White River

History

Archaeological evidence from surrounding areas suggests that people have lived on the land that later became White River for thousands of years. Remains of settlements from the 6th-century BC point to Iron Age African agricultural and livestock-keeping societies that lived in the area. The Plaston site, east of White River, shows evidence of communities in the area from circa 620 CE. Numerous Khoe-San rock painting sites nearby are indicative of even longer human settlement. By the early 19th century, the area was inhabited by Eastern Sotho (MaPulana, Kutswe and Pai) societies and later Swazi chieftaincies. Only after the 1890s African rinderpest epizootic, which wiped out trypanosomiasis, did white settlers begin to settle in the White River area. By claiming the most agriculturally productive and wettest areas with the best climates as their own, white settlers dispossessed Africans of land that they had lived on for generations. In 1905, after the South African War, Lord Alfred Milner (British administrator of the Transvaal) demarcated land along the Emanzimhlope river for settlement by British settlers, mainly demobilised British Anglo-Boer War soldiers. Milner tasked soldier Tom Lawrence to allocate land to the settlers. Lawrence became the first manager of the new settlement, with the longest street in the town still named after him. Initially, the colonial administration provided settlers with farming equipment and a weekly salary until they began to make an income from their tobacco, citrus, maize and other vegetable crops. Farmers were heavily subsidized until 1907 and the building of a 25 kilometer long irrigation canal improved prospects for some. However, the scheme largely failed and many settlers gave up farming when their contracts ended. In 1911, the…

Most-observed species

• Hadada Ibis

  Bostrychia hagedash (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,444
• Dark-capped Bulbul

  Pycnonotus tricolor (Hartlaub, 1862) · Aves
  1,357
• Cape White-eye

  Zosterops virens Sundevall, 1850 · Aves
  1,239
• Black-collared Barbet

  Lybius torquatus (Dumont, 1805) · Aves
  1,207
• White-browed Robin-Chat

  Cossypha heuglini Hartlaub, 1866 · Aves
  1,185
• Red-eyed Dove

  Streptopelia semitorquata (Rüppell, 1837) · Aves
  1,170
• Kurrichane Thrush

  Turdus libonyana (A.Smith, 1836) · Aves
  1,162
• White-breasted Sunbird

  Cinnyris talatala A.Smith, 1836 · Aves
  1,143

Most recent

• M 4.6 — 2013-07-07
  43 km WSW of Nelspruit, South Africa