision_type4 = Main Place
| established_title = Established
| leader_title = Councillor
| area_footnotes = {{cite web |url=http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/376004 |title = Main Place Griekwastad |work=Census 2011}}
| area_total_km2 = 77.74
| population_total = 6428
| population_as_of = 2011
| population_density_km2 = auto
| demographics_type1 = Racial makeup (2011)
| demographics1_title1 = Black African
| demographics1_info1 = 33.3%
| demographics1_title2 = Coloured
| demographics1_info2 = 60.2%
| demographics1_title3 = Indian/Asian
| demographics1_info3 = 0.5%
| demographics1_title4 = White
| demographics1_info4 = 3.8%
| demographics1_title5 = Other
| demographics1_info5 = 2.2%
| demographics_type2 = First languages (2011)
| demographics2_title1 = Afrikaans
| demographics2_info1 = 95.4%
| demographics2_title2 = Tswana
| demographics2_info2 = 2.3%
| demographics2_title3 =
| demographics2_info3 =
| demographics2_title4 =
| demographics2_info4 =
| demographics2_title5 = Other
| demographics2_info5 = 2.4%
| timezone1 = SAST
| utc_offset1 = +2
| postal_code_type = Postal code (street)
| postal_code = 8365
| postal2_code_type = PO box
| postal2_code = 8365
| area_code_type = Area code
| area_code = 053
}}
{{SouthAfrica state}}
Griekwastad is a country town in South Africa. It is sometimes still called Griquatown (the meaning of the town's name in Afrikaans), a name which is now considered historical. On maps from the 1840s is the town also called "Karrikamma".https://www.oldmapsonline.org/en/maps/3919ba3b-2088-5eb1-8aa1-66e19ae65022/compare?year=1840&gid=3f5a3f56-6c69-53a5-9ec7-31be6d3389ca#position=9.4083/-28.7946/22.9414/-0.18&year=1830 The town is on the N8 road in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa {{convert|168|km|mi}} by road[http://www.saexplorer.co.za/south-africa/distance/griekwastad_distance.asp Distances from Griekwastad] west from the city of Kimberley. It was the first town to be established in the country north of the Orange River.
History
In 1801 William Anderson and Cornelius Kramer, of the London Missionary Society, established a station among the Griqua at Leeuwenkuil. The site proved too arid for cultivation. In about 1805 they moved the station to another spring further up the valley and called it Klaarwater. Their second choice was little better than their first, and for many years a lack of water prevented any further development. The name of the settlement was changed later to Griquatown or Griekwastad in Afrikaans. They lived among a mixed nomadic community of the Chaguriqua tribe and "bastaards" (people of mixed origin) from Piketberg. Their two leaders Andries Waterboer and Adam Kok II later had a dispute and Kok left for Philippolis.
From 1813 to 17 July 1871, the town and its surrounding area functioned as Waterboer's Land. Waterboer himself lived in a "palace", which in reality was a house with six rooms. A monument for Waterboer was later erected near the town's hospital.
Robert Moffat and his wife Mary Moffat, on their way to the town of Kuruman, were residing in Griquatown when their daughter, also Mary (later Mrs. David Livingstone), was born in 1821.{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-18874|title=Moffat, Robert (1795–1883), missionary in Africa and linguist|year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/18874|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=2020-03-25}} There is now a museum that is dedicated to her rather than the founder of the town, William Anderson.
That Griekwastad was later the capital of British Colony Griqualand West from 1873 to 1880, with its own flag and currency, before it was annexed into the Cape Colony. During the Apartheid era from 1969 till 2001, it was the garrison of the 4 Armoured Regiment, an SADF Tank Battalion equipped with Eland Mk7 Tanks.{{cite web |url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/griqualandwest.htm|title=British Empire: The Map Room: Griqualand West|work=britishempire.co.uk|date=August 27, 2007}}
Nowadays, the town is best known for the semi-precious stones found there, particularly tiger's eye and jasper. Sheep farming occurs with dorpers, a South African breed, which can now be found in places such as Australia.{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}}
Crime
On 6th April 2012 (Good Friday), Griekwastad farmer Deon Steenkamp (44), his wife Christelle (43) and their daughter Marthella (14) were killed. Later, Marthella was also found to have been raped during the last 24 hours of her life. Eventually the family's sole survivor, fifteen-year-old Don Steenkamp, who stood to gain a sizable inheritance,{{Cite web|url=https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Griekwastad-teen-to-inherit-R23m-20130424|title=Griekwastad teen to inherit R23m|date=2013-04-24|website=News24|language=en|access-date=2020-03-25}} was suspected and accused of murdering his father. In 2014, he was found guilty of the murders, of raping his sister and of lying to the police and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.{{Cite web|url=https://www.news24.com/You/Archive/meet-don-steenkamp-the-griekwastad-killer-20170728|title=Meet Don Steenkamp, the Griekwastad killer|date=2014-08-15|website=News24|language=en|access-date=2022-05-29}}
References
{{Reflist}}
See also
{{Pixley ka Seme District Municipality}}
{{SouthAfricaBoerRep |state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Populated places established in 1812
Category:Populated places in the Siyancuma Local Municipality