Free State Province

Free State is one of the nine provinces that make up the Republic of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein. It is located in the center of the country, bordering Northwest and Gauteng to the north, Mpumalanga to the northeast, KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho to the east, the Eastern Cape to the south, and the Northern Cape to the west.

It is the former Orange Free State founded by the Boers in the mid-19th century and was independent until British conquest following the Boer Wars in 1902.

The population of the Free State is almost 3 million, being 88% black, 8.8% white (mostly Afrikaners) and 3.2% mixed race and Asian.

Its territory occupies 129,825 km². For comparative purposes, its surface is similar to that of Nicaragua.

Municipalities

The Free State Province is divided into five municipal districts, subdivided into a total of 20 local municipalities:

Demographics

Maternal languages in the Free State Afrikaans English Xhosa Zulu Sesotho Setsuana Unknown

The most widely spoken language in the province is Sesotho, followed by Zulu, which is mostly spoken in Phumelela Municipality, and Setswana, which is mostly spoken in Tokologo Municipality. The Free State is the only province with a majority of Sesotho speakers, due to the fact that it shares a large part of the border with Lesotho. English in the province is relatively low-used, only for government business, Afrikaans is also spoken by minorities in the province, as is Xhosa.

According to the results of the 2001 census, 88% of the population was black and up to 8.8% white, 3.1% were mixed race, and finally 0.1% were Indian and Asian. The low percentage of Asians is due to the fact that during apartheid they were denied living together in the Free State.