Carnarvon is a busy farming centre situated on Route 63. There are three tarred roads out of Carnarvon. The road west to the picturesque Williston and Calvinia and the road south and then east to Victoria West are numbered as part of the R63 provincial route, while the road east to Britstown is numbered as the R384 regional route. Its main agricultural activity is [dorper] sheep farming. Communities of Xhosa moved up to the Orange River as early as 1795. One group subsequently settled at Schietfontein, which was served by a Rhenish mission, and a village named Harmsfontein was established in 1860.
In 1874, it changed its name to honour the British Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon. The district is well known for its corbelled houses, built between 1811 and 1815. Carnarvon is set among flat-topped hills and is one of the region’s busiest farming centres.
Carnarvon is part of the Kareeberg Local Municipality which is a Category B municipality situated within the Pixley Ka Seme District in the Northern Cape Province. Other town included in this municipality are Van wyksvlei and Vosburg.
Carnavon
Main Place 372004 from Census 2011
Area: 108.75 km²
Population: 6612 (60.80 per km²)
Households: 1552 (14.27 per km²)
| Gender | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 3435 | 51.95% |
| Male | 3177 | 48.05% |
| Population group | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Coloured | 5741 | 86.83% |
| White | 500 | 7.56% |
| Black African | 317 | 4.79% |
| Other | 33 | 0.50% |
| Indian or Asian | 21 | 0.32% |
| First language | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | 6103 | 96.14% |
| English | 101 | 1.59% |
| Setswana | 44 | 0.69% |
| isiXhosa | 31 | 0.49% |
| Sign language | 19 | 0.30% |
| Other | 14 | 0.22% |
| Sesotho | 12 | 0.19% |
| isiNdebele | 7 | 0.11% |
| SiSwati | 6 | 0.09% |
| isiZulu | 6 | 0.09% |
| Tshivenda | 2 | 0.03% |
| Sepedi | 1 | 0.02% |
| Xitsonga | 1 | 0.02% |
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