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Concept
Potchefstroom
Summary
Potchefstroom (ˌpɔtʃɛfˈstruəm), colloquially known as Potch, is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty river"), roughly west-southwest of Johannesburg and east-northeast of Klerksdorp.
Several theories exist about the origin of the city's name. According to one theory, it originates from Potgieter + Chef + stroom (referring to Voortrekker leader and town founder Andries Potgieter; "chef" indicates the leader of the Voortrekkers, and "stroom" refers to the Mooi River).
Geoffrey Jenkins writes, "Others however, attribute the name as having come from the word 'Potscherf', meaning a shard of a broken pot, due to the cracks that appear in the soil of the Mooi River Valley during drought resembling a broken pot". M. L. Fick suggests that Potchefstroom developed from the abbreviation of "Potgieterstroom" to "Potgerstroom", which became "Potchefstroom". However, this does not account for the appearance of "Potjestroom" on many documents and photographs.
The African National Congress decided to change the name of the municipality and some street names in 2006, favouring "Tlokwe" as the new name. In 2007, its name was changed from Potchefstroom Municipality to Tlokwe Municipality. However, the city continued to use the name Potchefstroom. The Tlowke Municipality merged with the Ventersdorp Municipality in 2016, forming the larger JB Marks Local Municipality.
Potchefstroom, founded in 1838 by the Voortrekkers, is the second-oldest European settlement in the Transvaal. The oldest European settlement is Klerksdorp, about west. Some historians challenge this, because the first settlement was in the "upper regions of the Schoon Spruit" (believed to have been between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom). However, Potchefstroom was the first to develop into a town.
Until 1840, the towns of Potchefstroom and Winburg and their surrounding territories were a Boer Republic known as the Republic of Winburg-Potchefstroom.
Official source
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