A history of the Thembu and their relationship with the Cape, 1850-1900

Abstract

Present day Thembuland is situated roughly between the Mthatha and Kei rivers. It lies within the south-western portion of the political unit which has been known since 1976 as the Republic of Transkei. It comprises the territories formerly known as Emigrant Thembuland (now the districts of Cala and Cofimvaba) and Thembuland Proper, i.e. the districts of Mqanduli, Umtata, Engcobo and Bomvanaland. We have evidence that Thembu people had already settled in Thembu land Proper, at the Mbashe river, by the beginning of the 17th century. Pioneering clans many have entered the territory at a much earlier date. In the 1830's some clans broke away from the Mbashe settlement, and moved to the region of present day Queenstown. In 1853 their lands were included in the so-called Tambookie Location, which in 1871 became the district of Glen Grey. Emigrant Thembuland came into existence in 1865 when four chiefs from Glen Grey accepted Sir Philip Wodehouse's offer to settle on the lands across the White Kei whence the Xhosa chief Sarhili had been expelled in 1857. This thesis deals with the history of the people who lived in these territories between 1850 and 1900.