page_title: Magaliesberg
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Magaliesberg / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Hamerkop Kloof near Rustenburg, Magaliesberg, South Africa
context_page_description: The Magaliesberg of northern South Africa, is a modest but well-defined mountain range composed mainly of quartzites. It rises at a point south of the Pilanesberg to form a curved prominence that intersects suburban Pretoria before it peters out some 50 km to the east, just south of Bronkhorstspruit. The highest point of the Magaliesberg is reached at Nooitgedacht, about 1,852 metres above sea level. A cableway reaching to the top of the mountain range is located at Hartbeespoort Dam, providing sweeping views of the Magaliesberg and surrounding area.
context_section_description: The area around the Magaliesberg range has seen extremely lengthy occupation by humans dating back at least 2 million years to the earliest hominin species (such as Mrs Ples) in and around the Sterkfontein Caves, which lie at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, close to the town of Magaliesburg.
  In the mid-1800s the mountain range became known as Magaliesberg (lit. Mogale's mountain) after Kgosi Mogale. "Mogale" means "sharp" or "brave" person, but is also the common word for a warrior or Tswana soldier, in Sotho bogale means "sharp" and mogale is "brave". Similarly, the mountain range to the north, near Sun City, Pilanesberg, was named after the local Bakgatla chiefs, who were called Pilane.
  In 1822, Shaka, the leader of the Zulu Kingdom, sent his most trusted commander, Mzilikazi, to conquer the Sotho tribes of the region. After accomplishing this task, Mzilikazi decided to break away from Shaka and found his own nation, the Matabele. As he feared an attack from Shaka if he returned home, he settled in the Magaliesberg region.
  On 17 January 1837, after some Voortrekkers had been attacked and killed by Mzilikazi's impis, they counter-attacked and, under the leadership of Hendrik Potgieter and Gerrit Maritz, and with the help of local Sotho-Tswana chiefdoms, drove the Matabeles north across the Limpopo River. Because the re-conquest of the region was a cooperative venture of the Boers and the Sotho-Tswana against the Matabele, the Boers and Sotho-Tswana had friendly relations at the beginning of white settlement. These friendly relations are reflected in the name of the main Boer town, Rustenburg (lit. resting town), because it seemed to them that they would not have to engage in any more fighting against African communities. The Boers initially settled south of the Magaliesberg in the Highveld, leaving the Bushveld north of the Magaliesberg mostly to their Sotho-Tswana friends and allies; according to Sarah Heckford's memoir, A Lady Trader in the Transvaal, the Boers would move into the Bushveld to visit their Sotho-Tswana neighbors during the winter. According to oral testimony by Tswana headmen recorded around the turn of the 20th century, many individual Boers formed close friendships with prominent individual Tswana headmen and chiefs, especially for the purpose of forming hunting parties to gather ivory and other products from further north. Subsequently the Boers began settling in the valleys of the Magaliesberg Range and in the Bushveld north of the Magaliesberg, and turned the region into some of the most productive farmland in South Africa, while displacing their former allies, confining them to locations and reserves.
  The area saw some heavy fighting during the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Boers, being extremely familiar with the mountains, used secret pathways across the mountains to launch guerrilla attacks on the British soldiers. In response, the British forces built blockhouses on top of the mountains in order to restrict the movement of the Boer forces; ruins of these structures are still to be seen on the mountain.
  Control of the Magaliesberg Mountain Range was of great importance to both the Boer and the British forces, especially the two routes between Pretoria and Rustenburg, which crossed it at Silkaatsnek and Kommandonek, respectively. As a result, many battles, such as the battles of Buffelspoort, Nooitgedacht and Olifantsnek were fought in the area.
  After the war, farms in the area were reoccupied and farming was resumed, tobacco and citrus being particularly successful.
  In 1923 the Hartbeespoort Dam, situated in one of the valleys of the range, was completed. It became a popular holiday and weekend destination for the inhabitants of Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the villages of Hartbeespoort and Kosmos developed as a result.
  At present, the Magaliesberg area is still largely agricultural, although tourism is a rapidly growing industry in the area.
  Kgaswane Mountain Reserve is a nature reserve above Rustenburg covering 4,257 ha (10,520 acres) of the Magaliesberg. 
  Numerous smaller reserve
caption: Hamerkop Kloof
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