Inyathi Buffalo Route
The Eastern Cape has played an important role in South African history. It was here, in the latter half of the 18th century, where black and white met for the first time. For many years this region was the contact zone between these two groups. The consequences of this delicate and somewhat unstable relationship made a lasting impression on the history of modern South Africa. Today, almost 200 years later, the Buffalo City community reflects this turbulent past in the kaleidoscope of its rich cultural heritage and proud history.
A Further History of Buffalo City:
Long before the ensuing black-white contact of the 18th century, man had already left his mark in this area. The discovery of the Nahoon footprints in 1964 dates human presence in the area to about 200 000 years ago, making Buffalo City the site of the world's oldest fossilized human footprints. Though very little is known about this archaic anatomically modern man, he is described as robust and strong, typical of the time zone when early man evolved into modern man.
More archaeological findings in the form of shell middens and cave shelters decorated with rock art are scattered along the coast and in the mountain ranges. This confirms the presence of a much later and familiar version of mankind, namely the Khoisan. Khoisan is a collective term used to describe both the San (Bushmen) and the Khoikhoi (Hottentots). It suggests that the Khoikhoi in origin were hunter-gatherers (San) who inhabited northern Botswana, then, due to economic change, transformed into the pastoral Khoikhoi (herders), who subsequently immigrated southwards. By 1600 they were distributed widely across South Africa with numerous societies inhabiting the Eastern Cape's river valleys.
Shipwreck survivors first came across Bantu-speaking people in 1554 along the east coast at Port St Johns. Historical documents further prove this presence south of the Umtata River long before the end of the 16th century. Originating from East Africa in about AD1200, Bantu-speaking tribes moved down into south-western Southern Africa and eventually settled in what is today known as KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. These immigrants were the ancestors of present day Nguni, Sotho and Tsonga. By the late 18th century these major groupings had themselves become differentiated culturally. The southernmost groups settled in the area south of the Umzimvubu River and are commonly known as the Xhosa. Before the appearance of white farmers on the frontier, the Khoisan and Xhosa co-existed peacefully, insofar that intermarriage took place. One Khoikhoi tribe, the Gonaqua, became absorbed by the Xhosa-speakers as the Gqunukwebe.
The 19th century saw the establishment of Cape Colonial society and the emergence of the trekboer as the Cape's first white frontiersman. Forced by economic factors and the stringent colonial legislation, the trekboers proceeded inland in search of available grazing and freedom. The Cape Government, fearing for the safety of the trekboers, proclaimed the Fish River as the new eastern border of the Cape Colony in 1778.
The Fish River was the first border between white and black, introducing a century of intensive conflict. Nine wars (frontier wars) were fought between 1778 and 1878. Each war revolved around the issue of land possession. The wars demanded the constant import of soldiers to the frontier and provision to sustain them. Military defence posts, forts and headquarters were established all over the region. King William's Town was established as the military headquarters of the CMR in 1874, and East London (now Buffalo City) became the disembarkation point of cargo for the forces stationed in the interior. Relics from this period, such as forts, graves and battle sites, are scattered all over Buffalo City territory. These include the Military Reserve in King William's Town and Fort Glamorgan on East London's West Bank.
In an attempt to lower the tension on the eastern frontier, Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape Colony, introduced a scheme where large numbers of Europeans would be settled in the territory between the Kei and Keiskamma Rivers (known as British Kaffraria). He thought that this would not only strengthen the defence of the Colony, but also expose blacks to European standards of education and medical treatment. In King William's Town, Grey Hospital, built in 1857, became the first hospital to train black nurses. His immigration scheme materialised in the form of the 1857-59 German Settler import into British Kaffraria. In total, about 3 000 immigrants settled in the region. They were mainly agriculturalists, though many became prominent traders and later businessmen contributing to the commercial development of the region. Today their monuments and the numerous towns in the region (Berlin, Frankfort, Braunschweig, Breidbach and Stutterheim) bear witness to their pioneering achievements.
During this period, a catastrophic episode in South African history, namely the Xhosa Cattle Killing, took place. It all started in 1856 when the young niece of chief councillor Mhalakaza, Nongqawuse, experienced a vision while fetching water. The vision entailed the sacrifice of all cattle and grain, and refraining from sowing. If the Xhosa did this, the vision claimed, their ancestors would rise from the dead and the Whites, Mfengu and unbelievers would be swept into the sea. In the midst of the European onslaught on Xhosa territory and identity, the Xhosa Cattle Killing of 1857 appeared as salvation for the Xhosa nation. But, as time passed, the country starved, thousands died and no resurrection took place. The Xhosa nation, broken and destitute, was dispersed over the Colony looking for food and employment. It would take the Xhosa many years to regain its former pride, but by then white governance had claimed almost all available land.
The roots of black consciousness in South Africa are found in the Eastern Cape. By the 1880s various discriminatory laws had been proclaimed, restricting the activities and lifestyle of non-whites. In 1878 the East London Town Council banned all blacks from town between sunset and sunrise. This was followed by more discriminatory laws. Without voting rights, black protest gave birth to black consciousness and like-minded organisations. The first of these, Imbumba Eliso Lomzi Yabantsundu (Union of Native Vigilance Association), was established in King William's Town in 1887. In East London Rev Walter Rubusana, educated at Lovedale College, took the lead in protest. The first black-owned newspapers date from this era. John Tengu Jabavu, educated at Healdtown, was the owner-editor of Imvo Zabantsundu. And in East London, one of the first black-managed newspapers, Izwi Labantu, became the mouthpiece of black consciousness.
The 20th century introduced economic and political trends that were to affect Africans for the rest of the century. In light of their continued political exclusion, and the proclamation of the Land Act in 1913, Africans became more active in their protests. The South African Native National Congress (SANNC) was established in 1912, and became the African National Congress (ANC) in 1923. The most significant non-Black organisation of the early 20th century was the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) established in Cape Town in 1919 among the Cape dockworkers. The founder, Clemens Kadalie, is buried in the Cambridge Cemetery, East London.
In 1948 the Nationalist Party came into power and introduced a policy of segregation, better known as apartheid. Apartheid legislation became the focal point of black resistance in South Africa. One such law, the Group Areas Act of 1950, enforced residential apartheid. It entailed the removal of all non-whites from the white areas to specific allocated areas, usually some distance from town. These reserved areas became known as 'locations', where Coloureds, Blacks and Asians were settled separately. Duncan Village, Mdantsane, Breidbach, Schornville, Ilitha and Dimbaza are examples of such reserved areas. These non-white 'townships' today have become very popular tourist destinations, as examples of transitional, urban life.
The 1970s marked the start of the road to independence for Bantu areas. In the 1970's an ethnically demarcated territory was allocated to create the homeland Ciskei. Mdantsane, Zwelitsha, Dimbaza and Bisho fell into this territory. The Ciskei gained independence in 1981 with Bisho as its capital. It brought a considerable inflow of wealth through the establishment of industries, which took advantage of certain incentives, such as favourable tax and labour concessions, created by the nationalist government. Dimbaza was developed into an industrial zone, while Mdantane mainly served the purpose of a dormitory town. But despite the initial prosperity, the Ciskei remained a poor country. Independence and the authoritarian rule of President L Sebe caused the area to be politically unstable with regular outbursts of unrest. Of particular significance were the bus-boycotts of 1983 when clashes took place in Mdantsane with the loss of lives. The Ciskei ceased to exist in 1994, when it was reincorporated into the Republic following the first democratic election in South African history. Today Bisho forms a core suburb of King William's Town and is the seat of the provincial government of the Eastern Cape Province.
The Eastern Cape has produced a number of prominent leaders, including Robert Sobukwe (PAC), Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, both former President Nelson Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki, and Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko. Buffalo City is within driving distance of the international attraction, the Nelson Mandela Museum Complex in Umtata and Qunu. It pays tribute to our former president's legacy. Within Buffalo City some of the struggle monuments include Walter Rubusana's grave in Braelyn (EL); Steve Biko Statue (EL); the Steve Biko Garden of Remembrance (KWT); the Bisho Massacre Site (Bisho); Bus-boycott Memorial (Mdantsane); and the Daily Dispatch building (EL). Under the editorship of Donald Woods, the Daily Dispatch became a mouthpiece for black consciousness in South Africa.
The Khoisan:
Although the Khoisan were probably the first inhabitants of this area, their lifestyle soon came under increased pressure as a result of the infiltration of other groups into the mostly vacant interior of South Africa. In the Eastern Cape the Khoisan first met Xhosa speaking tribes who infiltrated the area from the north in about 1500, and in the 18th century the white farmers from the Cape Colony, all in a race for prime grazing territory. Initial inter-race relations proved stable, mainly due to co-dependency on trade commodities such as cattle, ivory, feathers, dagga (marijuana), beads and copper goods. As the number of inhabitants increased, this symbiotic lifestyle was quickly replaced by an open display of intolerance, often leading to violent clashes. Contributing external factors such as the colonial persecution of the San and the Khoikhoi's lack of immunity against western disease (smallpox), further decreased the Khoisan numbers and removed them as contenders for frontier territory. Acknowledging this reality, many reverted to a nomadic lifestyle, only this time as displaced people to wander the land. By the middle of the 19th century, the San had almost disappeared entirely and the separate identity of the Khoikhoi had disappeared through admixture with other elements, both within the Colony and on the frontier.
There are about half-a-million people living in Buffalo City and the surrounding townships. The township of Mdantsane, 20km from the city, was established in 1962 as part of the government's racist apartheid policies. The objective of these townships or locations was to provide living space for cheap African labour on the outskirts of urban areas. It is now the largest town in the area, with a population of more than 250 000. It is the second-largest township in South Africa after Soweto.
Buffalo City boasts with a variety of tourist attractions and is rich in cultural and natural resources. The 68km of coastline includes 10 estuaries, conservancies, natural heritage sites, rocky shores and 14 sandy beaches. It is also South Africa's only river port, set on both the broad Buffalo and Nahoon Rivers and has the Gonubie River flowing around it. It is known as the gateway to the region's tourist corridors namely the Sunshine Coast and the Wild Coast.
The Port of East London:
The Port of East London is South Africa's only remaining river port and is situated at the mouth of the Buffalo River in the East Cape Province. It was originally established as a supply port to serve the military headquarters at King William's Town. The sheltered harbour at the mouth of the Buffalo River can be best seen from the double-decker Steve Biko bridge, which made history with its construction.
The port boasts the largest export grain elevator in South Africa, which has recently been converted to handle imports in addition to exports.
The original name was Port Rex. At Longitude 27º 55' E and Latitude 33º 1' S, the general cargo port has good rail and road connections with the hinterland (Free State and Gauteng) and north and south to KwaZulu-Natal and Port Elizabeth respectively.
After Sir Benjamin D'Urban had annexed the Province of Queen Adelaide in 1835, he sent an exploratory party to the mouth of the Buffalo River to determine the likelihood of establishing a port for the new province. Initial reports were favourable and so, in November 1836 the Knysna, a brig captained by John Findlay, was chartered to carry supplies for the troops stationed at Fort Peddie. The ship was met by a company of soldiers under the command of Captain Thomas Biddulph, the cargo was off-loaded, and the ship set sail before the end of December. Captain Biddulph later explained that Sir Andries Stockenstrom (Lieutenant Governor of the Eastern Districts) journeyed to the Buffalo Mouth to witness operations and was so impressed by what he saw that he named the place "Port Rex" after John Rex, the owner of the Knysna.
There is, however, a problem with this story. Stockenstrom was in the area because he had been instructed by the Colonial Office to return Queen Adelaide Province to the Chiefs. Indeed, only the previous day he had been to meet the Chiefs at the mission station known as King William's Town, and the documents of independence had just been signed. The ink was therefore scarcely dry before he journeyed to the mouth of the Buffalo River to inspect operations there. It is hardly likely that he would be so Janus-faced as to recognise the Chief's independence on the one day, while proclaiming the existence of a new colonial port the next.
The truth is more likely that the troops threw a party that night to honour the visit of the Lieutenant Governor (it is quite clear that the soldiers at the river camp held regular parties, for they had little else to occupy their time). It is probable that the decision to name the port was therefore no more than a party prank. Out came the paint and a nearby stone was duly daubed with the words "Port Rex", and the date. Three weeks later, the camp was struck and the title "Port Rex" would be used no more.
The area is well suited to community tourism, ecotourism and historical tourism, especially that relating to the anti-apartheid struggle as many of South Africa's past and present political leaders hail from the region. King Williams’ Town was home to Steve Biko, South Africa's father of Black Consciousness.
The Indian Ocean coastline is one of the main features of the Eastern area, the warm Mozambique current that flows past the coastline results in mild to warm water, good for swimming and fishing. The East London Museum probably has some of the most comprehensive natural history exhibits in South Africa, including the first coelacanth.
The coelacanth, Latimeria chalummae, is a primitive fish that has fins resembling stumpy legs. Until a specimen was caught off the Chalumna River near East London in 1938, the coelacanth had only been known from fossil remains and was believed to have been extinct for some 80 million years.
There is a long-standing tradition of beadwork in the area and many examples of this art can be seen along the route. Tourists interested in arts and crafts will have the opportunity to view fine examples of this ancient art.
The Life of Steven Bantu Biko (1946-1977):
A young black politician who died under brutal and degrading circumstances during the apartheid period. ,Biko's life reflected the lot of frustrated young black intellectuals. In his death he became a symbol of the martyrdom of black nationalists whose struggle focused critical world attention on South Africa more strongly than at any time since Sharpeville in 1960.
Biko was a black consciousness exponent who developed intellectually and emerged with others out of the changing literate African population in the major urban centres during the 1960s. Biko and his student colleagues had been receptive to the political ideas expressed by many black intellectuals and they learnt to use the sheer emotional power of the message of black consciousness with bitter assertiveness. Several young liberal white leaders of the National Union of South African Students (Nusas) were moved by the black cause and tried to protect politically active black students from government counter-action by speaking out for them. In a backlash of reaction white students disaffiliated themselves from Nusas. This swing to the right left no channels for black students to express their anti-apartheid feelings. In the period 1967-68, one of the students who began to analyse and criticise the situation was Steve Biko, a medical student at Natal University. Biko, the son of a government clerk, was born in King William’s Town. Though Christian principles had meaning for him, Biko, who was an articulate youth, resented whites influencing the thinking of the future of Africans.
At Wentworth, Natal University's medical school for blacks, he was elected to the Student's Representative Council (SRC), and in 1967 participated as a delegate to a Nusas conference at Rhodes University. Here, black students were affronted when the host university prohibited mixed accommodation and eating facilities at the conference site. Black students were drawn to Biko in frank discussions about their dilemma as second-class citizens. At the University Christian Movement (UCM) meeting at Stutterheim in 1968 these usually reserved young people were enthusiastically supportive of Biko's idea for an exclusively all-black movement. In 1969, at the University of the North near Pietersburg, African students launched a blacks-only student union, the South African Students' Organisation. Saso made clear its common allegiance to the philosophy of black consciousness. Biko was elected president.
Biko was scathingly critical of white liberals who, according to him, could skillfully extract what suited them from the exclusive pool of white privileges; and he was resentful that blacks were experiencing a situation from which they were unable to escape. According to him blacks had to go at it alone.
South Africa's complex society of blacks accepted these negative ideas with mixed reactions. The idea that blacks might determine their own destiny, the movement's pride in black consciousness, and a new Africanism swept black campuses, strongly influencing those who had experienced the frustrations of the system of Bantu Education, of continual disrespect and feelings of inferiority to whites. In a short time Saso became identified with ”Black Power” and African humanism and was reinforced by ideas emanating from black America and Africa.
In particular, Biko preached to moderate blacks that racial polarisation of society into hostile camps was a preface to race conflict and a strategy for change. At the 1972 Saso conference hostility towards black leaders operating from officially approved institutions of separate development was made evident when the outgoing president of Saso, Temba Sono, was ousted because he recommended some form of co-operation with selected leaders within the apartheid system. Biko described Sono's speech as being very dangerous and more cautious older political leaders feared such open militancy would get their children nowhere.
For security reasons Biko and the young leaders stressed the psychological dimensions of culture and identity, but they never lost sight of their revolutionary political objectives as they made an effort to turn a student activity into a participating national organisation backed by financial resources and much-needed mobility. An adult wing called the Black People’s Convention (BPC) was eventually launched in 1972. Eight black consciousness leaders were banned in 1973 and publication of BPC material became difficult. Growing politicisation of the high schools resulted in increasing expulsions and stinging attacks on black education. At the black schools Biko and his student leaders became heroes and high school youth organisations became the breeding ground for revolt.
The government reacted by systematically depriving Saso of its leaders. In June 1976 high school students and police clashed violently and fatally, and continuing widespread urban unrest threatened law and order.
In the wake of the urban revolt of 1976 and with the prospects of national revolution becoming increasingly real, security police detained Biko, the outspoken student leader, on August 18. On September 12 he died in detention - the 20th person to have died in detention in the preceding 18 months. A post-mortem was done the day after Biko died, at which the family were present, but skepticism was widespread about the explanation by Minister of Justice and Police Jimmy Kruger that Biko died while on a hunger strike. Three South African newspapers carried reports that Biko did not die as a result of a hunger strike. Minister of Justice Kruger took the Rand Daily Mail to the South African Press Council after it published a front page story claiming that Steve Biko had suffered extensive brain damage. In Britain it was understood, from South African sources, that fluid drawn from the spine revealed many red cells - an indication of brain damage.
Biko's brutal death made him a martyr in the history of black resistance to white hegemony, inflamed huge black anger and inspired a rededication to the struggle for freedom. Kruger's reply that Biko's death “left him cold” echoed around the world.
A widespread crackdown of black student organisations and political movements followed, and in October, just before the inquest, police swooped on 17 Black Consciousness resistance organisations. Two of Biko's white friends, the Reverend Beyers Naudé and Donald Woods were banned, and Percy Qoboza, editor of the World, was banned for allegedly writing inflammatory articles about the manner of Biko's death. Prime Minister Vorster called a snap election and a large majority of white voters united in a call for Vorster's Nationalist Government to remain in power to face the formidable challenge of a distinctly polarised black population.
At the inquest into Biko's death no government official was prepared to condemn the treatment meted out to Biko. The circumstances of his death were said to be inconclusive and death was attributed to a prison accident. Yet, evidence led during the 15-day inquest into Biko's death revealed otherwise. During his detention in a Port Elizabeth police cell he had been chained to a grill at night and left to lie in urine-soaked blankets. He had been stripped naked and kept in leg-irons for 48 hours in his cell. A blow in a scuffle with security police led to brain damage by the time he was driven naked and manacled in the back of a police van to Pretoria, where, on September 12 1977, he died.
The History of Traditional Beadwork
It is generally assumed that African beadwork in regions south of the Sahara has its origins in the comparatively recent past when the colonisation of Africa opened up the “Dark Continent” to traders from the Netherlands, Portugal and England. Further south, in what is now KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Province of South Africa, the trade in beads is supposed to have had an even more recent origin. Henry Francis Fynn, who came to Port Natal (now Durban) as a trader in 1824, was possibly the first Englishman to have offered glass beads as standard merchandise to the North Nguni, best known of which was the Zulu, whose colourful beadwork is unique because of its singular eloquence in the way messages dealing with male-female relationships were traditionally woven into its design.
Even further to the south in what is the Transkei region of the Eastern Province, the South Nguni – of whom the Xosas, Pondo and Thmebu are well-known sections – have had close contact with the British since the first settlers arrived in Delagoa Bay (now Port Elizabeth) in 1820. Glass beads were common commodities offered by the early traders to Africans of the region.
The beadwork tradition did not, however, begin with the traders of the early 19th century. The market for glass beads already existed in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Province. Fynn at Port Natal and British traders operating from Delagoa bay merely supplied it, meeting a need for a commodity that had been well known to their customers long before they arrived in what is now KwaZulu-Natal and the Transkei.
Glass beads appear to have been a by-product of the discovery of glass, said to have occurred in Egypt during the rule of the pharaohs as well as among the Chaldeans and Sumerians about 30 centuries ago. The Egyptians, who were favourably placed to trade with Africa to the south, were probably the first to peddle for gold, ivory and slaves. The Egyptians, who knew and valued precious stones, might well have assumed that the less sophisticated Africans to the south could be misled to believe that the beads, too, were gems of singular value.
The Egyptian glass beads, as well those from other sources with access to the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, were transported by Phoenicians, a seafaring nation known to have
circumnavigated the cape long before the Portuguese led by Dias and Da Gama. From the Nile Delta in the far eastern Mediterranean to Carthage and on to the Straits of Gibraltar,
these Phoenician mariners carried cargoes of glass beads in addition to other merchandise, shipping them to every port along the North African coast and the ancient Negro kingdoms
of the West and Central Africa.
With the passage of time, the Arabs succeeded the Phoenicians as traders and continued to supply beads to Africans along the East Coast and India, having in the meantime become a supplier of this commodity. To this day, red cornelian beads of Indian origin are washed out on the Transkeian shore from ancient Arab vessels that fell victim to storms and sank. From the North African coast on the Mediterranean, camel caravans criss-crossed the Sahara desert to trade with the African kingdoms south of the Sahara.
The Arab traders were ousted by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries, and these in turn were succeeded by the Dutch and the British.
Glass beads were valued in Africa, not because Africans were duped into believing them to be precious stones, but because they were the products of an exotic technology, of which the equivalent was unknown in Africa at that time. Beads, therefore, became precious in their own right and were soon linked to whatever was valued in the culture of the people who owned and crafted them into a variety of objects to be worn according to custom, as a token of social status, political importance and for personal adornment.
The West African kings of Ghana, Songhai, Mali and Nigeria are known to have worn beaded regalia so heavy that they had to be supported by attendants when rising from their thrones to move about in the course of their duties.
In traditional Ndebele culture, certain beaded items were worn to distinguish young girls from their more senior sisters, to identify girls engaged to be married, or to adorn brides and young mothers after the birth of their first children. Among the Xhosa of the Transkei, special beadwork marks off peer grounds of different age-sets, while distinctive regalia are reserved for the bride and groom at weddings and for the guests closely associated with them.
Zulu beadwork, however, makes use of a code by which particular colours are selected and combined in various ways to shape messages that are woven into decorative geometrical designs. The geometric shapes themselves have particular significance and the craft itself forms an intricate communicational system devoted to the expression of ideas, feelings and facts related to behaviour and relations between the sexes.
Useful Links
http://www.buffalocity.gov.za
http://www.eastlondontourism.co.za
http://www.southafrica.net
Nearby routes
Baviaanskloof Route
The Baviaanskloof Route encompasses the broader Baviaanskloof area, which contains a newly proclaimed World Heritage Site, and offers a mix of sights and activities relating to nature and culture.
Garden Route Sea Kayaking Trails
These trails are situated along the famous Garden Route. The area offers warm-water sea paddling with its associated marine life, as well as many lakes and estuaries to explore.
Maloti Route
This route spans the borders between South Africa and the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, providing travellers with the opportunity to experience a diversity of cultures – Basotho, English, Xhosa and Afrikaans.
Mbodla Eco-Heritage Route
The Fish River (Nxuba) Valley is located adjacent to a thriving game-farming area of the Eastern Cape. The Mbodla Eco-heritage Route adds an original, Afro-centric, environmental, cultural and heritage dimension to the region’s offerings.
Mid-Karoo Route
This route is surrounded by dramatic mountains in the heart of the great Karoo and falls within the Nama Karoo Biome. This region is recognised for its herbal plant life, an exceptional variety of scarce birdlife and rock art from the San Bushmen. It is also one of the few, and best, places in the world where fossils are found.
Port St Johns Open Africa Route
En-route from Durban to Buffalo City, Port St Johns has numerous estuaries, bays and headlands. Small sandy bays and long stretches of open beach are found here, often near the mouth of large rivers like Umzimvubu River and Umngazana.
Thunga-Thunga Extension Route
In the heart of the Wild Coast Region, covering a number of rural villages and towns, this route is like a house with many doors.
Thunga-Thunga Route
This route has a vast wealth of attractions - steeped in history form ancient times to the present day - and situated in spectacular coastline setting, flanked by peaceful rolling hills of indigenous greenery, rivers, game parks and forests.
Comments and Reviews
Add a comment
See all comments from this route