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Information on King Williams Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Conference Venues South Africa brings you information on King Williams Town situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa including information on Facilities and Recreation, Climate, Founding, History Suburbs, Town Planning and Geography.

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King William's Town in the Eastern Cape province is located along the banks of the Buffalo River. It forms part of a Transitional Local Council area incorporating Bisho, Zwelitsha, Dimbaza, Phakamisa, Ilitha and Ndevana. The town is part of the Buffalo City Local Municipality in the Amatole District.

King, as the town is locally called, stands at the foot of the Amatola Mountains and in the midst of a thickly populated agricultural district. The town is well laid out, and most of the merchants' stores and public buildings are built of stone. There are manufactories of candles,sweets and jams, matches and leather soap, and a large trade in wool, grains and hides are done with East London.

King William's Town has a number of suburbs named after famous landmarks or special events, including Kaffrarian Heights, Daleview, Club View, and Central.

King Williams Town History

It was also an important entrepot for trade with the natives throughout Kaffraria, with which there is direct railway communication. Founded by Sir Benjamin d'Urban in May 1835 during the Xhosa War of that year, the town is named after William IV. 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. Many of the colonists in the neighboring districts are descendants of members of the German legion disbanded after the Crimean War and provided with homes in Cape Colony; hence such names as Berlin, Braunschweig, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Potsdam and Stutterheim given to settlements in this part of the country.

Originally declared the provincial capital of the surrounding Adelaide District in the 1830s, 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 other development to the area since the fall of apartheid in 1994. The provincial government recently announced that they plan to rename the town with a traditional African name, as the current name bears colonial connotations. The town is also home to "Huberta," one of the farthest-travelling hippopotami in South Africa. It is preserved in the Amathole Museum in the King Williams Town CBD

Towns and Suburbs of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa

Addo , Aliwal North , Bathurst , Beachview , Beacon Bay , Bluewater Bay , Cape St Francis , Cintsa , Coffee Bay , Cradock , East London , Gonubie , Graaff Reinet , Grahamstown , Haga Haga , Hogsback , Humewood , Humerail , Jansenville , Jeffreys Bay , Kei Mouth , Kenton-on-Sea , King Williams Town , Kirkwood , Nahoon , Mthatha , Paterson , Port Elizabeth , Port Alfred , Port St Johns , Qolora Mouth , Quigney , Rhodes , Richmond Hill , St Francis Bay , Storms River , Stutterheim , Summerstrand , Sunland , Swartkops , Tsitsikamma , Uitenhage , Walmer

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