Calvinia is a regional town situated at the intersection of the R27 Provincial Route and R355 Regional Route in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The town is named after the French religious reformer Jean Calvin and is part of the Great Karoo region of South Africa.
Calvinia falls within the Hantam Local Municipality and the Namakwa District Municipality. Calvinia is the main town and administrative centre/seat of Hantam Local Municipality.
Calvinia is located just south of the Hantam mountains on the banks of the Oorlogskloof River. The town is also located approximately 301 km (470 km by tar road) north of Cape Town and lies at an altitude of 970 meters.
This was where Abraham Esau garnered the support of the “Coloured” community to fight for the British against the Boers during the Boer War.
Calvinia enjoys 80% starlight and is renowned for its kaleidoscope of spring wildflowers coinciding with the Namaqualand wildflower spectacle.
An asteroid (1245 Calvinia) is named after the town.
History
The earliest known people living in the area were Khoisan people. The first Europeans in the area were farmers who took their livestock to the area in the 1760s.
On 19 January 1847, at a meeting on the farm Tygerhoek, a new Dutch Reformed Church congregation was founded for the Hantam region. In 1848 the congregation bought 1,200 hectares of the farm Hoogekraal (Ramskop) from Abraham van Wyk.
The name Hantam is derived from the Khoisan word !Han‡ami, which refers to a plant with edible roots (Pelargonium bifolium, in Afrikaans “uintjies”). !Han‡ami means “where the red bulbs grow”.
The first reverend, N.J. Hofmeyr, proposed that the church be named after John Calvin. On 30 October 1851 the town was officially named Calvinia. It became a municipality in 1904.