Schoemansdal (Dutch for Schoeman's dale; at first Oude Dorp and Zoutpansbergdorp) was a settlement situated 16 km west of Louis Trichardt (Makhado), which had its origins during the Great Trek.

It is situated on the north bank of the Dorps River at 552 m.a.s.l., near present-day Hamantsha and Tshiozwi townships and the Schoemansdal railway siding.

The earliest western visitors to the area after the renegade Coenraad de Buys, were the Voortrekker parties led by Hans van Rensburg and Louis Tregardt.

It was founded by field cornet Jan Valentyn Botha[3][4] who led a faction of Andries Potgieter's trek, consisting of about 48 families.

[5] When their wagon train arrived on 2 May 1848 from Andries-Ohrigstad, they immediately constructed an earthen redoubt (or schans) and reed-huts (or scherms).

[6] Potgieter, who headed the earlier reconnaissance mission over the Limpopo river, arrived subsequently from Ohrigstad where his followers were being decimated by malaria.

He was of the opinion that the Zoutpansberg was sufficiently distant from British influence to afford the possibility of independence, and chose the location as the capital of his republic.

In September 1854 Piet's uncle, field cornet Hermanus Potgieter (Groot Hermaans), was searching for ivory near the Nyl River, an area ruled by chiefs Makapan and Mankopane (also: Mapela or Mapele).

The act claimed the lives of 28 white settlers,[9] and the Potchefstroom governance authorized a punitive commando under the command of Piet Potgieter and M. W. Pretorius.

During this year it was also visited by Deocleciano Das Neves and Pastor Joaquim de S. R. Montanha from Portuguese ports on the east coast.

Reverends Andrew Murray, J. H. Neethling, Piet Huet and Dirk van der Hoff were visiting clergy before a permanent minister took residence.

In addition Joao Albasini, Augusto Carvalho, Cassimiro Simmoens and Dietlof Maré had established shops in the town.

Besides reed huts, there were now some structures of raw or burnt clay bricks which indicated that their owners were determined to settle permanently.

Relations between the Voortrekkers and Venda soured owing to taxation (called opgaaf), cattle rustling and lax control over firearms.

On reaching Schoemansdal, which was under threat by chief Katze-Katze (also: Katlakter), Kruger and his officers resolved that holding the town was impossible and ordered a general evacuation.

The Transvaal government formally exonerated Kruger over the matter, ruling that he had been forced to evacuate Schoemansdal by factors beyond his control, but some still argued that he had given the town up too readily.

[7] Families in the first settlement, Zoutpansbergdorp, lived exclusively in hartbeeshuise (etymology perhaps "hard-reed house"), which were elongate, pitched-roof shelters built directly on the ground, with or without internal partitions.

An open-air museum was established which managed an area of 600 ha,[5] but its information centre burnt down in 2008, and some irreplaceable items were lost.