Standerton

Standerton is a large commercial and agricultural town lying on the banks of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga, South Africa, which specialises in cattle, dairy, maize and poultry farming. The town was established in 1876 and named after Boer leader Commandant A. H. Stander. During the First Boer War a British garrison in the town was besieged by the Boers for three months. General Jan Smuts won this seat during elections and went on to assist in setting up the League of Nations. Standerton is the seat of the Lekwa Local Municipality.

==History== Standerton was founded in 1878 on a farm called Grootverlangen and named after its owner Commandant Adriaan Henrik Stander. The South African Republic's Volksraad approved the formation of a town at the drift in 1876 and proclaimed two years later. It was granted municipal status in 1903. The crossing over the Vaal River, now bridged, was known as ''Stander's Drift and a hill close to the town was called Standerskop'' were also named after Stander. During the First Boer War (1880–81), a British unit was besieged by the Boer forces who shelled them from the nearby hill, the former holding out until the end of the war in February 1881. In May 1900 during the Second Boer War, the Canadian Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) Regiment clashed with Boer Commandos near Standerton. Canadian marksmanship held off the Boer ambush and prevented an attempted encirclement.