TOURIST INFORMATION
The town was founded in 1870 and believed to be named after the daughter of President MW Pretorius. When diamonds were discovered here, government rushed to settle ownership of diggings by establishing Christiana on the banks of the Vaal River. This town was established on the farm Zoutpansdrift (salt pan drift) and named Christiana, after the only daughter of President Pretorius of the old Transvaal. The first residential stands were sold in 1870. Two years later diamonds were discovered in the gravel of the Vaal River close by and the inevitable manic rush followed. As usual the initial rush petered with the diamonds, although some are still found from time to time. These days the mainstay of the economy is the production of beef, maize, sorghum, groundnuts and cotton.
