Highveld

Highveld

The Highveld is a high plateau region of South Africa which is largely home to the largest metropolitan area in the country, the Gauteng City Region, which accounts for one-third of South Africa's population. The Highveld constitutes parts of the Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North-West, and Limpopo provinces, and virtually all of Gauteng and the northern Free State. The Highveld is bordered by the Bushveld and the Lowveld in the north, northeast, and northwest, the Drakensberg mountains to the east and southeast, the Kalahari desert in the west, and the Great Karoo to the southwest. The Highveld covers an area of almost 400,000km2, or roughly thirty percent of South Africa's land area.

Cities located on the Highveld include Johannesburg Tshwane, Bloemfontein, Vereeniging, Welkom, Carletonville, and the cities of the West Rand and East Rand. The diamond-mining city of Kimberley lies on the border of the Highveld and the southeastern Kalahari.

Approximately half the gold ever produced in the world has been mined on the Highveld since 1880. The largest deposits are located in the Witwatersrand, which centres on Johannesburg, with smaller deposits in the northern Free State near Welkom and Virginia. The Highveld is also exceedingly rich in Vanadium, Diamonds, Coal, and Manganese.

Agriculture in the Highveld is generally dominated by extensive grain production and the grazing of beef Cattle, with more intensive production of maize, wheat, sorghum, citrus fruits, groundnuts, sunflowers, and vegetables, occurring in irrigated areas and farmland closer to urban areas.

Naturally occurring vegetation in the Highveld consists of subtropical and temperate grassland, with true savannah not dominating the ecosystem until more tropical latitudes. The Highveld rainy season occurs in summer, with substantial afternoon thunderstorms being typical occurrences in November, December, and January.


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  • Highveld — Als Veld [fɛld] (Afrikaans oder Niederländisch, deutsch: Land) bezeichnet man in Südafrika hauptsächlich die abgelegenen Regionen im östlichen Binnenland. (Entfernt lässt sich der Begriff mit dem australischen Outback, der argentinischen Pampa… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Highveld — 26°12′13″S 28°2′43″E / 26.20361, 28.04528 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Highveld Spa Leisure Resort — (Bela Bela,Южно Африканская Республика) Категория отеля: Адрес: 55 Moff …   Каталог отелей

  • Highveld Classic — The Highveld Classic is a golf tournament on the Southern Africa based Sunshine Tour. It has been held annually at Witbank Golf Club in Witbank on the highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa since 1979.[1] Winners Year Winner Score Highveld Classic… …   Wikipedia

  • Highveld Lions cricket team — Infobox cricket team county = Highveld Lions oneday = Lions secondteam = coach = captain = flagicon|South Africa Neil McKenzie odcaptain = overseas1 = overseas2 = founded = 2003 ground = New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg capacity = 34,000… …   Wikipedia

  • Highveld Gerbil — Taxobox name = Highveld Gerbil status = LC | status system = IUCN3.1 regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Mammalia ordo = Rodentia familia = Muridae genus = Gerbilliscus species = G. brantsii binomial = Gerbilliscus brantsii binomial… …   Wikipedia

  • Highveld Golden Mole — Taxobox name = Highveld Golden MoleMSW3 Bronner | pages = 80 81] status = NT status system = iucn3.1 status ref = IUCN2006 | assessors = Bronner, G. (Afrotheria Specialist Group) | year = 2006 | id = 62009 | title = Amblysomus septentrionalis |… …   Wikipedia

  • Highveld — noun A plateau in South Africa containing greater Johannesburg …   Wiktionary

  • Highveld — /ˈhaɪfɛlt/ (say huyfelt), / vɛlt/ (say velt) noun the, the grassland of the Transvaal provinces of South Africa above 1500 m …  

  • highveld — ˈ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ noun Etymology: part translation of Afrikaans hoogveld, from hoog high + veld field, veldt southern Africa : plateau land with an elevation of about 4000 feet used especially for grazing …   Useful english dictionary

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