The North West province of South Africa was created after the end of Apartheid in 1994. The province includes parts of the former Transvaal province and Cape Province, as well as most of the former Bantustan of Bophuthatswana. The North West Province is bounded on the north by Botswana, on the south by the provinces of Free State and the Northern Cape, and on the northeast and east by the Limpopo Province and Gauteng.
Mafikeng, is the capital of the North-West Province of South Africa. Mafikeng was originally headquarters of the Barolong tribe of Bechuana. The town was founded in the 1880s by British mercenaries granted land by a Barolong chief. The settlement was named Mafikeng, a local Tswana word meaning "place of stones".
The North West Province consists mostly of flat areas of scattered trees and grassland with the Magaliesberg mountain range extending about 130 km in the northeast region of the province. Almost all of the rainfall in the North West Province occurs during the summer months, between October and April.
A large percentage of the people in the North West Province live in the rural areas and the majority of the residents are the Tswana people who speak Setswana. Smaller groups include Afrikaans, Sotho, and Xhosa speaking people with english primarily spoken as a second language.
The North West Province has two universities namely the University of North West in Mmabatho; and Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. Some important historical sites are the Lotlamoreng Cultural Village near Mafikeng and Boekenhoutfontein, the farm of Paul Kruger. The province has several national parks with he largest being the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.
The economy of the North West Province relies mainly on mining. The chief minerals are gold, uranium, and diamonds. The province also has sheep farms and cattle and game ranches especially towards the northern and western parts. The eastern and southern parts are crop-growing regions that produce maize, sunflowers, tobacco, cotton, and citrus fruits.
