Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein, city in central South Africa, capital of the Free State, and the judicial capital of South Africa. The city, the name of which means “fountain of flowers”, is noted for its beautiful natural setting. It is an important railway junction, and has a busy airport. In the region surrounding Bloemfontein, farming, stockbreeding, and mining are the main occupations. Railway workshops as well as metalworking and meat-canning plants are located in the city; other manufactured goods are furniture and glassware. Bloemfontein is the site of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa, the University of the Free State (1855), and several colleges and observatories. Other places of interest are the Raadsaal (parliament building); the Hertzog House Museum, the former home of the Nationalist prime minister J. B. M. Hertzog; the National Women’s Memorial, a sandstone obelisk commemorating the Afrikaner women and children who died in concentration camps in the South African War; and the Sand du Plessis theatre complex.

Bloemfontein was founded in 1846 and was the capital of the former Orange Free State Republic. In 1909 it was chosen for the final negotiations between the British and the Boers that led to the founding of the Union of South Africa a year later. Population 364,000 (2001 estimate).