town and principal centre of the Klerksdorp-area goldfields, North-West province, South Africa. It lies approximately 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Johannesburg. The “old town,” which was founded in 1837 on the Schoonspruit River near its confluence with the Vaal River, was the first Boer settlement in the Transvaal. Opposite, on the eastern bank, lies the “new town,” dating from 1888. An important grain-producing, mining (after 1932; gold and uranium), and industrial centre, Klerksdorp expanded greatly in the second half of the 20th century, with new industrial development and residential suburbs. Pop. (2001) urban agglom., 333,232; mun., 359,203.