Fort Hare was an 1835 British-built
fort
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
on a rocky outcrop at the foothills of the
Amatola Mountains; close to the present day town of
Alice, Eastern Cape
Alice is a small town in Eastern Cape, South Africa that is named after Princess Alice, the daughter of the British Queen Victoria. It was settled in 1824 by British colonists it's adjacent to the Tyhume River. It has rail and road connection ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
History
Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort in the wars between the
British troops
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas ...
and the
Xhosa
Xhosa may refer to:
* Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa
* Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people
See als ...
of the 19th century.
A British fort, Fort Glamorgan, was built on the West Bank of
East London
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
in 1837, and annexed to the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
that same year. This fort is one of a series of forts the British built, that include
Fort Murray,
Fort White,
Fort Cox, Fort Hare and
Fort Willshire, in the border area that became known as
British Kaffraria.
On 29 December 1850, during the
Eighth Frontier War with the Xhosas, some 220 British troops were forced to retreat to Fort Hare after an unsuccessful attempt to relieve
Sir Harry Smith
Lieutenant-General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet, GCB (28 June 1787 – 12 October 1860) was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, he is a ...
, besieged at Fort Cox.
Today
Some of the ruins of the fort are still visible today, as well as graves of some of the British soldiers who died while on duty there.
[''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa'' - NASOU 1971] Missionary activity (
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...
) led to the creation of a school for missionaries from which at the beginning of the 20th century the
University of Fort Hare
The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...
resulted. In accord with its Christian principles, fees were low and heavily subsidised.
See also
*
List of Castles and Fortifications in South Africa
References
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality
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