Welkom is a city in central South Africa, in the northwestern part of Free State Province, with a population in 1991 of 68,111. It is 160 kilometres northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. The town is the hub of the Free State gold fields, serving several gold and uranium mines. In addition to mineral ore, Welkom produces such goods as steel, lumber, and beef. The town has a technical college and a technological institute. Welkom is served by a small airport and a branch of the main railway between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Welkom was founded in 1947 following a major gold discovery in 1946. It was planned as a model town, with a horseshoe-shaped shopping and administrative district surrounding a park of 4.5 hectares (11 acres). More than 1 million trees were planted in the town. Welkom received municipal status in 1961 and was declared a city in 1968. Limited desegregation has occurred since the repeal of apartheid laws in South Africa in the early 1990s, but the vast majority of blacks continue to live in the adjacent township of Thabong.
External link
- Phakisa Freeway Story about the world-standard motorsport venue in Welkom by Roderick Eime