a province in the Republic of South Africa. Area, 283,900 sq km. Population, 8.7 million (1970), including 4.3 million Bantu. The Africans and mulattoes are subjected to severe racial discrimination.
The Transvaal occupies the interior plateau in the interfluve of the Vaal and Limpopo rivers. The land belongs to the system of velds, which decrease in elevation from 2,000 to 1,500–800 m from south to north and from east to west. Waterberg, Soutpans-berge, and other cities are situated among the peaks and mountain ranges, whose elevations are 1,000–1,500 m. The Witwaters-rand is noted for its large deposits of useful minerals. In the southern part of the province the climate is subtropical, and in the northern part it is tropical. Average monthly temperatures range from 7° to 24°C. Annual precipitation is 500–750 mm, but the north receives as little as 350 mm. The Vaal, Olifants, and Crocodile rivers are widely used for irrigation and water supply. The vegetation in the south is of the grassy steppe type, with thorny shrubs (species of acacia) growing on rocky gray-brown soils; savanna vegetation (with baobabs) on reddish brown and black soils is found in the north.
In the 1830’s and 1840’s the native population of the Transvaal—the Bantu peoples—were driven back to the north bank of the Limpopo River by the Afrikaners, or Boers, after a bitter struggle. In 1856 the Boers declared an independent republic of the Transvaal, officially called the South African Republic, in which the native population was deprived of all civil rights. After the discovery in the Transvaal of diamonds in the 1860’s and gold in the 1880’s, Great Britain undertook determined efforts to secure control of the Transvaal. In spite of the Boers’ stubborn resistance, Great Britain annexed the Transvaal during the Boer War (1899–1902). The Transvaal has been a province of the Union of South Africa (since 1961, the Republic of South Africa) since the establishment of the latter in 1910. In the 1970’s the struggle of the Africans and the Coloured population against racial discrimination became more active.
The Transvaal is the main industrial region of the Republic of South Africa, in which two-fifths of the country’s manufacturing and construction labor force is concentrated. The Transvaal accounts for two-thirds of the gold mined in the country (uranium is extracted as a by-product), more than one-half of the coal, most of the diamonds, uranium, copper, iron ore, and phosphates, and all the platinum, chromites, and antimony. The province accounts for 90 percent of the country’s steel production and 40 percent of its manufacture of textile goods. Coal is mined in the Witbank basin, gold in the Witwatersrand and at Klerksdorp, platinum and chromites at Rustenburg and Lydenburg, antimony in the Murchison Range, diamonds at the Premier Mine deposit, iron ore at Thabazimbi, and copper at Messina and Phalaborwa. Asbestos, phosphorites, and fluorspar are also mined. Large steam power plants on the Komati and Klip rivers are fired by coal. The most important centers of ferrous metallurgy are Pretoria and Vanderbijl Park. The machine-building industry produces mining and transportation equipment. The province also has a chemical industry. The primary industrial centers are Johannesburg, Pretoria, Vereeniging, Springs, Benoni, and Boksburg.
Large farms owned by European immigrants dominate in agriculture. The primary agricultural product is Indian corn (the Transvaal produces most of the country’s harvest); the wheat crop is less significant. Plantations of tobacco, citrus fruits, mango, avocado, and cotton are located on irrigated lands; the province is the country’s leading tobacco producer. There is pastoral livestock raising, with 3.8 million head of cattle, 4.4 million sheep, and 1 million goats (1967).