Photo: Sergio Conti from Montevecchia (LC), Italia, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
World's largest meteorite. This tablet-shaped rock weighs over 60 tons and landed 80,000 years ago. It is also the largest single mass of iron anywhere in the world.
The Hoba meteorite is named after the farm Hoba West, where it lies, not far from Grootfontein, in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It has been uncovered, but because of its large mass, has never been moved from where it fell. The main mass is estimated at more than 60 tonnes. It is the largest known intact meteorite and about twice as massive as the largest fragment of either the Cape York meteorite's 31-tonne Ahnighito kept in the American Museum of Natural History or the Campo del Cielo's 31-tonne Gancedo. It is also the most massive naturally occurring piece of iron known on Earth's surface. The name Hoba comes from a Khoekhoegowab word meaning 'gift'. Following its donation to the government in 1987, a visitor centre was constructed with a circular stone access and seating area.
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Regional history museum housed in a Schutztruppe fortress constructed in 1896 by the German colonial government.