Xhosa Wars
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Were a series of frontier wars of the Xhosa people of South Africa against the British Empire and the Boers. The Xhosa were eventually inglobated in the British Cape Colony.
Chronology
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March 1860: In the wake of the great Xhosa cattle-killing, the Cape Colony again dis-annexed British Kaffraria, and it became a separate crown colony.
January 1837: Queen Adelaide's Province was disannexed from the Cape in December 1836, the Cape's border was re-established at the Keiskamma river.
April 1866: British Kaffraria was re-incorporated into the Cape Colony.
Was a frontier war between Boer frontiersmen and the Xhosa people.
January 1780: The First Frontier War, which broke out in 1779, was between Boer frontiersmen and the Xhosa, who occupied Zuurveld.
August 1781: Boer commander Adreaan Van Jaarsveld captured a large number of cattle from the Xhosa and drove them out of Zuurveld by July 1781.
Was a frontier war between Boer frontiersmen and the Xhosa people.
January 1790: The Second Xhosa War started when the Gqunukhwebe clans of the Xhosa penetrated back into the Zuurveld, a district between the Great Fish and the Sundays Rivers.
January 1794: Boer frontiersmen led by Barend Lindeque, allied themselves with Ndlambe (regent of the Western Xhosas) and repelled the Gqunukhwebe Xhosa from Zuurveld.
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
July 1799: Commandos from Graaf-Reinet and Swellendam then started fighting in a string of clashes. Fearing general Khoi rising, the government made peace with the Xhosa and allowed them to stay in Zuurveld.
July 1799: In 1799, British military leader General Vandeleur and Dutch East India Company official Jacob Glen Cuyler reached Oudtshoorn. Fearing a Khoi uprising, the government made peace with the Xhosa people and permitted them to settle in the Zuurveld region.
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
January 1812: By 1811, Xhosa had occupied the area of Zuurveld.
April 1812: BritishColonel John Graham was tasked with driving the Xhosa out of the Zuurveld. He led a mixed force of professional soldiers and volunteers and defeated the Xhosa in early 1812, forcing the 20,000 Xhosa to evacuate the area.
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
April 1819: In 1819, during the Fifth Xhosa War, the British Cape Colony in Grahamstown was under siege by Xhosa warriors. The British forces, led by Colonel Thomas Brereton, were struggling until they received crucial support from a Khoikhoi group led by Jan Boesak, which helped them successfully repel the siege.
April 1819: On April 22, 1819, Xhosa warrior and leader, Chief Maqoma, led 10,000 men in an attack on Grahamstown, which was held by a garrison of 350 British soldiers.
January 1820: The British pushed the Xhosa further east beyond the Fish River to the Keiskamma River. The resulting empty territory was designated as a buffer zone for loyal Africans' settlements, but was declared to be off limits for either side's military occupation. It came to be known as the "Ceded Territories". The Albany district was established in 1820, on the Cape's side of the Fish River.
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
February 1835: The Xhosa were repulsed an the Anglo-Boer army that was thus able to occupy the territory up to the Keiskamma River.
May 1835: After the 6th Frontier War ("Hintsa's War") the area of British Kaffraria was seized by the British Governor Sir Benjamin d'Urban, and annexed to the Cape Colony as Queen Adelaide Province.
January 1835: Xhosa invaded and raided border regions (between the fish river and Keiskamma river).
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
December 1847: Great Britain announced the annexation of the region between the Keiskamma and the Kei rivers to the British crown. This area was not, however, incorporated with the Cape Colony, but made a crown dependency under the name of British Kaffraria Colony, with King William's Town as capital.
April 1846: Large numbers of Xhosa poured across the border with the Cape Colony as the outnumbered imperial troops fell back, abandoning their outposts.
May 1846: A force of 8,000 Xhosa attacked the last remaining British garrison, at Fort Peddie, but fell back after a long shootout with British and Fengu troops.
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
January 1851: The Khoi of the Blinkwater River Valley and Kat River Settlement revolted against the British, under the leadership of a half-Khoi, half-Xhosa chief Hermanus Matroos, and managed to capture Fort Armstrong.
December 1850: On 24 December, a British detachment of 650 men under Colonel Mackinnon was ambushed by Xhosa warriors in the Boomah Pass. The party was forced to retreat to Fort White, under heavy fire from the Xhosa, having sustained forty-two casualties.
December 1850: during Christmas festivities in towns throughout the border region of British Kaffraria, apparently friendly Xhosa entered the towns to partake in the festivities. At a given signal though, they fell upon the settlers who had invited them into their homes and killed them.
8.1.British counterattack (Eigth Xhosa War)
Was a British military action during the Eigth Xhosa War.
January 1851: Xhosa forces were repulsed in separate attacks on Fort White and Fort Hare.
January 1851: The British expelled the remainder of Hermanus' rebel forces (now under the command of Willem Uithaalder) from Fort Armstrong and drove them west toward the Amatola Mountains.
February 1852: Insurgents led by Maqoma established themselves in the forested Waterkloof. Only Waterkloof remains in Xhosa hands.
March 1853: In February 1853, Sandile and the other Xhosa chiefs surrendered to the British.
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
December 1877: With few incentives to conquer or occupy Gcalekaland, and with the violence subsiding, the Cape Government recalled their commandos, who returned home and disbanded.
November 1877: The British crossed the frontier and pushed into Gcalekaland. Dividing into three lightly equipped, fast-moving columns, the commandos devastated the Gcaleka armies, which dispersed and fled eastwards. The Cape units tracked the fleeing remnants right through Gcalekaland, stopping only when they reached neutral Bomvanaland on the far side. The Ninth Xhosa War was over in three weeks.
January 1879: British commander Veldman Bikitsha, managed to engage and finally defeat the Gcaleka on 13 January (near Nyumaxa).
