Not to be confused with the informal regions of Kaffraria to its immediate northeast or Cafreria in present-day Namibia and surrounding areas, both eventually held by the British.
British Kaffraria
Colony of the British Empire
1835–1866
Capital
King William's Town[1]
Population
• 1858[2]
52,535
History
• Established
1835
• Disestablished
1866
British Kaffraria was a British colony/subordinate administrative entity in present-day South Africa, consisting of the districts now known as Qonce and East London. It was also called Queen Adelaide's Province and, unofficially, British Kaffiria and Kaffirland.
The British Kaffraria was established in 1847 when the British colonial government in the Cape Colony annexed the Ciskei region between the Keiskamma and Great Kei rivers and declared it a Crown Colony. Just 17 years later, it was incorporated into the Cape Colony after the Xhosa people suffered from a great famine following the Xhosa cattle-killing movement of 1856–57 and required relief from the British colonial government in the Cape Colony.[3]
The term Kaffraria stems from the derogative word "Kaffir" which was used as a term for the Black African inhabitants of southern Africa. The word is derived from the Arabic kafir that is usually translated into English as "disbeliever" or "non-believer", i.e. a non-Muslim or "one without religion".[4] The word was originally applied to non Muslims in general, and therefore to non-Muslim black peoples encountered along the Swahili coast by Arab traders. The word "Kaffraria" came to refer specifically to the Xhosa lands in what is now the Eastern Cape. Later, the western Xhosa lands which fell under British rule came to be known as British Kaffraria, while the still independent Xhosa territory to the east in the Transkei region was known simply as Kaffraria proper and would be incorporated into the Cape Colony later.
A subsection of British Kaffraria was later reconstituted by the apartheid regime as the semi-independent homeland of Ciskei.
^Henry Hall (F.R.G.S.) (1859). Manual of South African Geography. S. Solomon. p. 43. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
^Henry Hall (F.R.G.S.) (1859). Manual of South African Geography. S. Solomon. p. 46. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
^2013. Literature on the History of Southern Africa: British Kaffraria. World History at KMLA. Accessed 6 April 2018.
^Harper, Douglas (2001–2010). "Kaffir". Online Etymological Dictionary.
Province and, unofficially, British Kaffiria and Kaffirland. The BritishKaffraria was established in 1847 when the British colonial government in the...
Williams Town and East London were annexed by the British early on, and were thus known as BritishKaffraria (later annexed to Cape Colony in 1865). All of...
brought to an end after the loss of several hundred British soldiers. Shortly afterwards, BritishKaffraria was made a crown colony. The Khoikhoi settlement...
Xhosaland but close to the border of the recently established colony of BritishKaffraria in Eastern Cape South Africa. She was Xhosa. Little is known of Nongqawuse's...
CBV Pearston (Eastern Cape) CBW Peddie (Eastern Cape) Was part of BritishKaffraria; became part of Ciskei and used the code GCF. CBX Philipstown, with...
December 1836, but was reoccupied in 1846 and was the capital of BritishKaffraria from its creation in 1847 to its incorporation in 1865 with the Cape...
War of the Axe in 1847, but on his release he was granted land in "BritishKaffraria" for his people. He later supported his cousin brother Sarhili (Kreli)...
usage in southern Africa) Kaffraria, and BritishKaffraria Military history of South Africa Sandile kaNgqika Category:British military personnel of the...
Kafiristani, terms for the Nuristani languages of the Hindu Kush Kaffraria or BritishKaffraria, a former designation for King William's Town and East London...
Rensburg leave the Cape Colony with their followers. Founding of BritishKaffraria. More Voortrekkers leave the Cape Colony. Mzilikazi sends his army...
The British Kaffrarian Government Gazette was the government gazette of BritishKaffraria. It was published in the 1860s during the brief period for which...
the elected, executive Governors. This variation was used once, in BritishKaffraria (a separate Crown colony since 1860, first under a lieutenant governor;...
British Guiana: The Official Gazette of Guyana BritishKaffraria: British Kaffrarian Government Gazette British Virgin Islands: The Virgin Islands Official...
frontier in 1778. In colonial times, the Ngqika lands were known as BritishKaffraria. Later the Apartheid government of South Africa gave them a form of...
Grahamstown and Cradock. At the end of the 19th century, the area known as BritishKaffraria between the Fish and Kei rivers had been set aside for the "Bantu"...
Cape governor 1847–52 (1787–1860) Andries Stockenström, governor of BritishKaffraria (1792–1864) Simon van der Stel, first Cape governor (1639–1712) Willem...
finally to lay to rest "the aberrations of the Xhosa-Fingo feud." BritishKaffraria had been annexed to the Cape Colony in 1866. Barring the brief revolt...
1801; parliaments between 1707 and 1800 were either parliaments of Great Britain or of Ireland). For acts passed up until 1707, see the list of acts of...
is extended to Orange River and the districts of Victoria East and BritishKaffraria are annexed The Montagu Pass is opened Sugar cane plantations are...
Willem Blaeu's work, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1635). The later derivative Kaffraria (obsolete name) became a reference to only the present day Eastern Cape...
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