Free State

The Free State Province, "South Africa's breadbasket", sits in the heartland of the semi-desert.
freestateonline.fs.gov.za
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Photo: Eclipse cz, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Photo: Nolween, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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is popularly and poetically known as "the city of roses", for its abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there. The city hosts numerous museums, including the National Women's Monument, the Anglo-Boer War Museum, the National Museum, and the Oliewenhuis Art Museum.

Photo: Caracal Rooikat, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the second-largest city in the Free State province. is known as "Circle City", "City within a Garden", "Mvela" and "Matjhabeng". The city's Sotho name, Matjhabeng, means 'where nations meet', derived from the migrant labour system, where people of various countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique met to work in the mines of the gold fields.

Photo: Leo za1, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city of 169,000 people in the Free State Province of . The main industry of is agriculture. It is the centre of a rich agricultural district, producing maize, wheat, dairy and meat products and wool.

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Explore places such as Gariep Dam and Parys.

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is a town of 1,600 people in the Free State province of next to the dam with the same name. It is a popular outdoor destination for boating and water sports enthusiasts, and makes a good break on the journey between Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Photo: Deon TerBlanche, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a city in Free State. It is a popular destination for visitors because of its location on the Vaal River and its proximity to . A lot of the tourists are weekend visitors from Johannesburg and .

Photo: Fihliwe, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is in the Free State of at the foot of the Maluti Mountains.

Photo: Tadpolefarm, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a small farming town in the northern part of Free State. It is an agricultural town where cattle, peanuts, sorghum, sunflowers and maize are farmed. It is home to 3,000 residents. The nearby Dome is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Photo: JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is in the Free State subdivision of . The town is in the heart of the picturesque north-eastern Free State and developed as a service centre.

is surrounded by the beautiful hills of the eastern Free State at the foot of the majestic Maluti Mountains in Lesotho. It is a cosmopolitan town serving as a trade and business centre on the border of , and is the administrative centre of Mantsopa District Municipality, which includes the towns of Tweespruit, Excelsior, Thaba Phatswa, and Hobhouse.

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
is a mountain town of 5,400 people in Setsoto municipality in . is the second busiest and important town in the Eastern Free State region, after Bethlehem.

Photo: Munkytattoo, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a village in the Free State. It attracts more visitors than most other villages for two reasons. Many artists live in or visit the region and the village has several galleries. Also, it is a convenient base for visiting .

Photo: Shaundd, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a small agricultural town in the Lejweleputswa region in the Free State province of .

is a small town in in the province of . The name is Afrikaans for Norval’s ferry, and named after an enterprising Scot who constructed a ferry here in 1848.

Free State

Latitude of center
-28.7854° or 28° 47′ 7″ south
Longitude of center
26.4979° or 26° 29′ 52″ east
Population
2,770,000
Elevation
1,293 metres (4,242 feet)
Open­Street­Map ID
node 474842944
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­state
Geo­Names ID
967573
Wiki­data ID
Q160284
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Free State from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Zulu—“Free State” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Vrystaat”
  • Amharic: “ነጻ ግዛት”
  • Arabic: “الولاية الحرة”
  • Armenian: “Ֆրի Սթեյթ”
  • Asturian: “Provincia del Estáu Llibre”
  • Azerbaijani: “Fri Steyt vilayəti”
  • Azerbaijani: “Fri-Steyt vilayəti”
  • Basque: “Estatu Askea”
  • Belarusian: “Вольная дзяржава”
  • Belarusian: “Свабодная дзяржава”
  • Belarusian: “Фры-Стэйт”
  • Bengali: “ফ্রি অঙ্গরাজ্য”
  • Breton: “Stad-Dieub”
  • Bulgarian: “Фрайстаат”
  • Bulgarian: “Фрайстат”
  • Bulgarian: “Фри Стейт”
  • Bulgarian: “Фрийстейт”
  • Bulgarian: “Фристейт”
  • Burmese: “ဩရိန်းပြည်နယ်”
  • Catalan: “Estat Lliure”
  • Catalan: “Free State”
  • Catalan: “Província de l’Estat Lliure d’Orange”
  • Catalan: “Província de l’Estat Lliure”
  • Catalan: “Província Estat Lliure”
  • Cebuano: “Free State”
  • Chinese: “Chū-iû Pang-kok Séng”
  • Chinese: “自由邦”
  • Chinese: “自由邦省”
  • Croatian: “Free State”
  • Czech: “Svobodný stát”
  • Danish: “Free State”
  • Danish: “Fristatprovinsen”
  • Dutch: “Vrijstaat”
  • Dutch: “Vrystaat”
  • Esperanto: “Libera ŝtato”
  • Esperanto: “Liberŝtato”
  • Esperanto: “Oranĝa Liberŝtato”
  • Esperanto: “Oranĵa Liberŝtato”
  • Esperanto: “Provinco Liberŝtato”
  • Estonian: “Free State’i provints”
  • Estonian: “Free State”
  • Faroese: “Free State”
  • Finnish: “Free State”
  • Finnish: “Vapaavaltio”
  • French: “État libre”
  • French: “État-Libre”
  • French: “Free State”
  • French: “Province de l’État libre”
  • Galician: “Estado Libre”
  • Georgian: “ფრი-სტეიტი”
  • German: “Free State Provinz”
  • German: “Free State”
  • German: “Freistaat”
  • German: “Oranje Freestate”
  • German: “ZA-FS”
  • Greek: “Ελεύθερο Κράτος της Οράγγης”
  • Gujarati: “ફ્રી સ્ટેટ”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Chhṳ-yù Pâng-sén”
  • Hausa: “Jihar na Kyauta”
  • Hebrew: “המדינה החופשית”
  • Hebrew: “פרובינציית המדינה החופשית”
  • Hebrew: “פרובינציית פרי סטייט”
  • Hebrew: “פרי סטייט”
  • Hindi: “फ़्री स्टेट प्रान्त”
  • Hungarian: “Szabadállam”
  • Indonesian: “Free State”
  • Indonesian: “Negara Bebas”
  • Irish: “an Saorstát Oráisteach”
  • Italian: “Free State”
  • Italian: “Stato libero”
  • Japanese: “オレンジ自由州”
  • Japanese: “フリー・ステイト州”
  • Japanese: “フリーステイト州”
  • Javanese: “Negara Bebas”
  • Kannada: “ಮುಕ್ತ ರಾಜ್ಯ”
  • Kazakh: “Еркін Мемлекет”
  • Kirghiz: “Өзүк Штат”
  • Korean: “오렌지 자유주”
  • Korean: “프리스테이트주”
  • Latin: “Civitas libera”
  • Latin: “Civitas Libera”
  • Latvian: “Frīsteita”
  • Lithuanian: “Fristeitas”
  • Lithuanian: “Laisvoji Valstybė”
  • Macedonian: “Фри Стејт”
  • Macedonian: “Фристејт”
  • Malay: “Free State”
  • Malayalam: “ഫ്രീ സ്റ്റേറ്റ്”
  • Marathi: “फ्री राज्य”
  • Marathi: “फ्री स्टेट प्रांत”
  • Marathi: “फ्री स्टेट”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Chū-iû Pang-kok Séng”
  • Northern Frisian: “Freistoot (Prowins)”
  • Northern Frisian: “Freistoot”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Free State”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Freistata”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Fristaten”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Free State”
  • Norwegian: “Freistata”
  • Novial: “Liberi State”
  • Nyanja: “Free State”
  • Oromo: “Naannoo Bilisummaa”
  • Panjabi: “ਖਾਲੀ ਰਾਜ”
  • Pedi: “Free State”
  • Persian: “ایالت آزاد (استان)”
  • Persian: “ایالت آزاد”
  • Polish: “Wolne Państwo Orania”
  • Polish: “Wolne Państwo”
  • Portuguese: “Estado Livre”
  • Portuguese: “Free state”
  • Portuguese: “Província do Estado Livre”
  • Pushto: “خپلواک ايالت”
  • Pushto: “خپلواک ایالت”
  • Romanian: “Free State”
  • Romanian: “Provincia Free State”
  • Russian: “Свободное государство”
  • Russian: “Фри-Стейт”
  • Scots: “Free State”
  • Serbian: “Fri Stejt”
  • Serbian: “Фри Стејт”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Free State”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Slobodna Država”
  • Shona: “Firisteti (Afurika Chamhembe)”
  • Shona: “Firisteti”
  • Sinhala: “නිදහස් රාජ්‍ය”
  • Sinhala: “ෆ්‍රී ස්ටේට් පළාත, දකුණු අප්‍රිකාව”
  • Slovenian: “Free State”
  • Somali: “Free State Province”
  • Southern Sotho: “Foreisetata”
  • Southern Sotho: “Foreistata”
  • Southern Sotho: “Freistata”
  • Spanish: “Free State Province”
  • Spanish: “Provincia del Estado Libre”
  • Swahili: “Dola Huru”
  • Swahili: “Free State”
  • Swahili: “Vrystaat”
  • Swati: “Free State”
  • Swati: “Fuleyistata”
  • Swedish: “Free State”
  • Swedish: “Fristaten”
  • Swedish: “Fristatsprovinsen”
  • Tajik: “Фри-Стейт”
  • Tajik: “Фрӣ-Стейт”
  • Tamil: “விடுதலை இராச்சியம்”
  • Tatar: “Ирек Дәүләте”
  • Telugu: “ఫ్రీ రాష్ట్రము”
  • Telugu: “ఫ్రీ స్టేట్”
  • Thai: “จังหวัดฟรีสเตต”
  • Thai: “ฟรีสเตต”
  • Tswana: “Foreistata”
  • Tswana: “Free State”
  • Tswana: “Vrystaat”
  • Turkish: “Özgür Devlet”
  • Ukrainian: “Вільна держава”
  • Ukrainian: “Фрі-Стейт”
  • Urdu: “آزاد اسٹیٹ (صوبہ)”
  • Urdu: “آزاد ریاست (صوبہ)”
  • Urdu: “آزاد ریاست”
  • Urdu: “فری سٹیٹ”
  • Uzbek: “Ozod Davlat”
  • Venda: “Free State”
  • Vietnamese: “Free State”
  • Volapük: “Libatatiän”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Free State”
  • Welsh: “Free State”
  • Western Frisian: “Frijsteat (provinsje)”
  • Western Frisian: “Frijsteat”
  • Western Panjabi: “فری سٹیٹ”
  • Wu Chinese: “自由邦省”
  • Xhosa: “IPhondo yaFreyistata”
  • Yoruba: “Free State”
  • Yue Chinese: “自由邦”
  • Zulu: “IFleyistata”
  • Zulu: “IFuleyisitata”

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