Krugersdorp is a mining town on the west rand of the Gauteng province. Gold, manganese, iron, asbestos and lime were all farmed in the area. It is no longer a municipality on its own and has been incorporated with the Mogale City Municipality along with surrounding towns. It is the seat of government for Mogale City.
The town is in close proximity to game farms (particularly the Krugersdorp Game Reserve) and the nearby Lanseria Airport is conveniently located nearby. It is also within reasonable proximity of heritage sites like the Cradle of Humankind and the Sterkfontein Caves. Krugersdorp is also the home base of the South African branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Visit the Krugersdorp Game reserve.
Krugersdorp is the site in 1880 where a group of 6 000 men vowed to fight for the Transvaal's independence. The Transvaal War of Independence took place in the area that was to become Krugersdorp in 1881.
The town was founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius after the need arose for a town to the west of the reef following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. The government bought part of the Paardekraal farm and renamed it after the president of the Transvaal, Paul Kruger. By 1888 Krugersdorp was proclaimed a separate gold field. In 1952 the West Rand Consolidated mine became the first in the world to extract uranium as a by-product of the gold refining process.
