KRUGERSDORP

krugersdorp, a town of the transvaal, 21 m. n.w. of johannesburg by rail. pop. (1904), 20,073, of whom 6946 were whites. it is built on the witwatersrand at an elevation of 5709 ft. above the sea, and is a mining centre of some importance. it is also the starting-point of a railway to zeerust and mafeking. krugersdorp was founded in 1887 at the time of the discovery of gold on the rand and is named after president kruger. within the municipal area is the paardekraal monument erected to commemorate the victory gained by the boers under andries pretorius in 1838 over the zulu king dingaan, and on the 16th of december each year, kept as a public holiday, large numbers of boers assemble at the monument to celebrate the event. here in december 1880 a great meeting of boers resolved again to proclaim the independence of the transvaal. the formal proclamation was made on dingaan's day, and after the defeat of the british at majuba hill in 1881 that victory was also commemorated at paardekraal on the 16th of december. the monument, which was damaged during the war of 1899-1902, was restored by the british authorities. it was at doornkop, near krugersdorp, that dr l. s. jameson and his "raiders" surrendered to commandant piet cronje on the 2nd of january 1896 (see transvaal: _history_). at sterkfontein, 8 m. n.w. of krugersdorp, are limestone caves containing beautiful stalactites. krumau (in czech, _krumlov_), is a town in bohemia situated on the banks of the moldau (vitava). it has about 8000 inhabitants, partly of czech, partly of german nationality. krumau is principally celebrated because its ancient castle was long the stronghold of the rosenberg family, known also as _pani z ruze_, the lords of the rose. henry ii. of rosenberg (d. 1310) was the first member of the family to reside at krumau. his son peter i. (d. 1349) raised the place to the rank of a city. the last two members of the family were two brothers, william, created prince of ursini-rosenberg in 1556 (d. 1592), and peter vok, who played a very large part in bohemian history. their librarian was wenceslas brezan, who has left a valuable work on the annals of the rosenberg family. peter vok of rosenberg, a strong adherent of the utraquist party, sold krumau shortly before his death (1611), because the jesuits had established themselves in the neighbourhood. the lordship, one of the most extensive in the monarchy, was bought by the emperor rudolph ii. for his natural son, julius of austria. in 1622 the emperor ferdinand ii. presented the lordship to his minister, hans ulrich von eggenberg, and in 1625 raised it to the rank of an hereditary duchy in his favour. from the eggenberg family krumau passed in 1719 to prince adam franz karl of schwarzenberg, who was created duke of krumau in 1723. the head of the schwarzenberg family bears the title of duke of krumau. the castle, one of the largest and finest in bohemia, preserves much of its ancient character. see w. brezan, _zivot vilema z rosenberka_ (life of william of rosenberg), 1847; also _zivot petra voka z rosenberka_ (life of peter vok of rosenberg), 1880.