GRIQUALAND EAST and GRIQUALAND WEST, historical division of the Cape province of the Union of South Africa. Griqualand East is bounded on the north-east by Natal, and on the north-west by Basutoland. It was named after the settlement there in 1862 of Griquas under Adam Kok, their chief centre being Kokstad. The region forms part of the Transkeian Territories and is described under Kaffraria, Cape Colony and South Africa.
Griqualand West, also named after its Griqua inhabitants, is part of the inner plateau of South Africa, and lies north of the Orange river, being bounded by Bechuanaland, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State (see CAPE COLONY and SOUTH AFRICA, UNION OF). The climate is dry; the only perennial rivers are in the eastern districts, through which the Vaal flows. Severe thunder storms sometimes occur. It is mainly a pastoral area, but its chief wealth is its diamonds. Alluvial digging centres occur at Barkly West (q.v.), Windsorton, Warrenton.
History.—At the end of the 18th century a horde known as Bastaards, descendants of Dutch farmers and Hottentot women, led a nomadic life on the plains south of the Orange river. In 1803 a missionary named Anderson induced a number of the Bas taards with their chief Barend Barends to settle north of the river, and a mission station was formed at a place where there was a strong flowing fountain, now disappeared, which gave the name of Klaarwater to what is now known as Griquatown or Griquastad.
Klaarwater became a retreat for other Bastaards, Hottentot ref ugees, Kaffirs and Bechuanas. From Little Namaqualand came a few half-breeds and others under the leadership of Adam Kok, son of Cornelius Kok and grandson of Adam Kok (c. a man of mixed white and Hottentot blood who is regarded as the founder of the modern Griquas. The settlement prospered, and the tribesmen abandoned the name of Bastaards in favour of that of Griquas, some of them professing descent from a Hotten tot tribe, originally settled near Saldanha bay, called by the early Dutch settlers at the Cape Chariguriqua or Grigriqua. Adam Kok and Barends having moved eastward in 182o, those who remained behind elected as their head man a teacher in the mission school named Andries Waterboer, who successfully administered the settlement. Meanwhile Adam Kok and his companions had occu pied part of the country between the Modder and Orange rivers, and in a short time had exterminated the Bushmen inhabiting that region. Kok died about 1835, and after a period of civil strife was succeeded by his younger son, Adam Kok III., who in Nov. 1843 signed a treaty placing himself under British protec tion. Eventually finding himself straitened by the Boers of the newly established Orange Free State, he removed in 1861-63 with his people, some 3,00o in number, to the region (then depop ulated by Kaffir wars) now known as Griqualand East. His sov ereign rights to all territory north of the Orange he sold to the Free State for £4,000. He founded Kokstad (q.v.) and died in 1876. Waterboer, the principal Griqua chief, had entered into treaty relations with the British Government as early as 1834, and received a subsidy of f I 5o a year. He was succeeded in 1852 by his son Nicholas Waterboer, under whom the condition of the Griquas declined.
The discovery of diamonds along the banks of the Vaal in 1867 entirely altered the fortunes of the country, and by the end of 1869 the rush to the alluvial diggings had begun. At the diggers' camps the Griquas exercised no authority, but over part of the district either the South African Republic or the Orange Free State claimed sovereignty. At Klip Drift (now Barkly West) the diggers formed a regular Government and elected Theodore Parker as their president. Most of the diggers being British sub jects, the high commissioner of South Africa interfered, and a Cape official was appointed magistrate at Klip Drift, President Parker resigning office in Feb. 1871. Over the "dry diggings," at Kimberley which had just been discovered,' the Orange Free State asserted jurisdiction. The land was, however, claimed by Nicho las Waterboer, who, on the advice of his agent, David Arnot, peti tioned the British to take over his country. This Great Britain consented to do, and on Oct. 27, 1871, proclamations were issued by the high commissioner receiving Waterboer and his Griquas as British subjects and defining the limits of his territory. It in cluded the area claimed by the Transvaal but given to Waterboer by the award of R. W. Keate, lieutenant-governor of Natal, an award made shortly before the annexation proclamations. The Free State Boers in particular were greatly incensed by the action of the British Government, but the dispute was settled in 1876 by the payment of f9o,o00 by the British to the Free State, in full settlement of their rights.
The diggers found the British administration did little for their benefit, and a period of disorder ensued. In July 1873 the terri tory was made a Crown colony. The Government remained un popular, the diggers complaining of its unrepresentative character, the heavy taxation exacted, and the inadequate protection of prop erty. They formed a society for mutual protection, and the dis content was so great that an armed force was sent (early in from the Cape to overawe the agitators. At the same time meas ures were taken to render the Government more popular. The settlement of the dispute with the Free State paved the way for the annexation of Griqualand to the Cape Colony on Oct. 15, 1880. Griqualand East also came under the Cape as part of the Transkei Territories. Here the Griquas preserved some measure of autonomy, but numbers of Europeans settled in the district.
'The order of discovery of the chief mines was:—Dutoitspan, Sept. 187o ; Bultf ontein, Nov. 187o ; De Beers, May 1871; Colesberg Kop (Kimberley) , July 1871.
See KIMBERLEY, CAPE COLONY, TRANSVAAL and ORANGE FREE STATE.
For early history and an account of life at the diggings, 1871-75, consult G. McCall Theal's Compendium of the History and Geography of South Africa (1878) , ch. xl. and xli., and the later editions of his History of South Africa; Gardner F. Williams, The Diamond Mines of South Africa (New York and London, 1902) ; See also J. Campbell, Travels in South Africa (1815), Travels . . . A Second Journey . . . (2 vols., 1822) ; the Blue Books C. 459 of 1871 and C. 508 of 1872 (which contains the Keate award) ; Papers relating to Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions, part ii. (1875), and A. Wilmot, Life of Sir Richard Southey (sometime lieutenant-governor of Griqualand) (19o4) . For the Griqua people consult G. W. Stow, The Native Races of South Africa, ch. xvii.–xx. (19o5) .