Swartkops is a village in

Nelson Mandela Bay Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ( af, Nelson Mandelabaai Metropolitaanse Munisipaliteit; xh, uMasipala wase Nelson Mandela Bay or ''uMasipala waseBhayi'') is one of eight metropolitan municipalities (also called Category A municipalities) in So ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province of

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 ...

. The location is on the

Swartkops River Swartkops River, also Zwartskop River, (Afrikaans: ''black hills'') is a watercourse in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The source of the Swartkops is near Cockscombe Mountain, and it flows east into the Algoa Bay of the Indian Ocean ...

, 11 km north of

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

and 1,6 km from the Indian Ocean. ''Swartkops'' means "black hills" in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, and the name is said to refer to surrounding hillocks crested with dark shadows. A railway junction was built here by the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately own ...

in 1872, to service the lines being constructed to Makhanda and Alicedale in the east,

to the south, and

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port El ...

to the west.Burman, Jose (1984), ''Early Railways at the Cape'', Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. .

References

Populated places in Nelson Mandela Bay {{EasternCape-geo-stub