Great Karoo

The Great Karoo has an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers. A vast inland sea covered this region approximately 250 million years ago, but as the world's climate gradually changed from cold to hot the water evaporated, leaving a swamp where reptiles and amphibians prospered.

In recent history - less than two hundred years ago - large herds of antelope and zebras still roamed the Karoo's grass flats. The Hottentots and Bushmen, last of the Southern African Stone Age peoples, shared what they called the "Place of Great Dryness" (from which the name "Karoo" is derived). The two groups differed substantially in their cultures and lifestyles; the Hottentots were sheep and cattle farmers while the Bushmen were classic hunter-gatherers. With the occupation of the region by European settler stock farmers the sheep gradually replaced the game, while the grass receded due to the changed grazing and weather patterns.

During the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 three Republican Commandos, reinforced by the rebels from the Cape Colony, conducted widespread operations throughout the Karoo. Countless skirmishes took place in the region, with the Calvinia magisterial district, in particular, contributing a significant number of fighters to the Republican cause. Fought both conventionally and as a guerrilla struggle over the Karoo's vast expanses, it was a bloody war of attrition wherein both sides used newly developed technologies to their advantage. Numerous abandoned blockhouses can still be seen at strategic locations throughout the Great Karoo; a prime example is located next to the Geelbeks River 12 kilometers outside the town of Laingsburg.

Currently sheep farming is still the economic backbone of the Karoo with other forms of agriculture taking place in areas where irrigation is possible. Lately game farms and tourism have also started to make an economic impact.

Little Karoo

As the name implies, the Little Karoo is the smaller (and more southerly) of the two Karoo sub-regions. Locally it is usually called the Klein Karoo, which is Afrikaans for Little Karoo. Geographically it is a fertile valley (bounded on the north by the Swartberg, and on the south by the Langeberg and Outeniqua mountains). Although the boundaries of the region are not strictly defined, most people consider the western boundary of the Little Karoo to be in the region of Barrydale and the eastern boundary around Uniondale.

The main town of the region is Oudtshoorn. Other towns/settlements in the region include Ladismith, Calitzdorp and De Rust, and well-known mission stations such as Zoar, Amalienstein, Barrydale and Dysselsdorp.

This area was first explored by European settlers in the late 17th century, who encountered the Khoisan people living in a semi-arid area. Due to modern farming methods it was later turned into a productive farming district.