People of the Karoo People of the Karoo People of the Karoo refers to notable individuals who come (or came) from, or whose lives have included substantial engagement with, the area known as the Karoo. The Karoo is a widespread physiographic province in the western interior of South Africa, straddling much of the Northern Cape, southern Free State, Eastern Cape interior and parts of the Western Cape Provinces. As a distinctive, generally arid region, it has given rise to a characteristic architecture, cuisine, literature and other cultural elements, with predominantly sheep farming practices, and lifestyles that included a persistence of hunting and gathering by
Karoo later years, when not only the feathers were sought after, but also ostrich leather, and its meat, which is very tasty, and a major export item. Today, several farms can be visited by tourists, near Oudtshoorn, the center of the ostrich industry. The first European settlers landed in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, and between 1659 and 1664, made several unsuccessful attempts to penetrate the Great Karoo from the south-west. The Europeans who first entered the Great Karoo did so from the south-east (traveling north from Algoa Bay), which is slightly less arid than the western Karoo. These