Orange_Free_State_(Province)
Orange Free State (province)
Former South African province (1910–1994)
The Province of the Orange Free State (Afrikaans: Provinsie Oranje-Vrystaat), commonly referred to as the Orange Free State (Afrikaans: Oranje-Vrystaat), Free State (Afrikaans: Vrystaat) or by its abbreviation OFS, was one of the four provinces of South Africa from 1910 to 1994. After 27 April 1994 it was dissolved following the first non-racial election in South Africa. It is now called the Free State Province.
Its predecessor was the Orange River Colony which in 1902 had replaced the Orange Free State, a Boer republic.
Its outside borders were the same as those of the modern Free State Province; except for the bantustans ("homelands") of QwaQwa and one part of Bophuthatswana, which were contained on land inside of the provincial Orange Free State borders.