Grahamstown

Grahamstown
Grahamstown from Fort Selwyn
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Coordinates: 33°18′36″S 26°31′36″E / 33.31000°S 26.52667°E / -33.31000; 26.52667Coordinates: 33°18′36″S 26°31′36″E / 33.31000°S 26.52667°E / -33.31000; 26.52667
Country	South Africa
Province	Eastern Cape
District	Sarah Baartman
Municipality	Makana
Established	1820
Area
• Total	65.1 km2 (25.1 sq mi)
Elevation	580 m (1,900 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	67,264
• Density	1,000/km2 (2,700/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	78.9%
• Coloured	11.3%
• Indian/Asian	0.7%
• White	8.4%
• Other	0.6%
First languages (2011)
• Xhosa	72.2%
• Afrikaans	13.7%
• English	10.8%
• Other	3.4%
Postal code (street)	6139
PO box	6140
Area code	046

Grahamstown (Afrikaans: Grahamstad, Xhosa: iRhini) is a town of about 70,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about 110 kilometres (70 mi) northeast of Port Elizabeth and 130 kilometres (80 mi) southwest of East London. Grahamstown is the largest town in the Makana Local Municipality, and the seat of the municipal council. It also hosts Rhodes University, the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, and a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and 6 South African Infantry Battalion.

Grahamstown was founded in 1812 as a military outpost by Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham as part of the effort to secure the eastern frontier of British influence in the then Cape Colony against the Xhosa, whose lands lay just to the east. It was built up on land which belonged to the Xhosa, who inhabited the area and thus did not approve the unlawful settling of the British.

On 22 April 1819 a large number of Xhosa warriors, under the leadership of Nxele (or Makana), launched an attack against the British colonial forces. The Xhosas warned Colonel Willshire, the commanding officer, beforehand of their planned attack on Grahamstown. This was one of countless attacks launched on the nascent colony by the Xhosas. During the course of the battle, the British were running low on ammunition. A woman by the name of Elizabeth Salt risked her life by walking into the battle carrying weapons and ammunition to the British troops. She disguised the weapons and ammunition as an infant whom she was cradling. The Xhosa warriors were reluctant to attack a woman and child and so allowed her to pass and resupply the troops. The Xhosas, with a force of 10 000 troops under the overall command of Ndlambe's warrior son Mdushane, were unable to overpower the colonial garrison of some 300 men. Nxele surrendered, was taken captive and imprisoned on Robben Island. On Christmas Day, 1819 he tried to escape, and drowned.