Laing's Nek

Laing's Nek
Laing's Nek
	Majuba Hill from Laing's Nek
Elevation	1,680m
Traversed by	N11
Location	KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Range	Drakensberg

Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a pass through the Drakensberg, South Africa, immediately north of Majuba, at 27°27′39″S 29°52′10″E at an elevation of 5400 to 6,000 ft (1,800 m). It is the lowest part of a ridge which slopes from Majuba to the Buffalo River, and before the opening of the railway in 1891 the road over the nek was the main artery of communication between Durban and Pretoria. The railway crosses the pass via a 2,213 ft (675 m). long tunnel.

History

There are two possible explanations for its name. It could be name after Henry Laing, owner of a farm at is foot or William Timothy Lang who bought a farm in 1874 at its base.[1]

When the Boers rose in revolt in December 1880 they occupied Laing's Nek to oppose the entry of British reinforcements into the Transvaal. On 28 January 1881 a small British force endeavoured to drive the Boers from the pass, but was forced to retire after the Battle of Laing's Nek.

gollark: Your thing probably just gained sentience and started harvesting local computing power or something.

gollark: Pick arbitrary cool-looking regression lines going through it.

gollark: What if you make a mechanical computer out of several thousand spines?

gollark: Wow, I guess none can escape.

gollark: I wonder if you could stick the EURion constellation into your profile picture and if it would do anything.

References

Raper, Peter E; Moller, Lucie A; du Plessis, Theodorus L (2014). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 9781868425501.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Laing's Nek". Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 84.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Dict-1] Raper, Peter E; Moller, Lucie A; du Plessis, Theodorus L (2014). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 9781868425501.