The Eastern Cape (Afrikaans: Oos-Kaap [ˈuəs.kɑːp]; Xhosa: eMpuma-Kapa; Khoekhoe: Aiǂoas!hub) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). Due to its temperate climate and Victorian towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also known for having been home to many anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko and Chris Hani.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after the Northern Cape, it was formed in 1994 out of the Xhosa homelands or bantustans of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province. The central and eastern part of the province is the traditional home of the indigenous Xhosa people. In 1820 this area, which was known as the Xhosa Kingdom, began to be settled by Europeans who originally came from Great Britain and Ireland. Eastern Cape is the only province in South Africa where the number of Black Africans declined from 86.6% to 85.7% since Apartheid ended in 1994.
History
The Eastern Cape province was formed in 1994, incorporating areas from the former Xhosa homelands of the Transkei and Ciskei, together with what was previously part of the Cape Province. This resulted in several anomalies, including the fact that the Province has four supreme courts (Makhanda (formerly named Grahamstown), Gqeberha (formerly named Port Elizabeth), Bhisho and Mthatha, and had enclaves of KwaZulu-Natal in the province. The latter anomaly has fallen away with amendments to municipal and provincial boundaries.
The Xhosa Kingdom was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Africa, and had all states in the Eastern Cape as tributaries. Any group, people, or tribe that recognised the Xhosa Kingdom as Paramouncy became Xhosa, practiced Xhosa culture and used isiXhosa as their main language. Some of the tribes that fall under the category of Xhosa people include: AmaMpondo, AbaThembu, AmaMpondomise, AmaHlubi, AmaBhaca, AmaXesibe, AmaBomvana and more.
European settlers
In the late 18th century the Dutch Cape Colony slowly expanded eastwards from its original centre around Cape Town. This led to the establishment in 1786 of the Dutch settlement of Graaff-Reinet – named for the Governor of the Cape Colony Cornelius Jacob van de Graaff (in office: 1785–1791) and for his wife Hester Cornelia van de Graaff (née Reynet). Later, during the Napoleonic Wars of 1803–1815, Britain took control of the Cape Colony (1806) and encouraged British citizens to migrate there as a means to boost the British population in the area.
From the early 1800s until the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Eastern Cape saw colonisation by British migrants. They established most of the towns, naming them either after places in the United Kingdom, members of the British royal family, or after the original founders and their families. British colonization saw schools, churches, hospitals, town centres and government buildings built to speed up development. Some of the older European settlements include Fort Beaufort (1814), Grahamstown (1812), Port Elizabeth (1820), Salem (1820), Bathurst (1820), East London (1836), Paterson (1879), Cradock (1814), Fort Beaufort (1816) and King William's Town (1836).
Geography
The Eastern Cape gets progressively wetter from west to east. The west is mostly semiarid Karoo, except in the far south, which is temperate rainforest in the Tsitsikamma region. The coast is generally rugged with interspersed beaches. Most of the province is hilly to very mountainous between Graaff-Reinet and Rhodes including the Sneeuberge (English: Snow Mountains), Stormberge, Winterberge and Drakensberg (English: Dragon Mountains). The highest point in the province is Ben Macdhui at 3001 m. The east from East London and Queenstown towards the KwaZulu-Natal border – a region known previously as Transkei – is lush grassland on rolling hills, punctuated by deep gorges with intermittent forest.
Eastern Cape has a coast on its east which lines southward, creating shores leading to the south Indian Ocean. In the northeast, it borders the following districts of Lesotho:
Mohale's Hoek District – west of Quthing
Quthing District – between Mohale and Qacha's Nek
Qacha's Nek District – east of Quthing
Domestically, it borders the following provinces:
Western Cape – west
Northern Cape – northwest
Free State – north
KwaZulu-Natal – far northeast
Climate
Climate is highly varied. The west is dry with sparse rain during winter or summer, with frosty winters and hot summers. The area Tsitsikamma to Grahamstown receives more precipitation, which is also relatively evenly distributed and temperatures are mild. Further east, rainfall becomes more plentiful and humidity increases, becoming more subtropical along the coast with summer rainfall. The interior can become very cold in winter, with heavy snowfalls occasionally occurring in the mountainous regions between Molteno and Rhodes.
Gqeberha: Jan Max: 25 °C, Min: 18 °C; Jul Max: 20 °C, Min: 9 °C
Molteno & Barkly East: Jan Max 28 °C, Min 11 °C; Jul Max: 14 °C, Min: -7 °C
Cities and towns
Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
East London (KuGompo City)
Makhanda (Grahamstown)
Graaff-Reinet
Maletswai
Port Alfred
Queenstown (Komani)
Jeffreys Bay
Somerset East (KwaNojoli)
Alice (Dikeni)
Qonce
Mthatha
Bhisho
Uitenhage (Kariega)
Mdantsane
Butterworth (Gcuwa)
Port St. Johns
Mbizana
Flagstaff
Libode
Cofimvaba
Dutywa
Fort Beaufort (KwaMaqoma)
Komga
Peddie
Stutterheim
Qumbu
Mount Frere (KwaBhaca)
Ntabankulu
Matatiele
Burgersdorp
Lady Grey
Maclear (Nqanqarhu)
Nxuba
Cacadu
Ngcobo