the name "vryburg" comes from the period in the 1882 when vryburg was established as the capital of the republic of stellaland. the republicans called themselves "vryburgers" (“free citizens”), and since the afrikaans word for “citizen” is "burger" and the word for “borough” (or “fortress”) is "burg" the name of the town followed. the first and only president was g.j. van niekerk. a site for the township was selected and named endvogelfontein. on 15 november the same year, the name was changed to vryburg. in december that year, newly laid out plots were apportioned to the volunteers by means of a lottery and by february 1883 some 400 farms had been established. on 16 august 1883, administrator van niekerk proclaimed the republic of stellaland with vryburg as capital and himself as president.