George is a central hub and the largest city in the Garden Route, South Africa, serving as a gateway to the region’s iconic mountains, forests, and beaches. Known as South Africa’s Golfing capital, it offers world-class courses and a mild climate that makes it a year-round destination. 

Indigenous Roots: Long before colonial settlement, the area was home to the Outeniqua (Khoe-Khoe) people, whose name means “people laden with honey”.

Timber Outpost (1777): The Dutch East India Company established a “buitepos” (outpost) here to harvest the vast indigenous forests for ship-building and furniture timber.

Proclamation (1811): George was the first town founded under British rule in South Africa, officially named after King George III on St George’s Day, 23 April 1811.

Transportation Boom: The town’s growth was accelerated by engineering feats like the Montagu Pass (1847), which finally linked the coastal plateau to the interior, and the later arrival of the scenic railway in 1913.

In George, South Africa, the history of rail and botanical heritage is deeply intertwined through the city’s early infrastructure. The Garden Route Botanical Garden perserves the original 1812 water furrows and dams that once supplied the town while the nearby Outeniqua Transport Museum serves as the gateway to the region’s historic railway mountain passes.   The railway over the Outeniqua Mountains is a feat of early 20th-century engineering, with construction beginning in 1908 and completing in 1913.