King William's Town lies some 50km/30mi from the coast of the Indian Ocean and a few km/mi southwest of Bisho, the former capital of the Ciskei. Unlike Bisho, however, it always belonged to the Cape Province. It is the shopping and administrative center of the region, with many educational institutions. Its economy is based on various light industries (textiles, leatherworking, the manufacture of footwear, soap and candles, etc.).
King William's Town grew out of a mission station established on the Buffalo River in 1826. In 1835 the Xhosa destroyed the settlement and carried off the missionaries.
In the hope of pacifying this unsettled area the Governor of the Cape Province, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, declared it a separate province named Queen Adelaide, with King William's Town, refounded on the site of the former mission station, as its capital. The new province did not last long, however. After being again destroyed in 1846 the town became in 1847 the administrative center of British Kaffraria. In subsequent years it was several times the scene of fighting between Xhosa and Europeans. It lost its status as a provincial capital in 1865, when British Kaffraria was incorporated in the Cape Province.
The Missionary Museum of South Africa, housed in a former Methodist church of 1855, is an outstation of the Kaffrarian Museum. It has a comprehensive collection of material illustrating the history of missionary activity in South Africa.
15km/9mi north of King William's Town on the Stutterheim road is Pirie Forest, on the slopes of Mount Kemp (1,420m/4,659ft). Much of it is a planted forest, but it also includes some fine specimens of yellowwood trees.
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