The town of Alexander Bay (Alexanderbaai in Afrikaans) in the Northern Cape, takes its name from Sir James Alexander, who dreamed of making a fortune by exporting copper.
Because of the copper, the town experienced a brief flush of prosperity until the 1870s. Unfortunately, this came to an end and Alexander Bay became something of a ghost town.
Alexander Bay became rejuvenated once again when in 1926, diamonds were discovered. The resulting 'diamond rush' led to the Diamond Coast Rebellion of 1928. Today, the area where the diamonds are mined in Alexander Bay is quite a high security area.
Alexander Bay in the north-west part of the Northern Cape province, was put on the map in 1927 when Dr Hans Merensky discovered diamonds on ...
Located at the mouth of the Orange River, Alexander Bay is a very typical company town. Built entirely by and for the state-owned Alexkor di...