Calvinia is a regional town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa named after the French religious reformer Jean Calvin.

The town is just south of the Hantam mountains on the banks of the Oorlogskloof (meaning "War Ravine") River.

On 19 January 1847, at a meeting on the farm Tygerhoek, a new Dutch Reformed Church congregation was founded for the Hantam region.

The name Hantam is derived from the Khoisan word !Han‡ami, which refers to a plant with edible roots (Pelargonium bifolium, in Afrikaans "uintjies").

The Hantam Meat Festival, an agricultural show and great barbecue (Afrikaans "braai"), takes place every year in late August.

The Boekhuis[permanent dead link‍] (translated "Book House") was built in 1860 by Jacobus Nel van der Merwe in Cape Dutch style with a concave-convex gable.