{{For|the bay in South Australia|Black Point, South Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}} {{Use South African English|date=January 2015}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Port Alfred | image_skyline = Bridge in Port Alfred, South Africa.jpg | image_caption = Bridge in Port Alfred | settlement_type = [[Town]] | pushpin_map = South Africa Eastern Cape#South Africa#Africa | coordinates = {{coord|33|35|30|S|26|53|15|E|region:ZA|display=inline,title}} | subdivision_type = [[Country]] | subdivision_name = {{flagdeco|RSA}} [[South Africa]] | subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of South Africa|Province]] | subdivision_name1 = [[Eastern Cape]] | subdivision_type2 = [[District]] | subdivision_name2 = [[Sarah Baartman District Municipality|Sarah Baartman]] | subdivision_type3 = [[Municipality]] | subdivision_name3 = [[Ndlambe Local Municipality|Ndlambe]] | subdivision_type4 = Main Place | established_title = Established | government_type = Town Council | leader_title = Mayoress | leader_name = | area_footnotes = <ref name=census2011>Sum of the Main Places [http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/265006 Nkwenkwezi] and [http://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/265007 Port Alfred] from Census 2011.</ref> | area_total_km2 = 46.6 | population_footnotes = <ref name=census2011 /> | population_total = 25859 | population_as_of = 2011 | population_density_km2 = auto <!-- demographics (section 1) --> | demographics_type1 = Racial makeup (2011) | demographics1_footnotes = <ref name=census2011 /> | demographics1_title1 = [[Bantu peoples of South Africa|Black African]] | demographics1_info1 = 80% | demographics1_title2 = [[Coloureds|Coloured]] | demographics1_info2 = 6.8% | demographics1_title3 = [[Indian South African|Indian]]/[[Asian South African|Asian]] | demographics1_info3 = 0.3% | demographics1_title4 = [[White South African|White]] | demographics1_info4 = 12.5% | demographics1_title5 = Other | demographics1_info5 = 0.4% <!-- demographics (section 2) --> | demographics_type2 = [[First language]]s (2011) | demographics2_footnotes = <ref name=census2011 /> | demographics2_title1 = [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] | demographics2_info1 = 71.2% | demographics2_title2 = [[English language|English]] | demographics2_info2 = 14.4% | demographics2_title3 = [[Afrikaans]] | demographics2_info3 = 11.4% | demographics2_title4 = | demographics2_info4 = | demographics2_title5 = Other | demographics2_info5 = 3.1% <!-- blank fields (section 2) --> <!-- Other information --> | timezone1 = [[South African Standard Time|SAST]] | utc_offset1 = +2 | postal_code_type = [[List of postal codes in South Africa|Postal code]] (street) | postal_code = 6170 | postal2_code_type = [[Post-office box|PO box]] | postal2_code = 6170 | area_code_type = [[Telephone numbers in South Africa|Area code]] | area_code = 046 | website = {{url|http://www.portalfred.co.za/}} }} '''Port Alfred''' is a small town with a population of just under 26,000<ref name=census2011 /> in the [[Eastern Cape]] province of [[South Africa]]. It is situated on the eastern seaboard of the country at the mouth of the [[Kowie River]], almost exactly halfway between the larger cities of [[Port Elizabeth]] and [[East London, South Africa|East London]] and {{convert|30|km}} east of [[Cannon Rocks]]. == History == Port Alfred was established in the early 1820s by [[1820 Settlers|British settlers]] who were moved into the area by [[Lord Charles Somerset]] as there was conflict between the [[Cape Colony]] and the [[Xhosa people]]. Originally, it was two separate towns (settlers arriving on the west bank in 1820 named their settlement Port Kowie, and those arriving on the east bank named theirs Port Frances<!-- This could have also been spelt 'Francis' --><ref>[http://home.intekom.com/african_lioness/history~.html http://home.intekom.com/african_lioness/history~.html]</ref>).
In 1860, when [[Queen Victoria]]'s son [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Alfred]] visited, the name was changed in his honour.<ref>{{cite book|last=Raper|first=P. E. |title=Dictionary of Southern African Place Names|url=https://archive.org/stream/DictionaryOfSouthernAfricanPlaceNames/SaPlaceNames#page/n370/mode/2up|year=1989|publisher=Jonathan Ball Publishers|isbn=978-0-947464-04-2|page=370|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
=== Port === In 1839, William Cock and George Hodgkinson started to block the natural river mouth to the east and canalise the present opening to the sea. By 1841 South Africa's first man-made harbour was opened after completion of the stone-lined channel between the ocean and the Kowie river.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bond|first=John|title=They were South Africans|year=1957|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London, New York|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/theyweresouthafr006530mbp#page/n109/mode/2up|page=91|chapter=10 - Trekkers of the Sea}}</ref> This allowed high-masted sailing ships with their heavy cargo to dock at the wharf.
== Transport == Port Alfred is located on the junction of the [[R67 (Eastern Cape)|R67]] and [[R72 (Eastern Cape)|R72]] roads. The R67 connects Port Alfred with the [[N2 road (South Africa)|N2]] at [[Grahamstown]] to the north, while the R72 joins the [[N2 road (South Africa)|N2]] near [[Colchester, Eastern Cape|Colchester]] to the west and follows the coast to [[East London, South Africa|East London]] in the east.
== Education == Educational establishments based in Port Alfred include [[Stenden South Africa]] (a subsidiary campus of [[Stenden University]] in the Netherlands), a private Christian school ([[El Shaddai Christian Academy]]), the largest aviation training school in the Southern Hemisphere ([[43 Air School]]), [[Mtyhobo Primary School]], [[Dambuza Primary School]], [[Nomzamo High School]], [[Kuyasa Combined School]] and public school, [[Port Alfred High]].
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == {{cite book|last=Turpin|first=Eric W|title=Basket Work Harbour; The Story of the Kowie|publisher=Howard Timmins|date=1964|location=Cape Town|pages=136|isbn=0-86978-244-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIx2QgAACAAJ}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} {{wikivoyage}}
* {{official|http://www.portalfred.co.za/ }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130322205542/http://www.43airschool.co.za/ 43 Air School] * [http://www.riverhotels.co.za River Hotels]
{{Sarah Baartman District Municipality}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Populated places in the Ndlambe Local Municipality]] [[Category:Populated coastal places in South Africa]]