Kokstad

Province

Kokstad is a town with 51 561 inhabitants (as of 2011) in the Greater Kokstad Municipality, District Sisonke, Province of KwaZulu -Natal in South Africa. The city is the seat of the municipal administration and is conveniently situated on the N2, between the Mount Currie (2200 meters) and the Ingeli Mountains at an altitude of 1280 meters. The town of Matatiele lies 64 km away. Kokstad is the supply center for the surrounding farm region where mainly cattle and sheep and dairy farming are operated.

History

Is named the city after the Griqua leader Adam Kok III. This was in 1861 with his people from Philippolis in the southern Orange Free State - where there had been conflicts with the Voortrekkers - pulled into the uninhabited land beyond the Drakensberg. Each Griqua family head received 1200 acres of land. Many of the impoverished Griqua, however, succumbed to alcohol or sold their farms to white farmers. Desperate about these social ills asked the Griqua 1869 Reverend William Dower of the London Missionary Society, to open a mission station in the former East Griqualand. He agreed, and the settlement was built on the shores of Umzimhlava River.

In subsequent years, the situation stabilized around Kokstad. With the influx of more affluent white settlers of the city experienced another boom. 1874 Hotel were opened and edited a local newspaper.

Attractions

• East Griqualand museum, a national monument, it documents the history of the Griqua people and the city
• St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral (1884 )
• Adam Kok 's Monument, the Monument of Griquaführers
• Mount Currie Nature Reserve, five kilometers north of Kokstad on a dam. In summer, water is possible. The reserve is also Adam Kok 's Laager, the camp, his Griqua in 2000 led to the Adam Kok in 1862 together with his livestock.