Timeline of Port Elizabeth explained

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

Prior to 20th century

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

• 1900-1902 - Port Elizabeth Concentration Camp in operation
• 1903 - New Brighton black township established.
• 1905 - Horse Memorial erected.
• 1907
  • (church) founded.
  • Prince Alfred's Guard Memorial unveiled.
• 1908
  • Port Elizabeth Orthodox Hebrew Congregation formed.
  • Devastating flooding
• 1912 - built.
• 1913 - Port Elizabeth gains city status.
• 1917 - Airplane flown from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth.
• 1928 - (church) founded.
• 1929 - Port Elizabeth Airport and (church) established.
• 1936 - Campanile (belltower) installed.
• 1937 - newspaper begins publication.
• 1940 - (church) founded.
• 1940 - Victoria Park High School was founded
• 1949 - suburb laid out (approximate date).
• 1950 - newspaper begins publication.
• 1951 - (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.^[7]
• 1960
  • Boet Erasmus Stadium opens.
  • Alliance Française of Port Elizabeth founded.
• 1961 - 16 December: Bombings.^[8]
• 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.https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/05/24/south-africa-spawns-a-new-underground/ca9c1622-f5e0-4334-ad75-bb7eedca3d62/
  • Development of Motherwell begins near city.
• 1985
  • March: Labor strike.^{[9] [10]}
  • 8 May: Disappearance of "Pebco Three" anti-apartheid activists.
  • 27 June: The deaths of "The Cradock Four" political activists.
• 1986 - established.^(de)
• 1991 - Population: 303,353 city; 853,205 metro.^[11]
• 1995
  • Nceba Faku elected mayor.
  • 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

• 2001
  • Port Elizabeth becomes the seat of the newly created Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.^[12]
  • Anti-apartheid leader Govan Mbeki dies at age 91.
• 2004 - Website Mandelametro.gov.za launched.^[13]
• 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.^(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.
• 2015
  • Danny Jordaan becomes mayor.
  • 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.^[14]
• 2023 - Eight people are killed in a mass shooting.

See also

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

References

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

Bibliography

• Book: Cape of Good Hope Almanac and Annual Register for 1853. Van de Sandt de Villiers & Tier . Cape Town . 1852. Directory of Port Elizabeth. https://books.google.com/books?id=jf9oAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT92.
• Book: Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide to the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope . J.W.C. Mackay . Port Elizabeth . 1877.
• Book: John Noble . Official Handbook: History, Productions and Resources of the Cape of Good Hope . Saul Solomon & Co. for the Colonial & Indian Exhibition Committee . Cape Town . 1886. Cities and Towns of the Colony . Port Elizabeth. https://books.google.com/books?id=WSoUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA100.
• Port Elizabeth . 22 . 112 - 113 . 1910 . . 1.
• Book: Panorama of Port Elizabeth . Eleanor K Lorimer . . Cape Town . 297945 . 1971.
• Historia . Historical Association of South Africa . Die trek van die Afrikaner na Port Elizabeth . Trek of the Afrikaner to Port Elizabeth . H.O. Terblanche . 1977. 22 . 1 . 90–107 . 10520/AJA0018229X_323 .
• Apartheid Planning in South Africa: The Case of Port Elizabeth . A. J. Christopher . . 153 . 10.2307/634871 . 1987. 2 . 195–204 . 634871 .
• J.G. Nel . Making of an Apartheid City: The Case of Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa . African Urban Quarterly . 0747-6108 . 4 . 1989.
• Book: Anthony Lemon . Homes Apart: South Africa's Segregated Cities . registration . Indiana University Press . 0-253-33321-0 . 1991. Port Elizabeth . A. J. Christopher .
• Kronos: Journal of Cape History . University of the Western Cape . myth of working class defeat: Port Elizabeth in the post-war years . Janet Cherry . 20 . 1993. 10520/AJA02590190_435 .
• South African Journal of Cultural History . Die Afrikaner se stryd om taalgelykberegtiging in Port Elizabeth, 1902-1937 . Afrikaner's struggle for language equality in Port Elizabeth, 1902-1937 . H.O. Terblanche . M.J. Swart . 7 . af . 1993. 10520/AJA10113053_59 .
• Kronos: Journal of Cape History . Politics of urban form: differential citizenship and township formation in Port Elizabeth 1925-1945 . Jennifer Robinson . 20 . 1993. 10520/AJA02590190_434 .
• Port Elizabeth history: a select annotated bibliography . Gary Baines . . 38 . 1998.
• af . South African Journal of Cultural History . Die stigting van die eerste Afrikaanse koerante in Port Elizabeth . Foundation of the first Afrikaans newspapers in Port Elizabeth . H.O. Terblanche . 1998. 12 . 1 . 60–74 . 10520/AJA10113053_103 .
• A Progressive South African City? . Gary Baines . . 31 . 2004.

External links

• Web site: Registry: (Port Elizabeth) . . Rondebosch . (Directory of South African archival and memory institutions and organisations)
• Web site: (Port Elizabeth) . . (Bibliography)
• Web site: (Port Elizabeth) . . (Images, etc.)

Notes and References

1. Book: W. H. Hosking . South African Year-book . . London . Chronology of South Africa . https://books.google.com/books?id=kN9HAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA10 . 10–27 . 1914 .
2. H.L. Huisman . Civil Engineering . 13 . 1971 . How Port Elizabeth got its first jetty . 10520/AJA10212019_18711 .
3. Web site: . Cape Town . Port Elizabeth Timeline 1799-1986 . 1 October 2017 .
4. The coming of the Railway to the Cape . Restorica . 20 . Huisman . H L . October 1986 . 2263/47120 . free.
5. Book: Robert Ross . etal . Cambridge History of South Africa . Cambridge History of South Africa . 2: 1885–1994. 2011. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-86983-6.
6. Web site: The South African Exhibition, Port Elizabeth, 1885: Lectures, Prize and ... - Google Books. 30 September 2019. 1886.
7. Web site: Movie Theaters in Port Elizabeth, South Africa . CinemaTreasures.org . Cinema Treasures LLC . Los Angeles . 1 October 2017 .
8. Book: Jacqueline Audrey Kalley. Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events from Independence to Mid-1997. 1999. Greenwood . 978-0-313-30247-3. etal.
9. Mark Swilling . Urban Social Movements under Apartheid . . 25 . 10.3406/cea.1985.1735 . . 1985 . 99 . 363–379 .
10. 1985 . Report: The March Stay-aways in Port Elizabeth and UItenhage . South African Labour Bulletin . 0377-5429 . 11 .
11. Book: Africa South of the Sahara 2003 . Regional Surveys of the World . . 2003 . 0065-3896 . South Africa . 978-1-85743-131-5 .
12. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20020603174908/http://www.pecc.gov.za/1.htm . Pecc.gov.za . 3 June 2002 .
13. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20051023154200/http://www.mandelametro.gov.za/ . Mandelametro.gov.za . Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality . 23 October 2005 . .
14. Web site: BREAKING It is official, Port Elizabeth has a new name — Gqeberha. 2021-08-15. DispatchLIVE. en-ZA.