FREE STATE

province, east-central Republic of South Africa. Under the name Orange Free State (q.v.), it was originally a Boer state and then (from 1910) one of the traditional provinces of South Africa; it was renamed Free State in 1995. Free State is bordered on the north by North-West, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga provinces, on the east by KwaZulu/Natal province and the independent state of Lesotho, on the south by Eastern province, and on the west by Northern Cape province. The provincial capital, Bloemfontein, is also the national judicial capital. The province is located on the Highveld, a plateau rising to elevations of 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in the east and sloping to about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) in the west. Two streams drain the province: the upper Orange River, which forms the province's southern boundary, and the Vaal River, part of its northern boundary. The climate varies from warm and temperate with an annual rainfall of 40 inches (1,020 mm) in the east to semiarid with rainfall of only 15 inches (380 mm) in the far west. Mean annual surface temperatures gradually increase from about 58 F (14 C) in the east to 62 F (17 C) in the west. Frost is common over the entire province from May to September, and, because rainfall is unreliable, long periods of drought are frequent. Blacks, most of them South Sotho, make up about 84 percent of the province's population and whites about 13 percent. More than four-fifths of the whites speak Afrikaans, and the rest speak English. A large proportion of whites live in cities and towns, while the majority of blacks reside in rural areas. The Free State possesses sizable deposits of diamonds, coal, salt, and bentonite. Much of the coal is transformed into oil and other petroleum products at Sasolburg. The province produces about one-third of South Africa's corn (maize), and wheat is also an important crop. Undulating plains provide excellent grazing for sheep, and the Free State produces about one-quarter of all South Africa's wool. The University of the Orange Free State (1855) is located in Bloemfontein. The Free State is predominantly rural, and the more austere and moralistic aspects of the Afrikaner character are probably more in evidence there than elsewhere. Black culture is still strongly influenced by tribal life; the supremacy of chiefs is recognized, and the heritage of traditional animist religion is still evident despite the influence of Christianity. Area 49,992 square miles (129,480 square km). Pop. (1994 est.) 2,726,840.