Makhanda

Makhanda, city, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. The city lies on the wooded slopes of the Suur Mountains near the source of the Kowie River. It was founded in 1812 by Colonel John Graham—for whom the town was initially named Grahamstown—as a frontier garrison post near Xhosa territory. British settlers arrived in 1820. Grahamstown was incorporated as a city in 1950. The city’s name was changed from Grahamstown to Makhanda in 2018.

Makhanda contains many memorials to the Cape Frontier Wars (1779–1879), which were fought in the vicinity. The city is noted for its religious architecture, especially the Anglican Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George, which has a 150-foot (46-metre) spire and includes part of the original church (1824–30); St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church (1836); and the first Baptist and Methodist chapels in South Africa. Makhanda is also the site of Rhodes University (1904), the 1820 Settlers Memorial Museum (1965) and Nature Reserve, several important public and private schools, the Albany Museum (1855), and a public library with a collection of rare 19th-century South African books. Pop. (2011) 67,264.