Bloemfontein - The judicial capital of South Africa and
provincial capital of the Free State and Bloemfontein is also
the most centrally situated city in the country. It is a pivotal
point for communications and a popular venue for conventions and
sporting events. The name of Bloemfontein originates from a
fountain which surfaces on the site of the present caravan park
in Victoria Park. This fountain was known to the Africans as
Mangaung (‘place of leopards’), but the Europeans who stopped
here for water on their journeys across the Free State called it
Bloemfontein (‘flower fountain’). The first person to settle at
the fountain was Johannes Brits and in 1840 he started to farm
the area but in later sold his farm to Major H. D. Warden in
March 1846 for £37. This farm substantially covered the site of
the modern city. In January 1848 Sir Harry Smith rode up to
Bloemfontein and called a meeting of the pioneer settlers of the
Free State. Most of these people were Voortrekkers who had
abandoned the Cape colony du