University of Pretoria etd – Schlemmer, J E (2004) _0 1 c o n t e x t e a r l y s e t t l e m e n t a n d f o r m metropolitan areas. The endeavour is to firstly understand The modernist town, surrounded by It is by this instance that the unfolding the cultural composition of Makhado, economically yielding land is strewn of social polarisation of the region is whose essence is captured far with collected pockets of migrant and clarified, identifying the directives of beyond its municipal borders, resident black labour in peripheral early segregation and later apartheid inclusive of the agricultural and rural locations. These “grouped areas” urban form. Also, the urban condition land type that supports the town’s and townships were and still are of post-apartheid Louis Trichardt will economic and social dependence. comprised of inferior housing and be discussed, with reference to the services, with buffer zones and other planning generators of the last ten Makhado (Louis Trichardt) and its spatial devices used to minimise years. surrounding region provide a small- interaction among races. scale prototype of the settlement patterns typical of South Africa’s larger MAKHADO T&Tt 6 University of Pretoria etd – Schlemmer, J E (2004) L ouis Trichardt lies dormant to some Figure 1.4 of the earliest trade routes in Southern Africa. Jansen (2004) suggests Map depicting the trade routes prescribed that trade attracted the interest of by early tradesmen. Venetians to southern Africa as early Venetians are the earli- as 800 AD, with Mapungubwe serving est documented foreign as the earliest documented trade post people to access the southern parts of Africa. to the region. New prestige items, Figure 1.1 The Limpopo River Mapungubwe flourished as a city and including glass beads trading center from 1220 to 1290/ and cloth, were intro- 1300. Considered by some as the duced through the Swa- hili trade and were likely capital of southern Africa’s first state, exchanged for gold, Mapungubwe may have ivory, and other locally reached a population of 5,000. produced goods. The city grew in part because of its access to the Limpopo River, which connected the region through trade Figure 1.5 to the ports of Kilwa and other sites along the Indian Ocean. This new Tradesmen were able to access the city of Ma- trade was grafted onto existing pungubwe via the Limpopo river from the Indian regional networks along which salt, Ocean. Sources suggest that the city’s exist- ence dwindled due to radical climatic change, cattle, fish, metals, ostrich-eggshell slowly earmarking the development of Great beads, and other items had been Zimbabwe Figure 1.2 Golden rhinoceros flowing for centuries. found at Mapungubwe These finds provide evidence not The discovery of gold in stone ruins only of the early smithing of gold in north of the Limpopo River in the southern Africa but of the extensive Figure 1.3 Mapungubwe 1890s attracted prospectors and wealth and social differentiation of treasure hunters to the Limpopo the people of Mapungubwe. Most River valley. In 1932, the ruins of spectacular among these finds is Mapungubwe were uncovered. a gold foil rhinoceros molded over Great Zimbabwe Twenty-three graves have been what was likely a soft core of sculpted excavated from this hilltop site. The wood. bodies in three of these graves were Thriving only from 1290 to 1300, the Mapungubwe Limpopo buried in the upright seated position city’s decline was linked to radical associated with royalty, with a variety climatic changes that saw the area River of gold and copper items, exotic glass become colder and drier. beads, and other prestigious objects. 7 University of Pretoria etd – Schlemmer, J E (2004) Figure 1.7. The road maps of today that depict the routes first pioneered by Louis Trichardt Mozambique, where he was to reside Figure 1.6. Old map depicting the until his death. route taken by Louis Trichardt Templehoff (1999) explains that trade in the region was lucrative, with interest from the Portuguese of Mozambique, and Brittish traders of the Natal coast and Port Elizabeth respectively. Influx of new residents to the Soutpansberg district was thus substantial, strengthening the now established yet small Afrikaner community. This white community collectively began of resources, which have over time to undermine traditional authorities by sought alternative paths. their land occupation, and inevitably catalysed years of civil unrest One such pioneer of these routes between themselves and the local is the Afrikaner Trek Boer Louis African tribes. With military support The relevance TrIchardt, who penetrated the northern from the Republican Government, of the afore interior in 1836. Founded by the trade the Venda people were overthrown mentioned, is that of salt harvested from the saltpans in the Mhephu War of 1898, while Mapungubwe as north west of the Soutpansberg rendering the sovereignty of the a trade post disappeared mountain range, hunting and trade northern interior to the Afrikaners. almost indefinitely in in animal hides, and later agriculture, Louis Trichardt then, was officially approximately 1200 AD, the the town ultimately served as a proclaimed on routes leading there did not. temporal refuge to the tradesman, 14 February 1899. Scores of generations have who was en route to the east coast of depended on these routes as communication axes, abuzz with different cultures and the exchange MAKHADO T&Tt Figure 1.8 The “Voortrekkers”moving across the land- 8 University of Pretoria etd – Schlemmer, J E (2004) Figure 1.9 left: Aerial photograph depict- ing the mountain and farmlands Placed at the foothill of the Soutpansberg, the subtropical climate VENDA proved to be ideal for farming in both livestock and later fresh produce. Louis Trichardt GAZANKUKU Sufficient water resources were established in the area too, with the construction of The Albasini Dam, named after Jao Albasini – the The development of Louis Trichardt Portuguese forefather of trade to the after the Anglo Boer War was subject region. to the economic growth of the Soutpansberg region as a whole, Furthermore, the town was almost with the prerequisite that the town directly on the coarse of the north- had to economically sustain an urban south trajectory between Pietersburg community (Tempelhoff, 1999). in the south and the copper mining Figure 1.10 Albasini Dam town of Messina in the north, with The geographical placement of the connecting railway line passing Figure 1.13 above: Homelands of the the town thus ultimately won its through Louis Trichardt by 1914. Northern Transvaal district specific to Louis development over three other possible Forming the nucleus of the east- Trichardt were Venda and Gazankulu ventures (Messina, Spelonken and the west intersection for traffic along the to the indigenous population. The Soutpan). southern parts of the mountain range, Native Lands act of 1913 prohibited between Blouberg in the west and the the purchase of land by members Figure 1.12 below: Railway line passing through area of Tshivase (Sibasa) in the east, of the African community outside Figure 1.11 Construction of rail- Louis Trichardt to Messina. the town was now the culmination the scheduled “land reserves” line at Beit Bridge It later crossed the border into Zimbabwe of all major lines of transport (Christopher 2001) assigned to them, communication in the far Northern with the later revised Natives (urban Transvaal, firmly locating it as an Areas) Act of 1923 re-emphasising economic hub for the upper half of the segregated areas of African residence northern province. under the responsibility of each local authority. The Occupation Law of 1886 formed Thus, with legislation firmly in place, the basis of early “land settlement as well as strengthened trade initiatives” in the district, as land routes locating the town within the could be provided free of charge to northern interior and serving the prospective owners, subject to them migrating labour force to the district, physically developing their properties. the foundations of the separate One of the first actions of the Union development ideology sought by the Louis Trichardt government of 1910 was to effect a Apartheid government were already legal division describing those areas realised. of the country that were assigned 9 University of Pretoria etd – Schlemmer, J E (2004) t h e m o d e r n Of coarse racial divide was already particular attention drawn to its road inherent in the history of the town, layout. Here, it is understood that The growth of technology during as the first black township was important transport routes culminated the 2nd World War transpired into a proclaimed on 15 October 1917, north in the town’s interior, with Krogh Street number of important advances for of the current township of Tshikota. serving as the main arterial. the town with regard to production But the application of the Apartheid in farming of cattle, fresh produce policy would now more consciously Jansen (2004) suggests that as part and timber, as well as other industrial govern much of the urban planning for of initial settlement, the town was activities, such as brick- making and years to come, with their associated developed on the highest rise of mining (Templehoff, 1999) problems only surfacing much later. ground elevated from the large river Figure 1.14 illustrates an early map system that lies adjacent to the town’s But perhaps the most definitive of the town (earlier than 1970), with eastern border. This was done to earmark of the post WWII period is escape breeding mosquitos and the that of the change of government in Recreational resultant onslaught of Malaria. Easy 1948. The National Party introduced land use access to water however was also a the new political theory of Apartheid, suburb determining factor, thus location within which identified a new township for walking or horse and cart distance black people, and by the 1950’s, “Green” buffer from the river was essential.