| Kenhardt | |
| Pushpin Map: | South Africa Northern Cape#South Africa |
| Coordinates: | -29.35°N 21.15°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Northern Cape |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | ZF Mgcawu |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | Kai !Garib |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | 1868 |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 159.35 |
| Population Total: | 4843 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup (2011) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 1.9% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 92.2% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 1.1% |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 4.3% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 0.5% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages (2011) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Afrikaans |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 96.5% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 3.5% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 8900 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Postal2 Code: | 8900 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 054 |
Kenhardt (founded 1868) is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. This little town is about 120 km from Upington, the largest town in the area.
On 27 December 1868, special magistrate Maximillian Jackson and a police contingent were sent to act as a bulwark against the Griquas (also known as Koranna), who were in open conflict with colonial forces.[2] They arrived in Kenhardt and set up camp under a giant camelthorn tree.[3]
This has been for a long time the most remote settlement in the North-Western Cape. With time the town developed from under this tree, becoming a municipality in 1909. The Hartbees River, with its many sweet thorn trees, provides a green belt irrigated by the Rooiberg Dam. Kenhardt is famous for being at the heart of the Dorper sheep-farming area.
This region contains very little vegetation, primarily very low shrubs and yellow grass among a rocky desert kind of landscape. If you travel south from Kenhardt towards Brandvlei, you will pass through a huge landscape of yellow grass lands and rocky desert like ares for the next 145 km and more. During the seasons many birds flock to the pans, when they contain water, after some rainfall. Temperature above 40 °C is not uncommon.
This tree is about 500–600 years old. It is under this tree which Magistrate Jackson set up his camp in 1868.
The old library was built in 1897, and it was used until 1977. In 1978 it was declared a national monument, currently it is used by Sanlam as their office.[4]
A vast dry pan on which Sir Malcolm Campbell tried, in Bluebird 1, to set a new world land-speed record in 1929.[5]