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Pretoria

Pretoria

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Pretoria, the executive capital of South Africa, forms part of the City of Tshwane metropolitan municipality. It was founded in 1855 by Marthinus Pretorius, a voortrekker leader, who named it after his father, Andries Pretorius.

The elder Pretorius had become a Voortreker hero after his victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. He also negotiated the Sand River Convention (1852), in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal. Pretoria became the capital of the South African Republic (ZAR) on 1 May 1860.

Geography & Climate

Pretoria is situated approximately 50km north of Johannesburg in a transitional belt between the plateau of the Highveld to the south and the lower-lying Bushveld to the north. It lies at an altitude of about 1,350 m (4,500 ft) above sea level in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of the Magaliesberg range.

The city has a moderately dry subtropical climate, specifically a humid subtropical climate, with long hot and rainy summers and short cool and dry winters. The average annual temperature is 18.7 °C (65.7 °F). This is rather high considering its relatively high altitude of about 1350 metres and is due mainly to its sheltered valley position, which acts as a heat trap and cuts it off from cool southerly and south-easterly air masses for much of the year. Rain falls mainly in the summer months, with drought conditions prevailing over the winter months, when frosts may be sharp. Snowfall is an extremely rare event, occurring once or twice in a century.

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