*The town was established on the farms of Middelbosch and Doornfontein which were presented for this purpose to the Transvaal Republic by Commandant Hendrik Greeff in 1866. *Greeff named the town Lichtenburg as he wanted it to be a town whose light would shine over the area, not just for its hospitality and prosperity, but also in respect of religion *The town - an oasis of the North West - with its unique historical background and special places of interest, coupled with its tranquillity and moderate climate is worth a stop-over *The town is today the centre of a huge farming district where maize, groundnuts and sunflower seeds are the main crops *In 1926 a diamond was found on the farm Elandsputte resulting in a diamond rush with more than 100'000 diggers streaming to the town. In March 1927 25,000 runners took part to peg their claims in one of the biggest diamond rushes in history *The biggest pure red diamond ("pigeon blood red") in the world was found here. By 1935 the rush was over after 7 million carats of diamonds were discovered. Lichtenburg Diggings Museum has exhibits of the alluvial diamant diggings of 925-1935 *The Ampie Bosman Cultural History Museum gives an introduction to the interesting & colourful history of Lichtenburg. Exhibits cover the founding & development of the town, the discovery of the local diamond fields, the siege of Lichtenburg during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and much more
