East London is a port and city on the eastern coast of South Africa in the province of Eastern Cape. It lies at the mouth of the Buffalo River, which pours into the Indian Ocean just south of the city. The port has wharves on both the east and west banks of the river. Sand bars have been dredged so that the harbor can accommodate large vessels. The port handles more than 2 million tons (1.8 million metric tons) of cargo a year. Exports include motor vehicles, pineapples, textiles, and corn.
In the mid-1990’s, after the end of South Africa’s racial segregation system called apartheid, East London was merged with the large Black African township of Mdantsane and several other nearby communities. In 2000, the East London urban area was merged with additional communities and rural areas, including the cities of King William’s Town and Bisho and the Black African townships of Dimbaza and Zwelitsha, to form the Buffalo City local municipality. Bisho is the capital of Eastern Cape province. Buffalo City has a population of 975,255.
