Graaff Reinet

Graaff-Reinet
View from Valley of Desolation to Graaff-Reinet
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Coordinates: 32°15′08″S 24°32′26″E / 32.25222°S 24.54056°E / -32.25222; 24.54056Coordinates: 32°15′08″S 24°32′26″E / 32.25222°S 24.54056°E / -32.25222; 24.54056
Country	South Africa
Province	Eastern Cape
District	Sarah Baartman
Municipality	Dr Beyers Naudé
Established	1786
Area
• Total	203.6 km2 (78.6 sq mi)
Elevation	750 m (2,460 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	35,672
• Density	180/km2 (450/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	28.2%
• Coloured	62.2%
• Indian/Asian	0.5%
• White	8.7%
• Other	0.4%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	76.0%
• Xhosa	18.9%
• English	3.6%
• Other	1.5%
Postal code (street)	6286, 6280, 6281
Area code	049

Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the fourth oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and Swellendam.

The town was founded by the VOC (Dutch East India Company) in 1786, being named after the then governor of Cape Colony, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, and his wife, whose maiden name was "Reinet".

In 1795, the burghers, smarting under the exactions of the VOC, and under the leadership of Adriaan van Jaarsveld, expelled the Landdrost Maynier and proclaimed an independent "Colony of Graaff-Reinet," requesting guardianship under the government in the Netherlands (and not the VOC). Similar action was subsequently taken by the burghers of Swellendam. Claims that the two "independent" regions wanted to be independent republics were found to be untrue. Before the authorities at Cape Town could take decisive measures against the rebels, they were themselves compelled to capitulate to the British who invaded and occupied the Cape. The burghers having endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to get aid from a French warship at Algoa Bay surrendered to Colonel (afterwards General Sir) JO Vandeleur.

In January 1799, Marthinus Prinsloo, a leader of the independent movement in 1795, again rebelled, but surrendered in April following. Prinsloo and nineteen others were imprisoned in Cape Town castle. After trial, Prinsloo and another commandant were sentenced to death and others to banishment. The sentences were not carried out and the prisoners were released, March 1803, on the retrocession of the Cape to the Netherlands. In terms of the Treaty of Amiens signed in 1802 (between England and France), the British returned the Cape Colony to the Netherlands in February 1803. It was then renamed the Batavian Republic.

In 1801, there had been another revolt in Graaff Reinet, but owing to the conciliatory measures of General F Dundas (acting governor of the Cape Colony) peace was soon restored. It was this district, where an independent "Colonie" government in South Africa was first proclaimed, which furnished large numbers of the Voortrekkers in 1835–1842.