Oudtshoorn

Oudtshoorn is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, set between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua mountains to the south, and the largest town in the Klein Karoo region. It was officially founded in 1848 on farmland owned by Cornelis P. Rademeyer, who named it after Baron Pieter van Rheede van Oudtshoorn. The 2011 census recorded about 61,507 residents, and the town is known worldwide as the ostrich capital of the world, having built its economy on ostrich farming during feather booms in 1865 to 1870 and 1900 to 1914, when ostrich feathers were prized luxury items in Europe; as of 2012 the district held more than 200,000 ostriches, about 80 percent of the world's ostrich products. Tourism now shares the economy alongside ostrich farming.