History
An overview...
Under the auspices of history, central South Africa became known as the Free State; a region of wide-open spaces with undulating hills in the east, culminating in the Drakensberg Escarpment. It is encircled by South Africa's largest river and its tributary, the Gariep and the Vaal Rivers. The Gariep was formerly known as the Orange River. In early times, boundaries were vague and references to Transorangia, which literally means "over the Orange river", may have included both the present-day Northern Cape and the Free State.
Until the twentieth century, inhabitants of this area lived in rural circumstances with agriculture as their dominant economic activity. Due to significant gaps in fossil evidence, very little is known about early human existence in the Free State.
