Pretoria is the executive capital of South Africa. The presidency, national government departments and every foreign embassy are based there, while Cape Town is the legislative capital and Bloemfontein the judicial one. It lies on the Apies River in northern Gauteng, about 56 kilometres north-north-east of Johannesburg, at roughly 1,339 metres above sea level. Estimates of its population range from about 700,000 to 2.95 million, depending on where the city's edge is drawn. The wider City of Tshwane municipality counted about 2.92 million people at the 2011 census. The key to Pretoria is its site: a warm, sheltered valley cut between quartzite ridges, where the high plateau of the Highveld drops down to the Bushveld.
The Apies River Valley That Marthinus Pretorius Chose in 1855
Pretoria is built around a small river that flows north. The Apies rises just south of the city, near Erasmus Park, and runs north through the centre, cuts through the ridges and joins the Pienaars River. Its Afrikaans name means "little monkeys", after the vervet monkeys that were once common on its banks. People had farmed this valley long before the Voortrekkers arrived. Nguni-speaking groups who became known as the Ndebele settled here and are thought to have called the river Tshwane. One explanation connects the name to a chief buried under the Wonderboom fig. Another links it to the Sotho and Tswana word for monkey. Either way, the name came back in 2000, when the metropolitan municipality was called the City of Tshwane.
In 1855 the Voortrekker leader Marthinus Pretorius chose a spot on the Apies for the capital of the South African Republic (the ZAR, or Transvaal). He named it after his father, Andries Pretorius, who had won the Battle of Blood River in 1838 and negotiated the Sand River Convention of 1852, under which Britain accepted Transvaal independence. The valley had everything a new capital needed: water, good soil and protection from the open plateau. On 1 May 1860 Pretoria replaced Potchefstroom as the capital of the republic. Its founding is often seen as marking the end of the Great Trek.
Magaliesberg Ridges and the Poorts at Daspoort and Wonderboompoort
Low ridges enclose the valley, and they explain the shape of the city. The biggest is the Magaliesberg, a quartzite range that curves in from the west, passes through the northern suburbs and fades out about 50 kilometres to the east, near Bronkhorstspruit. Its rocks were laid down as sediment on the Kaapvaal craton, a block of crust about 3 billion years old. Around 2 billion years ago magma welled up to form the Bushveld Igneous Complex, and its weight tilted the sediments along the edges. That tilting is why the ridges have steep faces on one side and gentle slopes on the other. North of the centre the Apies passes through the ridge at a gap called Wonderboompoort.
The gaps, known as poorts, made the valley a natural fortress, and the ZAR used that. After the failed Jameson Raid, a defence plan drawn up by a former French artillery officer, Léon Grunberg, was approved on 24 March 1896. It named eight high points to fortify, including Schanskop, Daspoortrand, Wonderboompoort and Klapperkop. Money ran short and only four forts were built. Three of them were pentagonal forts designed by engineers from the German firm Krupp. Pretoria had already been besieged by republican forces between December 1880 and March 1881, and the peace ending that war was signed in the town on 3 August 1881 as the Pretoria Convention. In the Second Boer War the city surrendered to Lord Roberts on 5 June 1900, and the Peace of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902 at Melrose House.
Beside the poort, in the Wonderboom Nature Reserve, grows the Wonderboom. It is a grove of Ficus salicifolia trees that has grown out of a central trunk about a thousand years old. Its branches have rooted in three rings, giving 13 separate trunks across more than 50 metres. Voortrekkers led by Hendrik Potgieter came across it in 1836 and gave it its name, "wonder tree".
Church Square and Meintjeskop: Power on the Valley Floor and the Hill
The town started on the valley floor. Pretorius set aside a central market square that also served as a churchyard. It was named Church Square after the churches that stood in its centre from 1856 to 1905. Around it rose the Ou Raadsaal (the old council chamber of the republic) and the Palace of Justice. Since June 1954 the middle of the square has held a statue of Paul Kruger, president of the republic, with four Boer citizen-soldiers standing around its base.
When the Union of South Africa was formed on 31 May 1910, the government of the whole country moved up the slope. Pretoria became the administrative capital and was also the capital of Transvaal province until 1994. Herbert Baker designed the new government building on Meintjeskop, a hill at the northern end of Arcadia and the highest point in Pretoria. The site used a disused quarry, which he turned into a curved amphitheatre. The cornerstone was laid in November 1910. Around 1,265 workers took about three years to finish the building in 1913, using light sandstone. The Union Buildings are 285 metres long, with two wings meant to represent English and Afrikaans speakers joined in the Union. Presidential inaugurations take place there.
Other hills around the valley carry national symbols as well. On a hilltop just south of the city is the Voortrekker Monument, a 62-metre granite building designed by Gerard Moerdijk and inaugurated on 16 December 1949. Freedom Park, a memorial to people who died in South Africa's wars and in the struggle against apartheid, stands on Salvokop. Next to the southern entrance to the city is the Groenkloof valley, which President Kruger declared a game sanctuary on 25 February 1895. It is described as the first in Africa.
A Heat Trap at 1,339 Metres: Frost, Summer Rain and 70,000 Jacarandas
The valley also shapes the weather. Pretoria is several hundred metres lower than the Highveld cities to its south, and its sheltering ridges keep out cool southerly and south-easterly air for much of the year. The result is an annual mean temperature of 18.7°C, which is unusually warm for its altitude. The climate is humid subtropical (Köppen Cwa). Summers are long, hot and rainy. Winters are short and dry, and clear nights can drop to between 2 and −5°C, with hard frost. Snowflakes have been seen only in 1959, 1968 and 2012, and snow has never settled. The record high is 42.7°C, set on 7 January 2016.
The mild, frost-sheltered streets suit a tree from tropical South America. The first two jacarandas were planted in 1888 by J.D. Cilliers at Myrtle Lodge in Sunnyside, from seedlings that had originally come from Rio de Janeiro. In November 1906 the nurseryman James Clark gave 200 saplings to the city council, and they were planted on Koch Street, now Bosman Street. By 1971 there were 55,000 jacarandas. Today there are around 70,000, and they turn the city purple each October. That is where Pretoria's nickname, the Jacaranda City, comes from.
From Apies Valley to City of Tshwane: One of Three Capitals
The valley has long since been outgrown. Pretoria became a city on 14 October 1931 and stayed the administrative capital when South Africa became a republic in 1961. On 5 December 2000 it was merged with 13 former councils to form the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Metsweding was added in 2011, and the municipality's area grew from 2,198 to 6,368 square kilometres. It now stretches from Soshanguve and Mamelodi to Cullinan and Bronkhorstspruit. Its north-west includes Tswaing, an impact crater about 1.13 kilometres wide, some 40 kilometres north-north-west of the centre. Proposals to rename the city itself as Tshwane have been controversial. The South African Geographical Names Council approved the change on 26 May 2005, but Pretoria remains the city's name.
Apartheid planning used the same terrain to divide people. Black residents were placed in townships such as Mamelodi to the east, Atteridgeville to the west and Soshanguve to the north, each separate from the old white city. On 6 June 1958 Pretoria's Indian residents were ordered to move to Laudium. That separation is why population figures for Pretoria vary so much. Counts that stop at the edge of the old city give figures as low as about 700,000, while adding the geographically separate townships takes the total beyond a million. Even the township names come from the river. Mamelodi is short for "Mamelodi ya Tshwane", "whistler of the Apies", a nickname given to Paul Kruger.
Being the executive capital shows most clearly in its diplomatic presence. Pretoria has around 134 embassies and high commissions, the second-largest group of diplomatic missions in any city after Washington, D.C. It is also home to the University of Pretoria, UNISA and the CSIR research council. The Gautrain line links Hatfield and Pretoria Station with Johannesburg and O.R. Tambo International Airport, 45 kilometres to the south.
To see how Pretoria's role fits alongside the other two capitals, read our explainer on why South Africa has three capitals. For the high plateau that Pretoria sits just below, see our guide to the Highveld. The legislative capital, by contrast, grew up at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town.
Quick Facts About Pretoria
- Country: South Africa
- Continent: Africa (Southern Africa)
- Country population: approximately 65.5 million
- Capital city status: Pretoria is the capital of South Africa, the seat of national government, and the location of foreign embassies, parliament, and the head of state's official residence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the capital of South Africa?
The capital of South Africa is Pretoria. Pretoria is the seat of national government, hosts most foreign embassies and consulates, and is typically where the head of state and parliament are located.
What continent is Pretoria in?
Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, is located in Africa, in the Southern Africa region. As South Africa's capital, Pretoria serves as the country's primary connection to the broader African political, economic, and cultural sphere.
Why is Pretoria the capital of South Africa?
Pretoria was chosen as the capital of South Africa for reasons that typically combine geography, history, and politics. Capital city selections often reflect a desire for centrality (being accessible from across the country), historical importance (being a longstanding seat of government or culture), or neutrality (being acceptable to multiple regions or ethnic groups within the country). The specific reasons for Pretoria's designation are detailed in the city's history above.
What is Pretoria known for?
As the capital of South Africa, Pretoria is best known for housing the country's central government institutions — parliament, presidential or royal residences, supreme court, and key ministries. It is also typically a major cultural and economic center within South Africa, hosting national museums, embassies, and signature monuments. The introduction and history sections above provide detailed coverage of the city's specific notable institutions and landmarks.
Related Pages
- South Africa Country Guide — full geography, climate, economy, and culture overview
- Flag of South Africa — meaning, history, and design of South Africa's national flag