Veld

The word veld ({{IPA|af|fɛlt}}) comes from the Afrikaans word for "field".

The etymological origin is older modern Dutch veldt, a spelling that the Dutch abandoned in favour of veld during the 19th century,Winkel, Lammert Allard te. De grondbeginselen der Nederlandsche spelling: Regelen der spelling voor het Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal. Publisher: D. Noothoven van Goor, 1873. Download from: [https://archive.org/details/degrondbeginsel00winkgoog] decades before the first Afrikaans dictionary.Eric Anderson Walker (ed). The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Volume 4. Cambridge University Press 1963 (Afrikaans: pp. 890–894)Berger, Iris. South Africa in World History. Oxford University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0195337938}} A cognate to the English "field", it was spelt velt[http://gtb.inl.nl/iWDB/search?actie=article&wdb=MNW&id=61858 Lemma = "velt"], Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, Dutch Language Union in Middle Dutch and felt[http://gtb.inl.nl/iWDB/search?actie=article&wdb=ONW&id=ID3615 Lemma = "felt"], Oudnederlands Woordenboek, Dutch Language Union in Old Dutch.

The climate of the veld is highly variable, but its general pattern is mild winters from May to September and hot or very hot summers from November to March, with moderate or considerable variations in daily temperatures and abundant sunshine. Precipitation mostly occurs in the summers in the form of high-energy thunderstorms.

Over most of the South African Highveld, the average annual rainfall is between {{convert|500|and|900|mm}} a year, decreasing to about {{convert|250|mm|abbr=on}} near the western border and increasing to nearly {{convert|1000|mm|abbr=on}} in some parts of the Lesotho Highlands; the South African lowveld generally receives more precipitation than the highveld. Temperature is closely related to elevation. In general, the mean July (winter) temperatures range between {{convert|7|C}} in the Lesotho highlands and {{convert|16|C}} in the lowveld. January (summer) temperatures range between {{convert|18|and|30|C}}.

In Zimbabwe, precipitation averages around {{convert|750|-|900|mm|abbr=on}} on the highveld, dropping to less than {{convert|350|mm}} in the lowest areas of the Lowveld. Temperatures are slightly higher than in South Africa.

Over the entire veld, seasonal and annual average rainfall variations of up to 40% are common. Damaging drought affects at least half the area about once every three or four years; it reduces plant and animal biomass to sustainable levels again. Everywhere, the average number of hours of annual sunshine varies from 60 to 80% of the total amount possible.

File:Lowveld map 1.png showing the Great Escarpment and its relation to the highveld, lowveld and Lesotho highlands: The portion of the Great Escarpment that is colored red is the Drakensberg. ]]

File:On the road in South Africa 8.jpg in the central Free State]]

File:Elephants on the lowveld (7281426474).jpg lowveld, as seen near Muntshe Hill in the Kruger Park]]

{{Main|Highveld}}

Much of the interior of Southern Africa consists of a high plateau, the higher portions {{convert|1500|-|2100|m|ft|abbr=on}} of which are known as the highveld, starting at the Drakensberg escarpment, {{convert|220|km|miles|abbr=on}} to the east of Johannesburg and sloping gradually downwards to the west and southwest, as well as to the north, through the bushveld towards the Limpopo River.Atlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town

These higher, cooler areas (generally more than {{convert|1500|m|ft|disp=or|abbr=on}} above sea level) are characterised by flat or gently undulating terrain, vast grasslands, and a modified tropical or subtropical climate. To the east, the highveld's border is marked by the Great Escarpment, or the Mpumalanga Drakensberg. Still, the boundary is often arbitrary and not apparent in the other directions. The blesbok and quagga were among the large animals that once roamed on the highveld in great numbers. Nowadays, a sizeable population of springbok still occurs in some areas,.Richard Despard Estes, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-27297-2}} Much of the area, though, is devoted to Balls farming and South Africa's largest conurbation (Gauteng Province).

The lowlands, below about {{convert|500|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} altitude, along South Africa's northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe, where a 180-million-year-old failed rift valley cuts into Southern Africa's central plateau and locally obliterates the Great Escarpment,McCarthy t. & Rubidge B. (2005) The Story of Earth & Life. p. 246-247. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.McCarthy, T.S. (2013) The Okavango delta and its place in the geomorphological evolution of southern Africa. South African Journal of Geology 116: 1-54. is known as the lowveld.Atlas of Southern Africa. (1984). pp. 13, 192, 195. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town The Limpopo and Save Rivers run from the central African highlands via the lowveld into the Indian Ocean to the east. The Limpopo lowveld extends southwards, east of the Drakensberg Escarpment through Mpumalanga Province and ultimately into eastern Eswatini. This southern limb of the lowveld is bounded by South Africa's border with Mozambique to the east and the northeastern part of Drakensberg to the west.Atlas of Southern Africa. (1984). pp. 13, 182, 192. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town This region is generally hotter and less intensely cultivated than the highveld. Until the mid-20th century, the lowveld was still infested by the tsetse fly, which transmits the sleeping sickness called nagana among the Zulus.{{Cite journal |last=Steverding |first=Dietmar |date=2008 |title=The history of African trypanosomiasis |journal=Parasites & Vectors |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=3 |doi=10.1186/1756-3305-1-3 |issn=1756-3305 |pmc=2270819 |pmid=18275594 |doi-access=free }}

Thornveld (also thorn veld or thornveldt), often referred to as "acacia thornveld", is a type of semiarid savanna in which grassland with thorny Acacia and certain species of thorny bushes predominate. The predominant plant species are usually different in the thornveld of the plains or in the hill thornveld, where, for example, species of genus Balanites are common.{{cite web |url=http://www.ecotravel.co.za/Guides/Reserves/KNP/EcoZones/Thorn_Veld.htm |title=Thorn Veld Ecozone – Kruger National Park |publisher=Ecotravel.co.za |access-date=2012-10-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511224120/http://www.ecotravel.co.za/Guides/Reserves/KNP/EcoZones/Thorn_Veld.htm |archive-date=11 May 2012 }} Some of the characteristic species{{cite web |url=http://agriculture.kzntl.gov.za/publications/production_guidelines/veld_in_natal/veld_4.8.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701140643/http://agriculture.kzntl.gov.za/publications/production_guidelines/veld_in_natal/veld_4.8.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-01 |title=KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture – Mixed Thornveld Ecozone |publisher=Agriculture.kzntl.gov.za |access-date=2012-10-31 }} in the thornveld include:

• Grasses: Grass species belonging to genera Themeda and Hyparrhenia
• Trees and bushes: Genera Acacia and Rhus, such as Acacia afra, Acacia sieberiana, and Rhus pentheri, and other species such as Ziziphus mucronata, Ehretia rigida, and Cussonia spicata.

File:Sandveld.jpg]]

File:Bakwena royal cemetery.jpg, in the hardveld area of southeast Botswana]]

Sandveld, in the general sense of the word, is a type of veld characterised by dry, sandy soil, typical of certain areas of the Southern African region. It usually absorbs all water from the seasonal rains, although aquatic habitats, largely seasonal, may be also found in specific places in the sandveld.{{cite web |url=http://bgis.sanbi.org/fsp/Reports/SandveldFreshwaterEcosystems2008.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720203917/http://bgis.sanbi.org/fsp/Reports/SandveldFreshwaterEcosystems2008.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-20 |title=Aquatic Ecosystems of the Sandveld-Saldanha |access-date=2012-10-31 }} Only certain hardy plant species thrive in the sandveld environment. These consist especially of grasses forming clumps and certain kinds of trees and shrubs.{{cite web|url=http://www.plantzafrica.com/planttuv/thamnocortbach.htm |title=Thamnochortus bachmannii |publisher=PlantZAfrica.com |access-date=2012-10-31}} The sandveld vegetation has a particular pattern of growth, rarely covering the whole terrain, thus leaving patches of sandy soil exposed on the surface. Some of the typical sandveld species are Acacia haematoxylon, A. luederitzii, Boscia albitrunca, Terminalia sericea, Lonchocarpus nelsii, Bauhinia petersiana, and Baphia massaiensis.

Hardveld is a term applied to certain rocky soil areas in Botswana, mostly in the eastern part of the country. The landscape is an undulating plain with scattered rocky hill ranges. Areas of hardveld also occur in South Africa in the mountainous central Kamiesberg of the Northern Cape with hilly escarpments and deep river valleys. The soil of the hardveld is characterised by rocky outcrops and an abundance of stones and pebbles of different shapes and sizes.

The flora of the hardveld is typical of rocky savanna, with denser vegetation, so fewer denuded patches than in the sandveld, as well as taller trees.{{cite web |url=http://www.arc.agric.za/limpopo/pdf/basin_profile_part1c.pdf |title=Microsoft Word – ORIG_Basin Profile.doc |access-date=2012-10-31 }}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Also, a higher diversity of species is seen in the hardveld compared with the sandveld. Peltophorum africanum, Acacia nigrescens, A. tortilis, Combretum apiculatum, and Colophospermum mopane are some of the representative species of the northern hardveld.{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Botswana/botswana.htm |title=FAO Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles – Botswana |publisher=Fao.org |access-date=2012-10-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915124212/http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/counprof/botswana/botswana.htm |archive-date=15 September 2012 }}

{{div col|colwidth=23em}}

• Bushveld
• Highveld
• Kruger National Park
• Lowveld
• Outback
• Pasture
• Plain
• Rangeland

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{wiktionary}}

• {{cite journal |jstor = 20723144|last1 = Jacobs|first1 = Nancy|title = Grasslands and Thickets: Bush Encroachment and Herding in the Kalahari Thornveld|journal = Environment and History|volume = 6|issue = 3|pages = 289–316|year = 2000|doi = 10.3197/096734000129342316| url=http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/3053 }}
• [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lYrLurBloJRf2aXPmZarzRTNyCE4QqXK/view The Veldt, Ray Bradbury (1950)]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Plains of Africa

Category:South African English

Category:Grasslands

Category:Grasslands of Africa

Category:Grasslands of South Africa

Category:Karoo

Category:Afrikaans words and phrases

Category:Geography of South Africa

Category:Geography of Lesotho

Category:Geography of Eswatini

Category:Geography of Zimbabwe

Category:Geography of Botswana

Category:Geography of Namibia

Category:Ecoregions