Highveld in the context of "Eswatini"

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⭐ Core Definition: Highveld

The Highveld (Afrikaans: Hoëveld, pronounced [ˈɦuəfælt], lit.'High Field') is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly 1,500 m (4,900 ft), but below 2,100 m (6,900 ft), thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of the Highveld. It is home to some of the country's most important commercial farming areas, as well as its largest concentration of metropolitan centres, especially the Gauteng conurbation, which accommodates one-third of South Africa's population.

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👉 Highveld in the context of Eswatini

Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where it shares a border with Mozambique. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld. The executive capital and largest city is Mbabane, and the legislative and second capital is Lobamba.

The population is composed primarily of ethnic Swazis. The prevalent language is Swazi (siSwati in native form). The Swazis established their kingdom in the mid-18th century under the leadership of Ngwane III. The country and the Swazi take their names from Mswati II, the 19th-century king under whose rule the country was expanded and unified; its boundaries were drawn up in 1881 in the midst of the Scramble for Africa. After the Second Boer War, the kingdom, under the name of Swaziland, was a British high commission territory from 1903 until it regained its full independence on 6 September 1968. In April 2018, the official name was changed from Kingdom of Swaziland to Kingdom of Eswatini, mirroring the name commonly used in Swazi.

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Highveld in the context of Gauteng

Gauteng (/xˈtɛŋ/ khow-TENG, Sotho: [xɑ́.úˈtʼèŋ̀]; Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; Zulu: eGoli or iGoli [îːˈɡóːlì]) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa.

Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only 1.5% of the country's land area, it is the most populous province in South Africa, with more than a quarter (26%) of the national population; the provincial population was approximately 16.1 million, according to mid-year 2022 estimates. Highly urbanised, the province's capital is also the country's largest city, Johannesburg. Gauteng is the wealthiest province in South Africa and is considered the financial hub of South Africa; the financial activity is mostly concentrated in Johannesburg. It also contains the administrative capital, Pretoria, and other large areas such as Midrand, Vanderbijlpark, Ekurhuleni and the affluent Sandton. The largest township, Soweto, is also found in this province. Politically, it is the closest contested province between the nationalist African National Congress and the liberal Democratic Alliance in South Africa.

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Highveld in the context of Witwatersrand

The Witwatersrand (UK: /wɪtˈwɔːtərzrænd, -rɑːnd/, US also /ˈwɪtwɔːtərz-/; Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˌvətˌvɑːtərsˈrant]; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a 56-kilometre-long (35 mi), north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which account for the name Witwatersrand, meaning 'white water ridge' in Afrikaans. This east-west-running scarp can be traced with only one short gap, from Bedfordview (about 10 km [6.2 mi] west of O.R. Tambo International Airport) in the east, through Johannesburg and Roodepoort, to Krugersdorp in the west (see the diagram at left below).

The scarp forms the northern edge of a 7-to-10-kilometre-wide (4–6 mi) plateau (or ridge) which rises about 200 m (660 ft) above the surrounding plains of the Highveld. A number of picturesque Johannesburg suburbs, including Observatory, Linksfield Ridge and Upper Houghton are located along the scarp, overlooking the rest of northern Johannesburg with views up to the Magaliesberg (although locals refer to segments of the scarp using area-specific names, such as Linksfield Ridge, Parktown Ridge or Observatory Ridge). The entire plateau-like structure is also often called the Witwatersrand. The plateau's elevation above sea-level is between 1,700 and 1,800 metres (5,600–5,900 ft).

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Highveld in the context of Nguni cattle

The Nguni is a cattle breed indigenous to Southern Africa. A hybrid of different Indian and later European cattle breeds, they were introduced by pastoralist tribes ancestral to modern Nguni people to Southern Africa during their migration from the North of the continent. Nguni cattle are dairy and beef cattle.

The cattle breed is medium-sized and adapted to grazing on the highveld.

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Highveld in the context of Karoo desert

The Karoo (/kəˈruə/ kə-ROO; from Khoikhoi (also known as Khoekhoegowab/Namagowab or Hottentot language) word Karo (Korana for 'Hardveld')) is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is also not precisely defined. The Karoo is partly defined by its topography, geology and climate, and above all, its low rainfall, arid air, cloudless skies, and extremes of heat and cold. The Karoo also hosted a well-preserved ecosystem hundreds of millions of years ago which is now represented by many fossils.

The Karoo formed an almost impenetrable barrier to the interior from Cape Town, and the early adventurers, explorers, hunters, and travelers on the way to the Highveld unanimously denounced it as a frightening place of great heat, great frosts, great floods, and great droughts. Today, it is still a place of great heat and frosts, and an annual rainfall of between 50 and 250 mm (2.0–9.8 in), though on some of the mountains it can be 250 to 500 mm (9.8–19.7 in) higher than on the plains. However, underground water is found throughout the Karoo, which can be tapped by boreholes, making permanent settlements and sheep farming possible.

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