Lydenburg

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Use South African English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Lydenburg | official_name = Mashishing | other_name = | image_skyline = Dutch Reformed Church Lydenburg.JPG | image_caption = Dutch Reformed Church, Lydenburg | pushpin_map = South Africa Mpumalanga#South Africa#Africa | coordinates = {{coord|25|05|45|S|30|27|20|E|type:city_region:ZA|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = South Africa | subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of South Africa|Province]] | subdivision_name1 = [[Mpumalanga]] | subdivision_type2 = [[List of districts of South Africa|District]] | subdivision_name2 = [[Ehlanzeni District Municipality|Ehlanzeni]] | subdivision_type3 = Municipality | subdivision_name3 = [[Thaba Chweu Local Municipality|Thaba Chweu]] | subdivision_type4 = Main Place | established_title = Established | leader_title = Councillor | area_footnotes = <ref name="census2011">{{cite web |url=http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/873012003 |title=Sub Place Lydenburg |work=Census 2011 }}</ref> | area_total_km2 = 17.31 | population_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" /> | population_total = 37258 | population_as_of = 2011 | population_density_km2 = auto | demographics_type1 = Racial makeup (2011) | demographics1_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" /> | demographics1_title1 = [[Bantu peoples of South Africa|Black African]] | demographics1_info1 = 75.3% | demographics1_title2 = [[Coloureds|Coloured]] | demographics1_info2 = 1.4% | demographics1_title3 = [[Indian South African|Indian]]/[[Asian South African|Asian]] | demographics1_info3 = 0.5% | demographics1_title4 = [[White South African|White]] | demographics1_info4 = 22.5% | demographics1_title5 = Other | demographics1_info5 = 0.3% | demographics_type2 = [[First language]]s (2011) | demographics2_footnotes = <ref name="census2011" /> | demographics2_title1 = [[Northern Sotho language|Northern Sotho]] | demographics2_info1 = 26.2% | demographics2_title2 = [[Afrikaans]] | demographics2_info2 = 22.8% | demographics2_title3 = [[Swazi language|Swazi]] | demographics2_info3 = 18.7% | demographics2_title4 = [[Zulu language|Zulu]] | demographics2_info4 = 13.1% | demographics2_title5 = Other | demographics2_info5 = 19.2% | timezone1 = [[South African Standard Time|SAST]] | utc_offset1 = +2 | postal_code_type = [[List of postal codes in South Africa|Postal code]] (street) | postal_code = 1120 | postal2_code_type = [[Post-office box|PO box]] | postal2_code = 1120 | area_code_type = [[Telephone numbers in South Africa|Area code]] | area_code = 013 | website = }} {{SouthAfrica state}} '''Lydenburg''', also known as '''Mashishing''',<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> is a town in [[Thaba Chweu Local Municipality]], on the [[Mpumalanga]] highveld, [[South Africa]]. It is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the [[Lepelle/Letaba River|Lepelle River]] at the summit of the [[Long Tom Pass]]. It has a long, rich history, ranging from AD 500 to the present. The name is derived from the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''Lijdenburg'', or "Town of Suffering", and is named for the experiences of the white settlers.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last1=Carroll |first1=Rory |title=Whites protest at African name changes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/28/southafrica.rorycarroll |access-date=10 February 2022 |work=the Guardian |date=27 July 2006 |language=en }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=South Africa |url=https://www.worldstatesmen.org/South_Africa.html |access-date=4 September 2021 |website=worldstatesmen.org }}</ref> In Northern Sotho, Mashishing means "long green grass."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-08-09-old-south-africa-collides-with-new-in-city-names/ |title=Old South Africa collides with new in city names - The Mail & Guardian |date=9 August 2011 }}</ref> Lydenburg has become the centre of the South African [[fly-fishing]] industry and is an agricultural, tourism and mining hub.

==History==

===Ancient history=== The area surrounding present day Lydenburg has a long history of human occupation. Rock paintings in surrounding areas point to early [[Khoe-San]] hunter-gather groups living on the land.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History – MAWR |work=MAGR |url=https://www.mountanderson.com/history/ |access-date=4 September 2021 |language=en-US }}</ref>

==== Lydenburg heads ==== Dating back to AD 500, the earliest known forms of African Iron Age sculpture below the equator, known as the [[Lydenburg heads]] were found in the area. The seven earthenware sculptures of heads and other pottery from the site are intricately decorated and may have been used for ceremonial or initiation purposes. However, this is speculative as there is little we know today about the people who made these sculptures.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lyde/hd_lyde.htm |title=Lydenburg Heads (Ca. 500 A.D.) | Essay | the Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2000 }}</ref> Their existence nevertheless points to Lydenburg's remarkable heritage.

===Pre-colonial history=== From around the 16th century a group referred to as the [[Bakoni]] people occupied the area. There is evidence of [[Bapedi]] people, who referred to the area as Mashishing, that lived in the surrounding area from as early as the 1700s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mashishing (Lydenburg), Mpumalanga |url=https://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/towndetframes.php?townid=260 |access-date=4 September 2021 |website=artefacts.co.za }}</ref>

===Colonial History===

==== Founding of Lydenburg ==== Lydenburg was founded in 1849 by a group of [[Voortrekkers]] under the leadership of [[Andries Potgieter]] when they abandoned their previous settlement [[Ohrigstad]] (to the north) due to a [[malaria]] epidemic. The town became the capital of the Lydenburg Republic ('De Republiek Lydenburg in Zuid Afrika') in 1856 and later in 1857 joined the [[Republic of Utrecht]] but in 1860 both these republics joined the [[South African Republic|Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR)]]. The town became the capital of the Lydenburg District of the [[South African Republic]] (ZAR).

Lydenburg became important because it was on the wagon route to the port of Delagoa Bay (now [[Maputo Bay]]) which was not under British control. In 1871 construction of the road was started by Abraham Espag under the orders of President [[Thomas François Burgers]]. The first wagons arrived in Lydenburg from Delagoa Bay in 1874.

==== Gold rush ==== On 6 February 1873, alluvial gold was discovered and within 3 months the Lydenburg goldfields were proclaimed. The [[First Boer War]] broke out between Britain and the Transvaal Republic in 1880. A British garrison under Lieutenant Walter Hillyar Colquhoun Long (uncle of the 1st [[Viscount Long]]) occupied Lydenburg to control the goldfields. It was from here that the ill-fated 94th Regiment under the command of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-Colonel]] Philip Robert Anstruther marched to [[Pretoria]]. The remainder of the garrison at Lydenburg was [[Siege of Lydenburg|besieged]] from 6 January 1881,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol052mg.html |access-date=15 December 2013 |author=M. Gough Palmer |quote=The Boers took up a position two miles off on the road to Middelburg on 3 January 1881 and commenced their attack on the 6th. |title=The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881 }}</ref> following Long's refusal to surrender the garrison on 23 December 1880.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol052mg.html |access-date=15 December 2013 |author=M. Gough Palmer |quote=On 23 December Long was visited by Dietrich Muller who said he had been deputed by the Boer Government to demand the immediate surrender of the garrison which was refused by Long. |title=The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881 }}</ref>

Land such as Boomplaats and Aapiesdoorndraai farms, near the town, was purchased by black South Africans in the early 1900s before the [[Natives Land Act, 1913|1913 Land Act]] severely restricted black land ownership in South Africa.<ref name="sahistory.org.za">{{Cite web |title=REMOVALS & RESISTANCE: RURAL COMMUNITIES IN LYDENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 1940-1961 |url=https://sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Removals%20and%20Resistance%20Rural%20Communities%20in%20Lydenburg%20South%20Africa%201940-1961.pdf |access-date=25 August 2025 |website=www.sahistory.org.za }}</ref> The communities here developed and irrigated the initially arid area into valuable and productive farms.<ref name="sahistory.org.za"/>

By 1910 the railway reached Lydenburg. In 1927 Lydenburg became a municipality.

===Apartheid-era history===

Forced removals from farms surrounding Lydenburg began in the early 1940s and continued through the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schirmer |first=Stefan |date=1996 |title=Removals & Resistance: Rural Communities In Lydenburg, South Africa, 1940-1961 |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Removals%20and%20Resistance%20Rural%20Communities%20in%20Lydenburg%20South%20Africa%201940-1961.pdf |journal=Journal of Historical Sociology |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=213–242 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-6443.1996.tb00184.x }}</ref> Residents on the farms, especially through the [[Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union|ICU]], [[ANC]] and local chiefs, resisted the removals in different ways depending on local circumstances and allegiances. Often violently, the apartheid state removed the families to farms further from the town or to [[Sekhukhuneland]]. In 2001, in one of South Africa's first completed land restitution claims, Boomplaats farm was bought from Willem Pretorius and returned by the state to the Dinkwanyane community.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State takes Lydenburg farm |url=https://www.news24.com/News24/State-takes-Lydenburg-farm-20010319 |access-date=4 September 2021 |website=News24 |language=en-US }}</ref>

=== Name change === In June 2006, it was announced that Arts and Culture minister, [[Pallo Jordan]], had approved the renaming Lydenburg to Mashishing, meaning "long green grass".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Lydenburg-takes-on-new-name-20060906 |title=Lydenburg takes on new name }}</ref> [[File:A street in Lydenburg.JPG|thumbnail|left|A side street in Lydenburg]]

==Education== * Marambane Primary School * [https://lydenprimary.wixsite.com/website Lydenburg Primary School] * [http://lydenburghs.co.za/ Höerskool Lydenburg Highschool] * Mashishing Secondary School * [https://www.ehlanzenicollege.co.za/campuses/mashishing/ Mashishing Campus Ehlanzeni TVET College] * Lesodi Primary School<ref>{{citation |url=https://schooldirect.org/south-africa/lesodi-primary-school-fees-registration-contact/ |title=Lesodi Primary School |work=School Direct |date=17 May 2021 }}</ref> * Skhila Secondary School

==Tourist attractions== * Lydenburg Museum * [[Long Tom Pass]] * Sterkspruit Nature Reserve

== See also == * [[Bapedi]] * [[Lydenburg heads]] * [[Mpumalanga]] * [[Sekhukhuneland]] * [[Jock of the Bushveld]]

== References == {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Populated places in the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality]] [[Category:Mining communities in South Africa]] [[Category:Populated places founded by Afrikaners]] [[Category:Populated places established in 1849]] [[Category:1849 establishments in Africa]] [[Category:Former republics]]