Vredefort

Vredefort is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. People there raise cattle and grow peanuts, sorghum, sunflowers, and maize. About 3,000 people live in Vredefort.

The town was founded in 1876 on a farm named Visgat. It sits right on the Vredefort impact structure, the largest and oldest visible crater made by a space rock in the world. This crater is about 300 kilometres (190 miles) wide. A big space rock hit Earth there about 2.02 billion years ago.

The name Vredefort means "peace fort" in Afrikaans and Dutch.

Today, the Vredefort Dome is one of the oldest and largest places where a space rock hit Earth. It was named a World Heritage Site thanks to the work of scientists from Wits University.

Notable residents

Vredefort has been home to several well-known people. Some of them include Alba Bouwer, T.T. Cloete, and Hendrik van den Bergh.