  the province of the transvaal (), commonly referred to as the transvaal province ( ) was a province of south africa from 1910 until the end of apartheid in 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it. the name "transvaal" refers to the province's geographical location to the north of the vaal river. its capital was pretoria, which was also the country's administrative capital, while its largest city was johannesburg. ==history== in 1910, four british colonies united to form the union of south africa. the transvaal colony, which had been formed out of the bulk of the old south african republic after the second boer war, became the transvaal province in the new union. half a century later, in 1961, the union ceased to be part of the commonwealth of nations and became the republic of south africa. the pwv (pretoria-witwatersrand-vereeniging) conurbation in the transvaal, centered around pretoria and johannesburg, became south africa's economic powerhouse, a position it still holds today as gauteng province. in 1994, after the fall of apartheid, the former provinces were restructured, and a cohesive transvaal ceased to exist. the south-central portion (including the pwv) became gauteng, the northern portion became limpopo and the southeastern portion became mpumalanga. most of the north west came from the southwestern portion of the old transvaal, and tiny segment of the transvaal joined kwazulu-natal. however, even before 1994 the transvaal province was subdi
Former_provinces_of_South_Africa