After the destruction of a mission station along the banks of the Buffalo River in 1834, Governor Sir Benjamin D'Urban declared the establishment of a town named after King William IV of England upon reconstruction of the station.

The British Government turned down this application, and the land was returned to the Xhosa. The station had already been rebuilt, however, and its favouralble position led to local traders to frequent it and eventually settle in the area.

The town was declared a royal borough of British Kaffraria in 1861 and since then has become an important agricultural and commercial centre. The town forms part of a Transitional Local Council area Incorporating Bisho, Zwlitsha, Dimbaza, Phakamisa, Ilitha and Ndevana.

King Williams Town has a number of interesting museums - one of which houses the body of Huberta the hippo who walked some 1500 kilometres across KwaZulu Natal to the Eastern Cape in the early 1900’s and the Amathole Museum has the biggest collection of mammals in Africa. King Williams town is also associated with political unrest during the apartheid era. Inextricably linked with Bisho - the two are regarded as one - because of its part in recent freedom liberation, King William’s Town is closely tied to Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness movement, whose grave is just outside Ginsberg and is now a Garden of Remembrance. Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki hail from the area (it is just a short trip along the N2 to Umtata) and many tourists now follow the Nelson Mandela Route, which starts in King William’s Town, to Umtata and the Nelson Mandela Museum.

King Williams Town telephone code - 043 South Africa code +27
Internet cafe -
Nearest Airport -
Road to King Williams Town -
Other useful Information

King Williams Town Street