# Kaffraria

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Former name for a region in South Africa

For other uses, see [Kaffraria (disambiguation)](/source/Kaffraria_(disambiguation)).

 Eastern Frontier, Cape of Good Hope, *circa* 1835

Divisions of Kaffraria on a map of the Transkei Cape frontier 1875-1890

Mission Premises, Wesleyville, Kaffraria (July 1852)[1]

**Kaffraria**, **Kaffiria**, or **Kaffirland,** was the descriptive name given to the southeast part of what is today the [Eastern Cape](/source/Eastern_Cape) of [South Africa](/source/South_Africa). Kaffraria, i.e., the land of the [Kaffirs](/source/Kaffir_(ethnic_slur)), is no longer an official designation[2] (with the term *kaffir*, originally the Arabic term for a non-believer in Islam, now considered an offensive [racial slur](/source/Ethnic_slur) in South Africa).

The districts now known as [King Williams Town](/source/King_Williams_Town) and [East London](/source/East_London%2C_South_Africa) were annexed by the British early on and were thus known as [British Kaffraria](/source/British_Kaffraria) (later annexed to [Cape Colony](/source/Cape_Colony) in 1865).[2] The remaining [Xhosa](/source/Xhosa_people) territory beyond the [Kei River](/source/Kei_River), south of the [Drakensberg](/source/Drakensberg) Mountains and as far as the [Natal](/source/KwaZulu-Natal_Province) frontier, remained independent for longer and was known as Kaffraria proper.[2]

As a geographical term, it was later used to indicate the Transkeian territories of the Cape provinces comprising the four administrative divisions of [Transkei](/source/Transkei), [Pondoland](/source/Pondoland), [Tembuland](/source/Tembuland), and [Griqualand East](/source/Griqualand_East), incorporated into Cape Colony at various periods between 1879 and 1894. They had a total area of 18,310 km2 and a population (1904) of 834,644, of whom 16,777 were designated white by the colonial government. Excluding Pondoland — not counted before 1904 — the population had increased from 487,364 in 1891 to 631,887 in 1904.[2]

## See also

- [Ciskei](/source/Ciskei)

- [Transkei](/source/Transkei)

- [Xhosa Wars](/source/Xhosa_Wars)

- [Kaffrarian Rifles](/source/Kaffrarian_Rifles)

- [Diocese of Kaffraria](/source/Diocese_of_Kaffraria)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Juvenile1852_1-0)** ["Mission Premises, Wesleyville, Kaffraria"](https://archive.org/download/wesleyanjuvenil08socigoog/wesleyanjuvenil08socigoog.pdf) (PDF). *The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons*. **IX**. Wesleyan Missionary Society: 75. July 1852. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-EB1911_2-3) One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm), ed. (1911). "[Kaffraria](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Kaffraria)". *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 629–630.

## External links

- [Thunder from a Clear Sky](https://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH/2003-10/1066308479)

Authority control databases Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kaffraria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffraria) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaffraria?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.