Vredenburg, West Coast

The Town was established in 1875, initially as a Dutch Reformed Church congregation to serve the surrounding Communities because the closest Church, was in Hopefield. The Town's original name was "Twisfontein", which from Afrikaans can be translated as "dispute fountain". This name came about when two competing Farmers fought over the only available freshwater Spring, in the Area. The Town was renamed as they were discussing the matter of the Freshwater Spring and were trying to come to an agreement. When this agreement was settled and they have achieved a sense of peace among one another, the name "Vredenburg" was chosen, as "Vrede"in Afrikaans means: "Peace". The Town's Population in 2011 was 38,382. It is the Transportation and Commercial hub of the West Coast area and Administrative centre of the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality. It is located 12 Kilometers, inland from the Coast at Saldanha Bay on the Cape Columbine Peninsula, about 138 km North of Cape Town.