| Qonce | |
| Other Name: | King William's Town |
| Pushpin Map: | South Africa Eastern Cape#South Africa#Africa |
| Coordinates: | -32.8833°N 51°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Eastern Cape |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Buffalo City |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | Buffalo City |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | 1835[1] |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Area Footnotes: | [2] |
| Area Total Km2: | 65.52 |
| Elevation M: | 398 |
| Population Total: | 34019 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup (2011) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 65.3% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 25.6% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Info3: | 2.5% |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 5.6% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 0.9% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages (2011) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Xhosa |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 54.5% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Afrikaans |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 27.3% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | English |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 13.7% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 4.4% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 5601 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Postal2 Code: | 5600 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 043 |
Qonce, formerly known as King William's Town,[3] is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa along the banks of the Buffalo River. The town is about northwest of the Indian Ocean port of East London. It has a population of around 35,000 inhabitants and forms part of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
The town lies above sea level at the foot of the Amathole Mountains in an area known for its agriculture. The town has one of the oldest post offices in the country developed by missionaries led by Charles Brownlee.[4]
For thousands of years, the area was roamed by Bushman bands, and then was used as grazing by the nomadic Khoikhoi, who called the Buffalo River Qonce. Xhosa people lived alongside the Khoikhoi eventually taking over the land after Queen Hoho lost the war with King Ngqika kaMlawu.[5]
King William's Town was founded by Sir Benjamin d’Urban in May 1835 during the Xhosa War of that year. The town stands on the site of the kraal of the minor chief Dyani Tyatyu and was named after William IV. It was abandoned in December 1836, but was reoccupied in 1846 and was the capital of British Kaffraria from its creation in 1847 to its incorporation in 1865 with the Cape Colony. Uniquely in the Cape Colony, its local government was styled a borough, rather than a municipality. Many of the colonists in the neighbouring districts are descendants of members of the British German Legion disbanded after the Crimean War and provided with homes in the Cape Colony; hence such names as Berlin, Braunschweig, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Potsdam and Stutterheim given to settlements in this part of the country.
It was declared the provincial capital of the surrounding Queen Adelaide's Province in the 1830s. On 5 May 1877, the Cape Government of Prime Minister John Molteno opened the first railway, connecting the town to East London on the coast and to the Xhosa lands inland and further east.[6] With its direct railway communication, the town became an important entrepôt for trade with the Xhosa people throughout Kaffraria.
In 1973, a 108 hectare piece of protected land was established on the outskirts of town called the King William's Town Nature Reserve.[7]
The area's economy depended on cattle and sheep ranching, and the town itself has a large industrial base producing textiles, soap, candles, sweets, cartons and clothing. Its proximity to the new provincial capital city of Bhisho has brought much development to the area since the end of apartheid in 1994.
In September 2020 the Eastern Cape government announced plans to give the city a new name as part of what it described as a programme aimed at transforming the country's geographic landscape to be more representative of its people.[8] The city officially became Qonce on 21 February 2021.[9]
The city is also home to Huberta, one of the farthest-travelling hippopotami in South Africa. It is displayed in the Amathole Museum in the CBD.[10]