Grahamstown is a town in the province of Eastern Cape in South Africa. It is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Port Elizabeth. Grahamstown is often referred to as “the city of churches and schools,” because the town has more than 40 churches, as well as Rhodes University, and several leading schools. The town is also an important commercial center.
Grahamstown was founded in 1812 as a British military headquarters under the command of Colonel John Graham. In 1819, a large army of Xhosa attacked the fort, but a small number of defenders managed to hold them off. In 1820, British settlers arrived and were given farms in the area. The town became a municipality in 1861.
In the mid-1990’s, after the end of South Africa’s racial segregation system called apartheid, Grahamstown was merged with the Black African township of Rhini and other nearby communities. In 2000, Grahamstown, including Rhini, was merged with surrounding communities and rural areas to form the Makana local municipality. The municipality has a population of 97,815.
