Record Atlas
6 eras · 1823–2026 · 4 places

The Orange River borderland - Colesberg and Philippolis

Colesberg, Philippolis, Norvalspont. 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
1823–1848 Griqua mission territory at Philippolis; Cape Colony at Colesberg NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa

The London Missionary Society founded Philippolis in 1823 for the Griqua, and Adam Kok II moved there in 1826. Colesberg was founded in 1830 and named for a governor of the Cape Colony.
1848–1854 Orange River Sovereignty north of the river NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · The National Archives — Discovery

Harry Smith proclaimed British sovereignty over the country between the Orange and Vaal rivers on 3 February 1848, with Bloemfontein as the capital.
1854–1900 Orange Free State; Cape Colony south of the river NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

Britain renounced the Sovereignty and the Orange River Convention of 23 February 1854 recognised the Orange Free State. Britain annexed the diamond fields as Griqualand West in 1871, and the Cape gained responsible government in 1872. Orange Free State marriages are registered from 1848 and births and deaths from 1903; Cape births and deaths from 1895.
1900–1910 Orange River Colony and Cape Colony NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · The National Archives — Discovery

Britain annexed the Orange Free State as the Orange River Colony in 1900 and the Treaty of Vereeniging of 31 May 1902 ended the republic's independence.
1910–1994 Union of South Africa - Cape Province and Orange Free State NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

The Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony joined the Union in 1910, as the Cape Province and the Orange Free State province. Home Affairs civil registers have not been transferred to the National Archives.
1994–2026 Republic of South Africa - Northern Cape and Free State NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

Colesberg is now in the Northern Cape and Philippolis in the Free State, on opposite sides of the old Cape-Free State line.

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, 1823–2026, 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.

4 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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