Makhanda

Also known as Grahamstown

city in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Key facts

Country: South Africa
Province: Eastern Cape
District: Sarah Baartman
Municipality: Makana
Total: 65.1 km (25.1 sq mi)
Elevation: 580 m (1,900 ft)
Density: 1,030/km (2,680/sq mi)
Black african: 78.9%
Coloured: 11.3%
White: 8.4%
Indian asian: 0.7%
Other: 0.6%
Xhosa: 72.2%
Afrikaans: 13.7%
English: 10.8%
Time zone: UTC+2 ( SAST )
Area code: 046

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: town
Official name: makhanda
Country: South Africa
Located in: Makana Local Municipality
Elevation: 580
Time zone: UTC+02:00
Capital of: Makana Local Municipality
Official website: www.grahamstown.co.za
Image: Grahamstown from the Fort.JPG
Dialing code: 046

Show 4 more facts

Commons category: Makhanda
topic's main category: Category:Makhanda, Eastern Cape
inception: 1820-01-01
postal code: 6140

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~18 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about 125 kilometres (80 mi) northeast of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and 160 kilometres (100 mi) southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Municipality, and the seat of the municipal council. It also hosts Rhodes University, the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, the South African Library for the Blind (SALB), a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and 6 South African Infantry Battalion. Furthermore, located approximately 3 km south-east of the town lies Waterloo Farm, the only estuarine fossil site in the world from 360 million years ago with exceptional soft-tissue preservation.

The town's official name-change from Grahamstown to Makhanda was officially on 29 June 2018. The new name of Makhanda was chosen in memory of Xhosa warrior and prophet Makhanda ka Nxele.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Makhanda” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.