 Founded after 1927, the name is Dutch and means 'small sea', referring to a lagoon at the mouth of the Buffels River.The Buffels River "flows" through Kleinsee, but most of the time it is just a dry river bed and only flows approximately every ten years.The Primary School does not exist anymore, it is now a Center for learning and Development

Its population size generally consisted of around 2,000 residents, but was considerably reduced by the down-scaling of mining activities in 2009.