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King William's Town, Eastern Cape

King William's Town
Street in King William's Town
Street in King William's Town
King William's Town is located in Eastern Cape
King William's Town
King William's Town
King William's Town is located in South Africa
King William's Town
King William's Town
King William's Town is located in Africa
King William's Town
King William's Town
 King William's Town shown within Eastern Cape
Coordinates: 32°53′S 27°24′E / 32.883°S 27.400°E / -32.883; 27.400Coordinates: 32°53′S 27°24′E / 32.883°S 27.400°E / -32.883; 27.400
Country South Africa
Province Eastern Cape
Municipality Buffalo City
Established 1835
Area
 • Total 65.52 km2 (25.30 sq mi)
Elevation 398 m (1,306 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 34,019
 • Density 520/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African 65.3%
 • Coloured 25.6%
 • Indian/Asian 2.5%
 • White 5.6%
 • Other 0.9%
First languages (2011)
 • Xhosa 54.5%
 • Afrikaans 27.3%
 • English 13.7%
 • Other 4.4%
Postal code (street) 5601
PO box 5600
Area code 043

King William's Town is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The town is about 30 minutes' motorway drive WNW of the Indian Ocean port of East London. The town is part of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape.

King, as the town is locally called, stands 389 m above the sea at the foot of the Amatola Mountains and in the midst of a densely populated agricultural district. King William's Town is the second most populous city in the Buffalo City Municipality, with a population near 100,000 inhabitants.

The town has one of the oldest post offices in the country developed by missionaries led by Brownlee.

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 British 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.


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