Bloemfontein is a city in the middle of South Africa. It is one of the country’s three capital cities — the one for the courts. South Africa splits the work: they make laws in Cape Town, the president’s government sits in Pretoria, and the important courts sit in Bloemfontein. So when people say “the judicial capital,” they mean this city. It is not the biggest city (that is Johannesburg), and it is not on the sea. The name is Afrikaans, a South African language that grew from Dutch: bloem is “flower” and fontein is “fountain” or “spring,” so the name is like “flower fountain.” Locals still use that name; the wider area also has the Sotho name Mangaung. It is a quieter, older city in the Free State, known for roses and for the courts.