Similar to elsewhere in
Southern Africa, the aboriginal inhabitants of the area were the
Khoisan hunter gatherers and herders. Early on, these peoples were displaced by the
Bantu expansion, when it crossed the
Kei river from the north. The area was consolidated under the rule of a branch of the
Xhosa people.
Xhosa rule The native Xhosa were ruled by the
Ngqika ("Gaika") chiefs (part of the
Rarabe offshoot of the main Xhosa line): • Ngqika ka Rarabe (the founding Chief), 1797 – 13 November 1829 •
Sandile kaNgqika, 13 November 1829 – 1 June 1878
British rule The territory came under British rule in the 19th century. However, there was great disagreement on how it should be governed, with the
Cape Colony being reluctant to take responsibility for its administration. Its status therefore changed several times before it finally became part of the Cape Colony. The territory’s administration was handled by a British military officer who was appointed as the chief commissioner. Each administrative chief was assisted by assistant commissioners who acted as magistrates, advisors and arbitrators among the several Xhosa tribes. The authority of the Xhosa chiefs was recognised to a limited degree since their decisions were subject to review by the British colonial government. Any decisions made by the Xhosa chiefs could also be reversed if they were contrary to the agenda of the colonial government. The Xhosa chiefs in British Kaffraria were mandated by the colonial government to acknowledge the authority of
Queen Victoria and that of the British chief commissioner. He attempted to unseat Chief
Sandile of the Ngqika people (he was also the paramount chief of all Rharhabe tribes) in British Kaffraria when the Mlanjeni War (also known as the 8th Xhosa War) erupted in 1850. The war lasted until 1853 even after Smith was recalled. A location for the new province's government was selected, and named
King William's Town. The province was declared to be for the settlement of loyal African tribes, those rebel tribes who agreed to replace their leadership, and the
Fengu (known to the Europeans as the "Fingo people"), who had recently arrived fleeing from the Zulu armies and had been living under Xhosa subjection. Magistrates were appointed to administer the territory in the hope that they would gradually, with the help of missionaries, undermine tribal authority. The area was named after
Queen Adelaide, the wife of
King William IV. When news of the annexation reached the
Colonial Office, the authorities in
London expressed their disapproval of D’Urban’s processes. The British government, along with the rest of Europe, was in the wake of the Romantic Age in 1835 and prescribed to a philanthropic approach.
Lord Glenelg, the
Secretary of State for the Colonies, stressed that Smith's method of annexation "had brought dishonour to the British name" and that "Queen Adelaide Province” would no longer be the name of the territory.
"British Kaffraria" in the Cape Colony (1847–1860) After the
7th Frontier War ("Amatola War"), on 17 December 1847, the area was again seized by the new British Governor
Harry Smith, and again annexed to the
Cape Colony, this time as the
British Kaffraria Colony, with
King William's Town as its capital. The new Governor re-occupied the abandoned forts and British Imperial troops were moved into the territory.
German emigrants arrived in British Kaffraria in 1858–1859, and again in 1877–1878.
A separate "British Kaffraria" Crown Colony (1860–1866) On 7 March 1860, in the wake of the great
Xhosa cattle-killing, the Cape Colony again dis-annexed British Kaffraria, and it became a separate
crown colony. A separate Lieutenant Governor, Colonel John Maclean, was appointed to administer the colony. However economic problems threatened to bankrupt the colony and pressure was brought upon the neighbouring Cape Colony once again to take on the territory and its expenses.
Final annexation to the Cape Colony (1866) It was finally re-incorporated into the
Cape Colony on 17 April 1866. From 1853 to 1866 the territory used the stamps of the Cape of Good Hope, the mail being sent from Port Elizabeth or overland from the Cape. The area eventually formed the basis of the
Ciskei independent homeland. ==See also==