Harrismith
Sign in to saveHarrismith is a large town in the Free State province of South Africa. It was named for Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century British governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. It is situated by the Wilge River, alongside the N3 highway, about midway between Johannesburg, about 275 km to the north-west, and Durban to the south-east. The town is located at the junction of the N5 highway, which continues westward towards the provincial capital Bloemfontein, some 340 km to the south-west. This important crossroads in South Africa's land trade routes is surrounded by mesas and buttes.
Key facts
- Settlement.name
- Harrismith
- Settlement.image_skyline
- Harrismith, wintervista vanaf N3-hoofweg, c.jpg
- Settlement.image_caption
- View from the north
- Settlement.pushpin_map
- South Africa Free State#South Africa
- Settlement.subdivision_type
- Country
- Settlement.subdivision_name
- South Africa
- Settlement.subdivision_type1
- Province
- Settlement.subdivision_name1
- Free State
- Settlement.subdivision_type2
- District
- Settlement.subdivision_name2
- Thabo Mofutsanyana
- Settlement.subdivision_type3
- Municipality
- Settlement.subdivision_name3
- Maluti-a-Phofung
- Settlement.subdivision_type4
- Main Place
- Settlement.established_title
- Established
- Settlement.established_date
- 1849
- Settlement.leader_title
- Councillor
- Settlement.area_total_km2
- 138.80
- Settlement.population_total
- 52765
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- town
- Named after
- Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet
- Official name
- Harrismith
- Country
- South Africa
- Located in
- Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality
- Elevation
- 1643
- Image
- Harrismith-luglyn, laatmiddag.jpg
- Dialing code
- 058
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Harrismith
- inception
- 1849-01-01
- postal code
- 9880
- native label
- Harrismith
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- History
- Present day
- Tourist attractions
- Coats of arms
- Municipal (1)
- Municipal (2)
- References
Harrismith is a large town in the Free State province of South Africa. It was named for Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century British governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. It is situated by the Wilge River, alongside the N3 highway, about midway between Johannesburg, about 275 km to the north-west, and Durban to the south-east. The town is located at the junction of the N5 highway, which continues westward towards the provincial capital Bloemfontein, some 340 km to the south-west. This important crossroads in South Africa's land trade routes is surrounded by mesas and buttes. It is located at the base of one of these called Platberg (i.e. "flat / flat-topped mountain" in Afrikaans).
The municipality was placed under administration in 2018 after then-mayor Vusi Tshabalala was removed from office on the basis of corruption allegations. Being situated halfway between Johannesburg and Durban, the town is generally very busy, especially the N3 freeway that runs past the town.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Harrismith” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Gallery (4)
On the map
3 mapped locations