Alexander Bay, South Africa

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Alexander Bay Alexanderbaai
Town
The abandoned Alexander Bay Airport Terminal.
Alexander Bay Show map of Northern Cape Alexander Bay Show map of South Africa Alexander Bay Show map of Africa
Coordinates: 28°35′S 16°29′E / 28.583°S 16.483°E / -28.583; 16.483
Country	South Africa
Province	Northern Cape
District	Namakwa
Municipality	Richtersveld
Area [1]
• Total	9.25 km2 (3.57 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	1,736
• Density	190/km2 (490/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	9.7%
• Coloured	74.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	15.2%
• Other	0.2%
First languages (2011) [1]
• Afrikaans	92.7%
• Xhosa	2.6%
• English	1.5%
• Other	3.2%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	8290
PO box	8290
Area code	027

Alexander Bay (Afrikaans: Alexanderbaai) is a town in the extreme north-west of South Africa. It is located on the southern bank of the Orange River mouth. It was named for Sir James Alexander,^[2] who was the first person to map the area whilst on a Royal Geographical Society expedition into Namibia in 1836. (It is mistakenly believed by many locals that it was he who first established commercial copper mining in the area.) With diamonds being discovered along the West Coast in 1925, Alexander Bay was established to service the mining industry.

The town of Oranjemund lies on the northern bank of the river, which forms the international border with Namibia. The two towns are linked by the Ernest Oppenheimer Bridge, named for Ernest Oppenheimer in 1951.

The town is served by Alexander Bay Airport.