Timeline of Port Elizabeth

The following is a timeline of the history of Port Elizabeth in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

## Prior to 20th century

[edit]

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* 1754 - Dutch settlements at the Cape extended eastwards to adjacent Algoa Bay.[1]
* 1799 - Fort Frederick built by British during the Napoleonic wars.[1]
* 1820 - Port Elizabeth settlement founded by British.[2][1]
* 1823 - Population: 319.[3]
* 1836 - Made a free warehousing port
* 1841 - Jetty constructed in Algoa Bay.[4]
* 1845 - Eastern Province Herald newspaper begins publication.[5]
* 1856
* Grey High School founded.[3]
* King George VI Art Gallery opens.
* 1859 - St George's Park founded.
* 1861 - Town of Port Elizabeth incorporated.[1]
* 1862 - Western-Road Synagogue formed.[6]
* 1865 - Hill Presbyterian Church consecrated.
* 1866 - St. Augustine's Cathedral built.
* 1873 - Railway station building starts.[1]
* 1875
* Uitenhage-Port Elizabeth railway begins operating.[3]
* Port Elizabeth railway station built.[7]
* 1880 - Prince Alfred's Guard Drill Hall built.
* 1881 - Horsecar tram begins operating.
* 1882
* Imbumba yama Nyama political group formed.[8]
* Conservatory built in St George's Park.
* 1885 - "South African Exhibition" held[9]
* 1888 - Mighty Elephants rugby team formed.[chronology citation needed]
* 1889 - St George's Park Cricket Ground in use.
* 1892 - Opera House built.
* 1897 - Electric tram begins operating.
* 1899 - Humewood Road railway station built.
* 1900 - Post Office built.

## 20th century

[edit]

* 1900-1902 - Port Elizabeth Concentration Camp in operation
* 1903 - New Brighton black township established.
* 1905 - Horse Memorial erected.
* 1907
* NG gemeente Port Elizabeth [af] (church) founded.
* Prince Alfred's Guard Memorial unveiled.
* 1908
* Port Elizabeth Orthodox Hebrew Congregation formed.[chronology citation needed]
* Devastating flooding
* 1912 - Raleigh Street Synagogue [de] built.
* 1913 - Port Elizabeth gains city status.[1]
* 1917 - Airplane flown from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth.[citation needed]
* 1928 - NG gemeente Port Elizabeth-Sentraal [af] (church) founded.
* 1929 - Port Elizabeth Airport and Gereformeerde kerk Port Elizabeth [af] (church) established.
* 1936 - Campanile (belltower) installed.
* 1937 - Oosterlig [af] newspaper begins publication.[5]
* 1940 - NG gemeente Port Elizabeth-Wes [af] (church) founded.
* 1940 - Victoria Park High School was founded
* 1949 - Adcockvale [af] suburb laid out (approximate date).
* 1950 - Evening Post [af] newspaper begins publication.[5]
* 1951 - Van Stadens-veldblomreservaat [af] (nature reserve) established near city.
* 1952 - Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba and Vuyisile Mini were imprisoned for three months in Rooi Hel ('Red Hell' or North End Prison, Port Elizabeth) for participating in the Defiance Campaign.
* 1954 - 20th Century Theatre in business.[10]
* 1960
* Boet Erasmus Stadium opens.
* Alliance Française of Port Elizabeth founded.
* 1961 - 16 December: Bombings.[11]
* 1964 - University of Port Elizabeth established.
* 1965 - Walmer, South Africa becomes part of Port Elizabeth.
* 1969 - Kouga Dam begins operating in vicinity of city.
* 1979 - Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation founded.
* 1984
* Port Elizabeth Youth Congress founded.[1]
* Development of Motherwell begins near city.
* 1985
* March: Labor strike.[12][13]
* 8 May: Disappearance of "Pebco Three" anti-apartheid activists.
* 27 June: The deaths of "The Cradock Four" political activists.
* 1986 - Jewish Pioneer's Memorial Museum [de] established.(de)
* 1991 - Population: 303,353 city; 853,205 metro.[5]
* 1995
* Nceba Faku elected mayor.[14]
* Part of 1995 Rugby World Cup contest played in Port Elizabeth.
* 1996 - Part of 1996 Africa Cup of Nations football contest played in Port Elizabeth.

## 21st century

[edit]

* 2001
* Port Elizabeth becomes the seat of the newly created Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.[15]
* Anti-apartheid leader Govan Mbeki dies at age 91.
* 2004 - Website Mandelametro.gov.za launched.[16]
* 2005
* First premier of the Eastern Cape and anti-apartheid leader Raymond Mhlaba dies at the ages of 85 years.
* Nelson Mandela University formed.
* Red Location Museum of apartheid opens.
* 2006
* 1 March: South African municipal elections, 2006 held.
* Nondumiso Maphazi becomes mayor.(fr)
* Bay United F.C. (football club) formed.
* 2009
* Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium opens.
* Zanoxolo Wayile becomes mayor.[17](fr)
* Southern Kings rugby team formed.
* 2010
* Gelvandale Stadium opens.
* Part of 2010 FIFA World Cup football contest played in Port Elizabeth.
* 2011 - Population: 312,392.
* 2013
* Part of 2013 Africa Cup of Nations football contest played in Port Elizabeth.
* Ben Fihla becomes mayor.[17]
* 2015
* Danny Jordaan becomes mayor.[17]
* Chippa United F.C. moved to the city from Cape Town.
* 2016 - Athol Trollip becomes mayor.
* 2021
* Name officially changed from Port Elizabeth to Gqeberha.[18]
* 2023 - Eight people are killed in a mass shooting.

## See also

[edit]

* Port Elizabeth history
* List of heritage sites in Port Elizabeth
* Timelines of other cities in South Africa: Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Britannica 1910.
2. ^ W. H. Hosking (1914). "Chronology of South Africa". South African Year-book. London: George Routledge and Sons. pp. 10–27.
3. ^ a b c "Port Elizabeth Timeline 1799-1986". Cape Town: South African History Online. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
4. ^ H.L. Huisman (1971). "How Port Elizabeth got its first jetty". Civil Engineering. 13. hdl:10520/AJA10212019_18711.
5. ^ a b c d "South Africa". Africa South of the Sahara 2003. Regional Surveys of the World. Europa Publications. 2003. ISBN 978-1-85743-131-5. ISSN 0065-3896.
6. ^ Isidore Harris, ed. (1901), "Colonial Synagogues: South Africa", Jewish Year Book, London: Greenberg & Co.
7. ^ Huisman, H L (October 1986). "The coming of the Railway to the Cape". Restorica. No. 20\. hdl:2263/47120.
8. ^ Robert Ross; et al., eds. (2011). Cambridge History of South Africa. Vol. 2: 1885–1994. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86983-6.
9. ^ "The South African Exhibition, Port Elizabeth, 1885: Lectures, Prize and ... - Google Books". 1886. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
10. ^ "Movie Theaters in Port Elizabeth, South Africa". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
11. ^ Jacqueline Audrey Kalley; et al., eds. (1999). Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events from Independence to Mid-1997. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-30247-3.
12. ^ Mark Swilling (1985). "Urban Social Movements under Apartheid". Cahiers d'Études africaines. 25 (99): 363–379. doi:10.3406/cea.1985.1735 - via Persee.fr.
13. ^ "Report: The March Stay-aways in Port Elizabeth and UItenhage". South African Labour Bulletin. 11. 1985. ISSN 0377-5429.
14. ^ "Former Mandela Bay mayor lashes out at Zuma", Iol.co.za, 23 November 2016
15. ^ "Pecc.gov.za". Archived from the original on 3 June 2002.
16. ^ "Mandelametro.gov.za". Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Archived from the original on 23 October 2005 - via Wayback Machine.
17. ^ a b c "Danny Jordaan ANC's choice to replace Nelson Mandela Bay mayor", News24.com, 18 May 2015
18. ^ "BREAKING | It is official, Port Elizabeth has a new name — Gqeberha". DispatchLIVE. Retrieved 15 August 2021.

This article incorporates information from the Afrikaans Wikipedia, French Wikipedia, and German Wikipedia.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* "Directory of Port Elizabeth". Cape of Good Hope Almanac and Annual Register for 1853. Cape Town: Van de Sandt de Villiers & Tier. 1852.
* Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide to the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope. Port Elizabeth: J.W.C. Mackay. 1877.
* John Noble, ed. (1886). "Cities and Towns of the Colony". Official Handbook: History, Productions and Resources of the Cape of Good Hope. Cape Town: Saul Solomon & Co. for the Colonial & Indian Exhibition Committee. "Port Elizabeth"
* "Port Elizabeth" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 112–113.
* Eleanor K Lorimer (1971). Panorama of Port Elizabeth. Cape Town: A. A. Balkema. OCLC 297945.
* H.O. Terblanche (1977). "Die trek van die Afrikaner na Port Elizabeth" [Trek of the Afrikaner to Port Elizabeth]. Historia. 22 (1). Historical Association of South Africa: 90–107. hdl:10520/AJA0018229X_323.
* A. J. Christopher (1987). "Apartheid Planning in South Africa: The Case of Port Elizabeth". Geographical Journal. 153 (2): 195–204. doi:10.2307/634871. JSTOR 634871.
* J.G. Nel (1989). "Making of an Apartheid City: The Case of Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa". African Urban Quarterly. 4. ISSN 0747-6108.
* A. J. Christopher (1991). "Port Elizabeth". In Anthony Lemon (ed.). Homes Apart: South Africa's Segregated Cities. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33321-0.
* Janet Cherry (1993). "myth of working class defeat: Port Elizabeth in the post-war years". Kronos: Journal of Cape History. 20. University of the Western Cape. hdl:10520/AJA02590190_435.
* H.O. Terblanche; M.J. Swart (1993). "Die Afrikaner se stryd om taalgelykberegtiging in Port Elizabeth, 1902-1937" [Afrikaner's struggle for language equality in Port Elizabeth, 1902-1937]. South African Journal of Cultural History (in Afrikaans). 7. hdl:10520/AJA10113053_59.
* Jennifer Robinson (1993). "Politics of urban form: differential citizenship and township formation in Port Elizabeth 1925-1945". Kronos: Journal of Cape History. 20. hdl:10520/AJA02590190_434.
* Gary Baines (1998). "Port Elizabeth history: a select annotated bibliography". South African Historical Journal (38).
* H.O. Terblanche (1998). "Die stigting van die eerste Afrikaanse koerante in Port Elizabeth" [Foundation of the first Afrikaans newspapers in Port Elizabeth]. South African Journal of Cultural History (in Afrikaans). 12 (1): 60–74. hdl:10520/AJA10113053_103.
* Gary Baines (2004). "A Progressive South African City?". Journal of Urban History. 31.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Port Elizabeth.

* "Registry: (Port Elizabeth)". Archivalplatform.org. Rondebosch. (Directory of South African archival and memory institutions and organisations)
* "(Port Elizabeth)". AfricaBib.org. (Bibliography)
* "(Port Elizabeth)" - via Digital Public Library of America. (Images, etc.)

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