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Bloemfontein ( or ;〔Dictionary Reference: (Bloemfontein )〕〔The Free Dictionary: (Bloemfontein )〕 ; Afrikaans and Dutch for "fountain of flowers" or "blooming fountain") is the capital city of the province of Free State of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals; the other two capitals are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital. Bloemfontein is popularly and poetically known as "the city of roses", owing to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there.〔Bloemfontein: (''Did you know?'' )〕〔Bloemfontein: (''General Information'' )〕 The city's Sesotho name is ''Mangaung'', meaning "place of cheetahs". Bloemfontein has since 2011 formed part of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, having been in the Mangaung Local Municipality beforehand. Bloemfontein is situated on dry grassland at , at an altitude of above sea level. The city is home to 369,568 residents, while the Mangaung Local Municipality has a population of 645,455. ==History== Though historically a predominantly Afrikaner settlement, Bloemfontein was officially founded in 1846 as a fort by British army major Henry Douglas Warden as a British outpost in the Transoranje region, at that stage occupied by various groups of peoples including Cape Colony Trek Boers, Griqua and Basotho. Although modern day Bloemfontein has a reputation for its flowers in an otherwise arid region, the origin of the city's name is unclear. Popular legends include an ox named "Bloem" owned by one of the pioneer farmers that was taken by a lion near a fountain on his property, while another story names Jan Bloem (1775–1858), a Korana KhoiKhoi leader who inhabited the area. ''Bloemfontein'' literally means ''fountain of flowers'' or ''flower spring'' in Dutch. With colonial policy shifts, the region changed into the Orange River Sovereignty (1848–54) and eventually the Orange Free State Republic (1854–1902). From 1902–10 it served as the capital of the Orange River Colony and since that time as the provincial capital of the Free State. In 1910 it became the Judicial capital of the Union of South Africa. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bloemfontein」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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