East London

About East London

East London, officially KuGompo City since February 2026, is a city on the southeastern coast of South Africa, in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and hosts the country's only river port. As of 2011, East London had a population of over 267,000 with over 755,000 in the surrounding metropolitan area.

John Bailie, one of the 1820 Settlers, surveyed the Buffalo River mouth and founded the town in 1836. There is a memorial on Signal Hill commemorating the event.

The city formed around the only river port in South Africa and was originally known as Port Rex. Later it was renamed London in honour of the capital city of the United Kingdom, hence the name East London. This settlement on the West Bank was the nucleus of the town of East London, which was elevated to city status in 1914.

During the early to mid-19th century frontier wars between the British settlers and the local Xhosa inhabitants, East London served as a supply port to service the military headquarters at nearby King William...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.