Hanover is a small town in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Named after Hanover in Germany, the town was established in 1854.
Much of the farming in the area is with Merino sheep. Hanover has a local Spar and a Supermarket and small tuck shops. Hanover also has a Primary school (Grade R - 7) and a High School named Phakamisani High School (8 - 12). The Hanover citizens struggle to find jobs and go to De Aar, Richmond and Colesberg for grocery shopping. Hanover is split in two, namely Kleuring gebied and Kwezi.
Tourist attractions
The Fountain, a powerful spring in town, releases about 205,000 litres of water per day. A footpath leads up to Trappieskop which offers panoramic views of the area.
Hanover claims to be the country's most central place. It is equidistant from Cape Town and Johannesburg, centrally positioned between Cape Town and Durban as well as Port Elizabeth and Upington and it is the hub of an arc formed by Richmond, Middelburg and Colesberg.
Historic figures were at the centre of life here, people like Olive Schreiner, author and women's rights champion, and the tempestuous Rev. Thomas Francois Burgers. Among its residents were the wealthy and eccentric. The town's chief constable was the grandson of Lord Charles Somerset, the magistrate's clerk a son of Charles John Vaughan, Dean of Llandaff, well-known churchman and devotional writer of his day, and the local doctor was the son of a former Solicitor-General of Jamaica.
Well-known people of today hailing from Hanover includes Zwelinzima Vavi, the General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
The country's first observatory once stood proud at the top of Trappieskop, however it has been moved and is now part of the observatory at Sutherland.
Today the busy Karoo N1 route cuts through the veld between the town and its cemetery. But during the last century all roads converged in Hanover and all travellers passed through the town. It was on an important stop for stage coaches carrying passengers to the Diamond Fields, and the Free State mail was carried through by post cart. Daily life bubbled with people ever on the move. But then in 1884, the advent of the railway deprived the town of much of its through traffic and its character slowly changed.
Link with Olive Schreiner
South African author and women's rights pioneer, Olive Schreiner, and husband Cron lived in Hanover from 1900 to 1907 in a typical small iron-roofed Karoo cottage with a "stoep". Schreiner House, on the corner of Grace and New street. Olive was very happy in Hanover where the Karoo air relieved her asthma. She wrote to friends saying, 'this is the prettiest village I have ever seen'.
History
Early history
Farmers moved gradually northwards and settled in this area in the 18th century. One of the early farms was Petrusvallei which in time became Hanover. The farm was originally granted to W. L. Pretorius in November 1841, but things did not go all that well with him and by February the following year he sold to Jan J. Smook. Frederick von Malditz later acquired the property and later still Petrus J. Botha, who sold it to Gert Johannes Wilhelm Gouws, the grandson of Sterren Gauche, a German who had come to Africa in search of his fortune. Petrusvallei was part of an outlying district of Graaff-Reinet and simply known as Bo-Zeekoeirivier (Upper Hippopotamus River). Farmers had to undertake long and arduous journeys to Graaff-Reinet for church, communion or nagmaal services, marriages and baptisms. But in time they felt the need for a religious, administrative and educational centre of their own, so they petitioned the Government for a town.
On 17 July 1854, a six-man committee bought the farm for the sum of 33 333 Rixdollars. Their intention was to start a settlement and church farm. Gouws was retained as manager and J. J. Swart was in charge of finances. Survey work started almost immediately, and early in 1856 forty plots were sold. Soon a town mushroomed at the foot of a cluster of hills near a strong natural spring called The Fountain. It delivered over 200,000 litres of fresh water a day, and still does. By 13 October 1856, the affairs of this fledgling town were placed in the hands of a church council. At Gous's request it was agreed to name the village Hanover as his grandfather had come from that city in Germany.
A municipality was established and P. Watermeyer elected mayor. He also served the town as Member of Parliament until 1888. District boundaries were firmly established by January 1859, the same year the first church, a typical tiny cruciform thatched-roofed building, was completed.