Paarlshoop Explained

Paarlshoop
Pushpin Map:South Africa Gauteng
Pushpin Map Caption:Paarlshoop's location in Gauteng
Pushpin Label:Paarlshoop
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:South Africa
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Type2:City
Subdivision Name1:Gauteng
Subdivision Name2:Johannesburg
Established Date:October 5, 1938
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Km2:1.00
Area Total Sq Mi:0.4
Population Total:1890
Population As Of:2011
Population Density Km2:1890
Population Density Sq Mi:4895.1
Demographics Type1:Races
Demographics1 Title1:White
Demographics1 Info1:5.6%
Demographics1 Title2:Asian
Demographics1 Info2:7.7%
Demographics1 Title3:Cape Coloureds
Demographics1 Info3:15.3%
Demographics1 Title4:Black
Demographics1 Info4:70.5%
Demographics1 Title5:Other
Demographics1 Info5:0.9%
Demographics Type2:Languages
Demographics2 Title1:English
Demographics2 Info1:20.7%
Demographics2 Title2:Zulu
Demographics2 Info2:16.1%
Demographics2 Title3:Afrikaans
Demographics2 Info3:15.1%
Demographics2 Title4:Tswana
Demographics2 Info4:13.9%
Demographics2 Title5:Other
Demographics2 Info5:34.2%

Parlshoop is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, around 4 km west of City Hall. It borders Langlaagte to the north and Homestead Park to the northeast. The name comes from the village of Paarlshoop, the oldest private township on the Witwatersrand.

History

Paarlshoop's name comes indirectly from the city of Paarl in the Boland but more directly from Paarlkamp, which along with Ferreiraskamp (on Turffontein Farm) and Meyerskamp (later called Natalkamp, on Doornfontein Farm) was one of the three first miners' camps on the Rand. Paarlkamp was also called Afrikanerkamp due to the large number of Afrikaners in the Paarl area, home to the organization known as the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners. Paarlkamp was built on Langlaagte farm, where the main gold vein was found in June 1886. During the resulting Witwatersrand Gold Rush, several people from Paarl, including Stephanus Jacobus du Toit, formed the Paarl-Pretoria Gold Mining Association. On October 23, 1886, D.F. du Toit and H.J. Schoeman got the Association's permission to build a town on Langlaagte, which had been purchased by G.C. Oosthuizen for 5,000 on September 26 of that year. Since the land was part of the agriculturally zoned area - under article 20 of Law no. 8, 1885 - it was not earmarked for mining. The application letter made it clear that the sites were already in use before W.H. Auret Pritchard surveyed them on October 23. The State Secretary of the South African Republic confirmed that this was not the government's concern, since the land was private. On January 16, 1887, the auction house of H.J. Morkel and W.M. du Toit put the homesteads for sale. Paarlshoop - literally "Paarl's hope" - thus became a heavily Afrikaner town, the first city built on the Rand, since the sites were surveyed in front of Randjeslaagte. By the end of September 1886, the camp had already swollen to a population of 100, and in October it housed a butcher, bakery, smithy, and a general store. Most citizens lived in tents and wagons.

The Rev. Abraham Kriel built the Langlaagte orphanage on a campus alongside today's church to house war orphans immediately after the Second Boer War. Today it is known as the Abraham Kriel Kinderhuis in his honor. The area was officially proclaimed a suburb on October 5, 1938, when it represented No. 38 on Langlaagte.

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Subplek Paarlshoop . Census 2011.