Pretoria facts for kids

Pretoria
Pretoria
	View from the Union Buildings
; Flag	; Seal
	Motto: Præstantia Prævaleat Prætoria (May Pretoria Be Pre-eminent In Excellence)
	; Location of Pretoria within South Africa
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Metropolitan municipality	City of Tshwane
Established	1855
Area
• Total	1,644 km2 (635 sq mi)
Elevation	1,271 m (4,170 ft)
Population (2010)
• Total	2.1 million
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	012

Pretoria is one of the three capital cities of the African country of South Africa. It is the executive (administrative) and de facto capital of the country. The other two capitals are Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial). The city is in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Geography and climate

Pretoria is between the Highveld and the Bushveld, about 50 km north of Johannesburg in the north-east of South Africa. It is in a warm, well sheltered valley. The valley is surrounded by the hills of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Pretoria has a humid subtropical climate (Cwa in the Koeppen climate classification). Snow is a very rare event. It only snows in Pretoria once or twice in a century.

Demographics

The city has a population of about 1.9 million people. The main languages spoken in Pretoria include Tswana, Ndebele, Afrikaans, and English.

Language	Population	%
Sepedi	439 732	22.14%
Afrikaans	422 866	21.29%
Setswana	339 719	17.11%
Xitsonga	198 441	9.99%
IsiZulu	151 200	7.61%
English	129 923	6.54%
IsiNdebele	98 077	4.94%
Sesotho	78 435	3.95%
SiSwati	37 963	1.91%
IsiXhosa	37 957	1.91%
Tshivenda	35 242	1.77%
Other	16 425	0.83%

History

Nguni-speaking settlers were probably the first people to live in the river valley that later became the location of the city of Pretoria.

Pretoria was founded in 1855 by Marthinus Wessel Pretorius. He was a leader of the Voortrekkers. Pretoruis named the city after his father Andries Pretorius. Andries Pretorius had become a hero of the Voortrekkers after the Battle of Blood River. The city became the capital of the South African Republic (ZAR) on May 1, 1860.

During the First Boer War, the city was attacked in December 1880 and March 1881. The peace treaty which ended the war was signed in Pretoria on August 3, 1881 at the Pretoria Convention.

The Second Boer War (1899 to 1902) caused the end of the South African Republic. After this war, the United Kingdom took control of South Africa. During the war, Winston Churchill was imprisoned in the Staats Model School in Pretoria. He later got free and went to Mozambique. The city surrendered to British forces on June 5, 1900. The war ended in Pretoria with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging on May 31 1902.

In 1910, Pretoria then became the administrative capital of all of South Africa, with Cape Town the legislative capital. Between 1860 and 1994, the city was also the capital of the province of Transvaal. On 14 October 1931, Pretoria got official city status. When South Africa became a republic in 1961, Pretoria stayed its administrative capital.

Pretoria was at one time seen as "the capital of Apartheid South Africa". This was changed when Nelson Mandela became the country's first black President.

Economy

Pretoria is an important industrial centre. It has many industries including iron and steel as well as automobile, railroad and machinery manufacture.

Places of interest

Union Buildings
National Botanical Gardens
Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The Voortrekker Monument

The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
Church Square
Union Buildings
Marabastad
Menlyn Park

Museums

Kruger House (Residence of the president of the ZAR, Paul Kruger).
Melrose House (The Treaty of Vereeniging which ended the Anglo-Boer War was signed here in 1902)
Voortrekker Monument
Freedom Park
Transvaal Museum
African Window

Nature Reserves

Groenkloof Nature Reserve
Rietfontein Nature Reserve
Moreletaspruit Nature Reserve
Fairy Glen Nature Reserve
Wonderboom Nature Reserve

Stadiums

Loftus Versfeld

Images for kids

Statue of Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius (27 November 1798 – 23 July 1853), the namesake of Pretoria
The Union Buildings, seat of South Africa's government
The Palace of Justice
Satellite image of Pretoria.
The City is surrounded by the Magaliesberg Mountain range.
The Central Business District
Street signs in Pretoria
Gautrain
The Blue Train
The Transvaal Museum
Loftus Versfeld Stadium
Paul Kruger's Church Building in the City
Ooskerk building in Pretoria
The Old Synagogue Building in Pretoria. It is now no longer used as a Synagogue but is now a Grade II Provincial Heritage Resource and protected under the National Heritage Resources Act (25 of 1999).
Pretoria civic coat of arms (1907)
The Muckleneuk Campus of UNISA.
Old Arts Building (Ou Lettere Gebou) of the University of Pretoria.
Tshwane University of Technology.
A statue commemorating all South African Defence Force personnel who had lost their lives in service of the Republic of South Africa in Fort Klapperkop, Pretoria
The South African Army College in Pretoria
Sammy Marks Square, Pretoria
Statue of Paul Kruger on Church Square, Pretoria
The Eastern Wing of the Union Buildings
Fort Klapperkop
Neomodern architecture in Pretoria
The Palace of Justice
Freedom Park's amphitheatre
African Window
Paul Kruger's House
Melrose House