Grootfontein

Grootfontein
Ceety
Coat airms
Motto(s):  Fons Vitæ
Grootfontein Location in Namibie
Coordinates: 19°34′S 18°7′E
Kintra	Namibie
Region	Otjozondjupa Region
Constituency	Grootfontein constituency
Established	1885
Govrenment
• Mayor	Rapama Kamehozu
Population  (2001)
• Total	14,249
Time zone	UTC+1 (Wast Africae Time)
Website	http://www.grootfonteinmun.com.na/

Grootfontein is a ceety in Otjozondjupa Region, Namibie. It lies on the B8, a Namibian Naitional Road that leads frae Windhoek tae the Caprivi Strip, in the Otavi triangle. In Afrikaans, its name means "Big Spring" - thare is indeed a lairge hot spring near the toun.

Overview

In 1885, 40 Boer families frae the north-wast o Sooth Africae settled at Grootfontein. Pairt o the Dorslandtrekker, thay wur heidin towards Angolae. When that territory fell unner Portuguese control, thay turned back an tried tae establish the "Republic Upingtonia" at Grootfontein. Abandoned bi 1887, it became the heidquarters o the South West Africa Company in 1893.

Lik aw the touns in the Otavi triangle, Grootfontein is vera green in simmer but drier in winter. In ware, jacaranda an flamboyant trees bloom in profusion. The toun haes an auld German Schutztruppe fortress frae the year 1896, which the day hooses a museum that expoonds on the local history. The economic mainspring o the aurie wur for mony decades the Berg Aukas an Abenab mines tae the north east o the toun. Thir produced zinc an vanadium but hae syne closed. This is dolomite kintra an the carbonate deposits in the upper pairts o the mine hae yieldit interestin fossils o simian or pongoid creatures that lived millions o years afore modren humans evolved.

Twintie fower kilometres wast o Grootfontein lies the huge Hoba meteorite. At ower 60 tons, it is the lairgest kent meteorite on Yird, as well as bein the lairgest naturally occurrin mass o iron kent tae exist on the planet's surface.