Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town, is a city in the
Eastern Cape province of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
along the banks of the
Buffalo River. The city is about northwest of the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
port of
East London. Qonce, with a population of around 35,000 inhabitants, forms part of the
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
Qonce lies above sea level at the foot of the
Amathole Mountains
Amatola, Amatole or Amathole are a range of densely forested mountains, situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The word ''Amathole'' means ‘calves’ in Xhosa, and Amathole District Municipality, which lies to the south, is named ...
in an area known for its agriculture. The city has one of the oldest post offices in the country developed by missionaries led by
Charles Brownlee
Charles Pacalt Brownlee (1821- 13 September 1890) was a politician and writer of the Cape Colony. He was the first Secretary for Native Affairs in the Cape.
Early life
Born in 1821, the son of the linguist, botanist and missionary, John Brownle ...
.
History
For thousands of years, the area was roamed by
Bushman bands, and then was used as grazing by the nomadic
Khoikhoi
Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...
, who called the Buffalo River ''Qonce''.
Xhosa people
The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people (; ) are African people who are direct kinsmen of Tswana people, Sotho people and Twa people, yet are narrowly sub grouped by European as Nguni ethnic group whose traditional homeland is primarily t ...
first settled in the area during the mid- to late- 17th century.
King William's Town was founded by Sir
Benjamin d’Urban in May 1835 during the
Xhosa War of that year. The town stands on the site of the
kraal of the minor chief Dyani Tyatyu and was named after
William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
. It was abandoned in December 1836, but was reoccupied in 1846 and was the capital of
British Kaffraria from its creation in 1847 to its incorporation in 1865 with the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a 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 it united with t ...
. Uniquely in the Cape Colony, its local government was styled a borough, rather than a municipality. Many of the colonists in the neighbouring districts are descendants of 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 ...
disbanded 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 provided with homes in the Cape Colony; hence such names as
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...
and
Stutterheim
Stutterheim is a town with a population of 46,730 in South Africa, situated in the Border region of the Eastern Cape province. It is named after Richard Von Stutterheim.
History
The area's earliest human population were Bushmen. Khoikhoi groups ...
given to settlements in this part of the country.
It was declared the provincial capital of the surrounding
Queen Adelaide's Province in the 1830s. On 5 May 1877, the Cape Government of Prime Minister
John Molteno opened the first railway, connecting the town to East London on the coast and to the Xhosa lands inland and further east. With its direct railway communication, the town became an important
entrepôt
An ''entrepôt'' (; ) or transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded, usually to be exported again. Such cities often sprang up and such ports and trading posts often developed into c ...
for trade with the Xhosa people throughout
Kaffraria
Kaffraria was the descriptive name given to the southeast part of what is today the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e. the land of the Kaffirs, is no longer an official designation (with the term ''kaffir'' now an offensive racial sl ...
.
The area's economy depended on cattle and sheep ranching, and the town itself has a large industrial base producing textiles, soap, candles, sweets, cartons and clothing. Its proximity to the new provincial capital city of
Bhisho has brought much development to the area since the end of
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
in 1994.
In 2007 the provincial government considered plans to rename the town with a traditional African name. The town became "Qonce" on 21 February 2021.
The town is also home to
Huberta, one of the farthest-travelling hippopotami in South Africa. It is preserved in the
Amathole Museum
The Amathole Museum, formerly the Kaffrarian Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The museum houses the second largest collection of mammals in South Africa ...
in the Qonce
CBD.
Notable people
*
Steve Biko,
anti-Apartheid Black Consciousness Movement
The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Afri ...
leader was born here
*
Charles Patrick John Coghlan
Sir Charles Patrick John Coghlan, (24 June 1863 – 28 August 1927), was a lawyer and politician who served as Premier of Southern Rhodesia from 1 October 1923 to his death. Having led the responsible government movement in the territory during ...
, first premier of
Rhodesia was born here
*
Buster Farrer
William Stephen "Buster" Farrer (born 8 December 1936) is a former South African cricketer who played in six Test matches between 1962 and 1964. He also played tennis and hockey at international level.
Education and early cricket career
Farrer ...
, former international cricket, tennis and hockey player
*
Garry Pagel, former
South African rugby union
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...
player was born here
*
John Tengo Jabavu
John Tengo Jabavu (11 January 1859 – 10 September 1921) was a political activist and the editor of South Africa's first newspaper to be written in Xhosa.
Early life
John Tengo Jabavu was born on 11 January 1859 near Healdtown in the easter ...
, founder of the first Xhosa-language newspaper in South Africa
*
Griffiths Mxenge, anti-Apartheid activist
*
Victoria Mxenge
Victoria Nonyamezelo Mxenge (1 January 1942, in King William's Town, Eastern Cape – 1 August 1985, in Umlazi, Durban, Natal) was a South African anti-apartheid activist; she was trained as a nurse and midwife, and later began practising law.
...
, anti-Apartheid activist
*
Steve Tshwete
Steve Vukhile Tshwete (12 November 1938 in Springs, Transvaal – 26 April 2002 in Pretoria, Gauteng) was a South African politician and activist with the African National Congress. Involved in Umkhonto we Sizwe, Tshwete was imprisoned by the ap ...
, anti-Apartheid activist
*
Makhaya Ntini
Makhaya Ntini OIS (born 6 July 1977) is a South African former professional cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He was the first black player to play for the South African national cricket team.
He reached second place in the ICC Te ...
, former South African
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...
er
*
Raven Klaasen
Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles.
He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...
, professional
tennis player
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...
*
Lukhanyo Am, South African Rugby union team player
*
CB Jennings, South African Rugby union team player and mayor of King William's Town
References
*
External links
History of King William's Town
{{Authority control
Populated places in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
Populated places established in 1835