Bethlehem, Free State

Bethlehem is a town in the eastern Free State province of South Africa that is situated on the Liebenbergs river (also called Liebenbergs Vlei) along a fertile valley just north of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 road.

It is a wheat growing area and named after the biblical Bethlehem (from "Beit Lechem", Hebrew for "house of bread").

The town lies at an altitude of 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) and this contributes to its cool climate with frosty winters and mild summers. The average annual temperature is around 24 °C (75 °F)

Bethlehem is situated approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) north-east of Bloemfontein, 140 kilometres (87 mi) east of Kroonstad and 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Harrismith. The town is strategically situated in the heart of the picturesque north-eastern Free State and originally developed as a service centre. Bethlehem is the seat of the Dihlabeng Local Municipality (this municipality is situated within the boundaries of the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality in the Eastern Free State).

Free state

Free state may refer to:

Places

Politics

Slave and free states

In the history of the United States of America, a slave state was a U.S. state in which the practice of slavery was legal at a particular point of time, and a free state was one in which slavery was prohibited or being legally phased out at that point of time. Slavery was a divisive issue and was one of the primary causes of the American Civil War. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States, and the distinction ended.

Early history

Slavery was legal and practiced in each of the Thirteen Colonies. Organized political and social movements to end slavery began in the mid-18th century. The sentiments of the American Revolution and the equality evoked by the Declaration of Independence rallied many black Americans toward the revolutionary cause and their own hopes of emancipation. Others joined the British army, encouraged by British promises of freedom in exchange for military service. Free black men also fought in the Revolution on both sides (see Black Patriot and Black Loyalist).

Free state (government)

Free state is a term occasionally used in the official titles of some states.

In principle the title asserts and emphasises the freedom of the state in question, but what this actually means varies greatly in different contexts:

Overview

Republican England

English Parliament, in the act forming the Commonwealth of England of 1649 to 1660, declared that "England is confirmed to be a Commonwealth and Free State and shall from henceforth be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State." The Commonwealth had a republican constitution.

Bethlehem

Bethlehem (Arabic: بيت لحم‎  Bayt Laḥm ; "House of Meat", Bēt Laḥm; Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם Bēṯ Leḥem, Modern: Bet Leḥem [bet ˈleχem], lit. "House of Bread"; Ancient Greek: Βηθλεέμ [bɛːtʰle.ém]; Latin: Bethleem) is a Palestinian city located in the central West Bank, Palestine, about 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. The economy is primarily tourist-driven.

The earliest known mention of the city was in the Amarna correspondence of 1350-1330 BCE during its habitation by the Canaanites. The Hebrew Bible, which says that the city of Bethlehem was built by Rehoboam, identifies it as the city David was from and where he was crowned as the king of Israel. The New Testament identifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus. Bethlehem was destroyed by the Emperor Hadrian during the second-century Bar Kokhba revolt; its rebuilding was promoted by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who commissioned the building of its great Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. The church was badly damaged by the Samaritans, who sacked it during a revolt in 529, but was rebuilt a century later by Emperor Justinian I.

Bethlehem (disambiguation)

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, identified as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.

Bethlehem may also refer to :

Other places

Europe

United States of America

Bethlehem (The Original Sins album)

Bethlehem is the eighth studio album by garage rock band The Original Sins, released in 1996 through Bar/None Records. The album shows a change in tone for the band, focusing much more on pop music and psychedelic rock than the energetic garage punk fury from previous releases. The album has been is considered as the band's best, with some describing it as "the band's greatest achievement" and a "great leap-forward".

Track listing

All songs written and composed by John Terlesky. 

Personnel

Performers

Production

References