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Zoutpansberg was the district to which Louis Trichard and Jan Van Rensburg, the forerunners of the Great Trek, journeyed in 1835. In 1845 Hendrik Potgieter, a prominent leader of the Trek Boers, removed thither. The ZoutpansbergBoers formed a semi-independent community, and in 1857 Stephanus Schoeman, their commandant-general, sided against Marthinus Pretorius and Paul Kruger when they invaded the Orange Free State. It was not until 1864 that Zoutpansberg was definitely incorporated in the South African Republic. Trichard and his companions had been shown gold workings by the natives, and it was in this district in 1867–70, and in the neighbouring region of Lydenburg, that gold mines were first worked by Europeans south of the Limpopo River. The white settlers in Zoutpansberg had for many years a reputation for lawlessness, and were later regarded as typical "back veldt Boers." Zoutpansberg contains a larger native population than any other region of the Transvaal. It is highly mineralized, next to gold, copper, found near the Limpopo (where the Messina mine is) being the chief metal worked. The district long suffered from lack of railway communications, but in 1910 the completion of the Selati line giving it direct access to Delagoa Bay was begun. The chief towns were Pietersburg and Leydsdorp.
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