Laudium, Gauteng

Laudium is an Indian township southwest of central Pretoria, in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Claudius is a neighboring, largely residential suburb that is effectively an extension of Laudium.HistoryThe original name for Laudium was Claudius,, named after Claudius Marais de Vries who owned a farm called Mooiplats and was a former mayor of Pretoria.Laudium was created by the Apartheid government as part of their policy aimed at moving ethnic groups out of Marabastad and central Pretoria, which were zoned as 'White Areas' following the passage if the Group Areas Act. Laudium was proclaimed an Indian township in 1961. As for its former inhabitants, older aerial photographs still show remains of circular type dwellings to the west of Laudium.The eastern portion of the original Claudius retained its name and white population for a time, but the white population of Claudius has long since been displaced by Indians, and Claudius had effectively become an extension of Laudium by 1980.Claudius straddles the R55, and parts of Second Avenue, Third Avenue, and Cuprene Street technically are part of Claudius, along with Sunrise School, however this smaller part of Cladius, west of the R55 is often regarded as part of Laudium, with the R55 being commonly thought of as the dividing line.