Hamburg is a small town with about 1000 inhabitants in the Eastern Cape province, in South Africa. It is located on the coast between the city of East London and the town of

Port Alfred A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

. Hamburg is known as a village and holiday resort on the southern bank of the

Keiskamma River The Keiskamma River ( af, Keiskammarivier) is a river in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The river flows into the Indian Ocean in the Keiskamma Estuary, located by Hamburg Nature Reserve, near Hamburg, midway between East London and P ...

, 3 km from its mouth, 11 km southeast of Peddie, 74 km south of

King William's Town Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River (Eastern Cape), Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London, South ...

and 96 km south-west of East London. It was established in 1857 by members of the

British-German Legion The British German Legion (or Anglo-German Legion) was a group of German soldiers recruited to fight for Britain in the Crimean War. It is not to be confused with the King's German Legion, which was active during the Napoleonic Wars. Great Britai ...

after the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

and named after

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in Germany.

Cultural life

The Hamburg Nature Reserve is located next to the mouth of the

, near Hamburg. Hamburg boasts many non-profit organisations including the Keiskamma Trust, Keiskamma Music Academy, Hamburg Hounds and Hooves, The Playground Sports & Youth Development. The Keiskamma Trust promotes health and hope through art, HIV/AIDs treatment,

poverty alleviation Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

projects and education initiatives in the village of Hamburg and its surrounding villages. The Trust sponsored the Keiskamma Tapestry, a 120-meter tapestry in the South African Parliament building depicting the history of the area. The Keiskamma Music Academy provides music education to children from Hamburg,

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

Bodiam Bodiam () is a small village and civil parish in the Rother District of East Sussex, England. It lies in the valley of the River Rother, near to the villages of Sandhurst and Ewhurst Green. The MP of the local UK Parliament constituency is Hu ...

and Peddie. Hamburg Hounds and Hooves is a project based in Hamburg that educates local animal owners on the proper care of their animals. They actively hold clinics where sick and injured animals are treated, animals are vaccinated against diseases and animals are sterilized to prevent any further overpopulation.

History

Founded by German immigrants in the 19th century, the ship carrying the immigrants came at first from

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. Between 1961 and 1994 the town was part of the

Bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now ...

of Ciskei.

References

Populated places in the Ngqushwa Local Municipality Populated coastal places in South Africa German settlements in South Africa 1857 establishments in the Cape Colony {{EasternCape-geo-stub