Kimberley, Northern Cape

Kimberley
City centre seen over the Big Hole
Country	South Africa
Province	Northern Cape
District	Frances Baard
Municipality	Sol Plaatje
Established	5 July 1873
Government
• Mayor	Kagisho Dante Sonyoni (ANC)
Area
• Total	212.64 km2 (82.10 sq mi)
Elevation	1,184 m (3,885 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	225,160
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,700/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	63.1%
• Coloured	26.8%
• Indian/Asian	1.2%
• White	8.0%
• Other	0.9%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	43.2%
• Tswana	35.8%
• English	8.7%
• Xhosa	6.0%
• Other	6.3%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	8301
PO box	8300
Area code	053

Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province in South Africa. It is about 110 km east of the meeting point of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. It is important because of its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Anglo-Boer war. British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes set up the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town.

On 2 September 1882, Kimberley was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere and the second in the world after Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States to set up electric street lights. The first stock exchange in Africa was built in Kimberley in 1881.