The South African Mint was founded in Pretoria in 1886 by President Paul Kruger, who now adorns the obverse of the most famous South African coin of them all.  However, long before the first Krugerrand was struck, the mint was actually run by Britain's Royal Mint (until 1941) and as a result saw over 83 million Gold Sovereigns struck there.  

It was not until 1964 that the concept of a gold bullion coin for the private ownership of the public emerged, which resulted in the first Krugerrand being struck in 1967.  Up until the early 1980's, this mass market gold bullion coin concept was so popular that it made up 89% of the World's entire coin bullion industry.  This explains then why the Krugerrand is so often at the forefront of people's minds when gold coins are mentioned.