History

Grahamstown was established in 1812 by a Scottish nobleman, Colonel John Graham.  Graham and the local Landrost of the region - Andries Stockenstroom surveyed the frontier, looking for positions for a series of forts along the Fish River which was the newly proclaimed border with the Xhosa territories. A monument below a large mimosa tree near the cathedral marks the spot where Graham and Stockenstroom rested and decided on the location for military headquarters.

The abandoned farm, Rietfontein, was the site where they sat and the burnt-out farm house, where the cathedral now stands, was restored and turned into the regimental officers' mess. A small village grew and in 1814 the Governor proclaimed the region a magisterial district by the name of Albany.

The village was almost destroyed in 1819 by the Xhosa armies under the chief, Makana. The British troops held them off under Colonel Willshire but it was the chance arrival of a crew of Khoi buffalo hunters led by Jan Boesak that saved the settlement from destruction. To this day the area of the battle on the hillside near Fort England Hospital is known as eGazini or 'Place of Blood' due to the hundreds that lost their lives there. Makana then surrendered to Willshire but instead of being treated like a prisoner of war, he was sent to Robben Island and became the first political prisoner on the now famous island where Mandela spent so many years incarcerated. Makana would later drown in an attempt at escape - his body was never found.

Many of the five thousand or so British settlers who landed in Algoa Bay would move to Grahamstown to take up their former trades as artisans and crafters after attempts at wheat farming failed.  This accounts for the British influence in much of the city's architecture and Grahamstown is said to be one the best preserved Victorian towns outside of England.

Grahamstown had become the largest centre in the Cape Colony outside of Cape Town in the 1830's and it kept this position until the end of the century. It became the administrative capital of the Eastern Cape Colony in 1836 but by the 1860's, however, the pace of development slowed with the Diamond Rush in Kimberley and then the Gold Rush on the Witwatersrand.

Grahamstown became an important educational centre for the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s with the establishment of several schools and the infamous Rhodes University. Rhodes is the main education institution with its associated research institutes.

The town is also a very important legal centre with a Magistrates Court, the Supreme Court and Rhodes University Law School. It has been the seat of the Eastern Cape Division of the Supreme Court since 1864. It is also the seat of the Council of the Municipality of Makana, established in 2000, which incorporates Grahamstown with surrounding towns like Alicedale, Carlisle Bridge, Riebeek East, Salem, Fort Brown, Sidbury and Seven Fountains.