Oom Paul's house. Situated in Church street about 1 kilometer from the Church square. This is the original house where Paul Kruger lived as the president of the Transvaal Republic. He enjoyed spending his spare time on his 'stoep' and greeting the passers by. Of course security was not an issue in the 1890's. The house is now a museum that covers the life and times of the charismatic leader.
Tall buildings dominate the skyline and loom over the little house. A vastly different world from the days of ox wagons and gravel roads when Kruger governed the fiercely independant republic. All that changed with the march of progress and the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand just 50 kilometers to the south. This brought a flood of prospectors and the development of new industries to the new city of Johannesburg after 1886.
The growth of the gold mining industry brought on the demise and eventual colapse of the boer republics with the outbreak of the anglo boer war as the British empire spread their imperial tentacles to take the spoils of the richest gold fields in the world. Paul Kruger went into exile as the advancing British armies overran the peaceful city of Pretoria. Thereafter the Union of South Africa was established with the incorporation of the Boer republics into the geographical region of South Africa today.
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