Record Atlas
7 eras · 1700–2026 · 9 places

British Kaffraria and the Border - East London, Stutterheim

East London, King William's Town, Stutterheim, Bhisho. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1700–1835 Before registers no registers survive

Before registers.
1835–1847 Queen Adelaide Province and Queen Adelaide Land NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · The National Archives — Discovery

Governor D'Urban annexed the area as Queen Adelaide Province in 1835 and London disapproved; it was disannexed and renamed the Queen Adelaide Land district, with Grahamstown as its capital, and indigenous rule largely returned.
1847–1866 British Kaffraria NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · The National Archives — Discovery

Harry Smith annexed the territory as the British Kaffraria Colony in 1847, with King William's Town as capital, and it became a separate Crown Colony in 1860. German emigrants arrived in 1858-59 and 1877-78.
1866–1910 Cape Colony - the Border NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · The National Archives — Discovery

British Kaffraria was incorporated into the Cape Colony on 17 April 1866. Cape civil registration of births and deaths began in 1895.
1910–1972 Union of South Africa - Cape Province NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

The Cape Colony joined the Union in 1910.
1972–1994 Ciskei homeland NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

The area formed the basis of the Ciskei homeland, self-governing from 1972 and nominally independent from 4 December 1981, a status not recognised internationally. Its capital was Bisho.
1994–2026 Republic of South Africa - Eastern Cape NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

Ciskei was reincorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1700–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

9 places on this ground

33 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

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