[2][circular reference] Zoutpansberg was the district to which Louis Trichard and Jan Van Rensburg, the forerunners of the Great Trek, journeyed in 1835.

The Zoutpansberg Boers formed a semi-independent community, and in 1857 Stephanus Schoeman, their commandant-general, sided against Marthinus Pretorius and Paul Kruger when they invaded the Orange Free State.

[3] The white settlers in Zoutpansberg had for many years a reputation for lawlessness, and were later regarded as typical "back veldt Boers."

It is highly mineralized, next to gold, copper, found near the Limpopo (where the Messina mine is) being the chief metal worked.

The district long suffered from lack of railway communications, but in 1910 the completion of the Selati line giving it direct access to Delagoa Bay was begun.