North West

Province of the Republic of South Africa from 1994; area 118,710 sq km/45,834 sq mi; population (2000 est) 3,532,800. The capital is Mmabatho. The terrain consists of part of the plateau known as the Highveld, with savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The mining industry employs about a quarter of the working population and Merensky Reef, near Rustenburg, has the largest platinum mines in the world, while other minerals worked here include gold, diamonds, chromite, uranium, rhodium, and palladium. Klerksdorp, at the western end of the Witwatersrand, is the centre of a gold-mining area. Agricultural activity is concentrated on sheep and cattle farming in the drier northern and western areas, while the wetter southern and eastern areas produce tobacco, wheat, maize, groundnuts, sunflowers, cotton, tobacco, vegetables, and citrus fruit. There are platinum, chrome, and iron industries.

The province includes part of the former independent homeland of Bophuthatswana, the Magaliesberg Mountains, and the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. Languages spoken include Setswana (Tswana) (63%), Xhosa (14%), and Sesotho (Sotho) (8%).