| Aliwal North | |
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| — Town — | |
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  Aliwal North
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| Coordinates: 30°42′S 26°42′E / 30.7°S 26.7°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Eastern Cape |
| District municipality | Ukhahlamba |
| Local municipality | Maletswai |
| Time zone | SAST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 9750 |
| Area code(s) | 051 |
Aliwal North is a town in central South Africa on the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. Aliwal North is the seat of the Maletswai Local Municipality which falls within the Ukhahlamba District Municipality.
The principal attractions of Aliwal North are two hot mineral springs, both of which have extremely high concentrations of minerals and gases.
Aliwal North is named in tribute to Sir Harry Smith.[1] Sir Harry Smith, then Governor of the Cape Colony, formally founded the small town of Aliwal North in the Cape Province of South Africa in 1850. He named the town "Aliwal" in memory of his victory over the Sikhs at the Battle of Aliwal during the First Sikh War in India in 1846, and "North" in opposition to Aliwal South (now Mossel Bay).
The park in the centre of Aliwal North, the Juana Square Gardens was named after Smith's wife Juana Maria de Los Dolores de Leon. One of the first white settlers in the area, Pieter Jacobus de Wet built a house at nearby Buffelsvlei in about 1828. The settlement of the area and its development into a town probably is connected to the presence of good water, thermal springs and a good fording place ('drift') across the Orange River, just below its confluence with the Kraai River. The Frere Bridge was opened in 1880 and later replaced with the General Hertzog Bridge. The town was laid out in 1849 on ground acquired by the government. This was auctioned and 38 lots were sold for £972.
Aliwal North is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, close to the border of the Free State.
Drive south from Bloemfontein, north-west over the beautiful Barkley Pass, from Barkley-East, or north from Queenstown.
Accommodation is plentiful in the town.
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ALIWAL NORTH, a town of South Africa, on the south bank of the Orange River, 4300 ft. above the sea, and 282 m. by rail N.W. by N. of the port df East London. Pop. (1904) 5566, of whom 1758 were whites. The town, a trading and agricultural centre for the N.E. part of the Cape and the neighbouring regions of Basutoland and Orange Free State, presents a pleasing appearance. It contains many fine stone buildings. The streets are lined with trees, and water from the neighbouring sulphur springs flows along them in open channels. The river, here the boundary between the Cape province and Orange Free State, is crossed by a stone bridge 860 ft. long. The sulphur springs, I m. from the town, which yield over 500,000 gallons daily, are resorted to for the cure of rheumatism and skin diseases. By reason of its dry and bracing climate, Aliwal North is also a favourite residence of sufferers from chest complaints. In the neighbourhood are stone quarries. Aliwal North is the capital of a division of the province of the same name, with an area of 1330 sq. m. and a pop. (1904) of 14,857, of whom 40% are whites.
Aliwal North was so called to distinguish it from Aliwal South, now Mossel Bay, the seaport of the pastoral Grasveld district, on the west side of Mossel Bay. Both places were named in honour of Sir Harry Smith, governor of Cape Colony 1847-1852, Aliwal (see above) being the village in the Punjab where in 1846 he gained a great victory over the Sikhs. Crossing the Orange River at this spot in September 1848, Sir Harry noted that it was "a beautiful site for a town," and in the May following the town was founded. In the early months of the Boer War of 1899-1902 Aliwal North was held by the Boers. It was reoccupied by the British in March 1900.
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