Potchefstroom, 119km/74mi southwest of Johannesburg, was the first capital of the Boer republic of the Transvaal, and even after the capital was moved to Pretoria in 1860 it remained an important economic and cultural center. It now has a university with over 9,000 students. The climate (cool, dry winters and warm, rainy
summers) fosters a productive agriculture (grain, sunflowers, fruit and vegetables; cattle-farming).
Potchefstroom preserves numerous historic buildings to bear witness to its past, including the Dutch Reformed church of 1866 and the old fort near the railroad station. In 1880-81 a British force in Fort Buren was besieged for three months by the Boers.
In addition to the Municipal Museum and the museum housed in the former residence of President M. W. Pretorius there is the Totius Museum, with mementos and the library of the well-known Afrikaans writer and poet J. D. Du Toit.