City (pop., 2005 est.: 379,000), judicial capital of the Republic of South Africa. It is also the capital of Free State province. Founded in 1846 as a fort, it became the seat of the British-administered Orange River Sovereignty (1848–54) and later that of Orange Free State, an independent Boer republic formed in 1854.
The failure of the Bloemfontein Conference (1899) resulted in the outbreak of the South African War. In the 20th century the city became a geographical transportation hub. Bloemfontein became part of the Mangaung Local Municipality in 2000. &Seealso; Pretoria; Cape Town.
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