Strangulation of a port: East London, 1847 - 1873.

Abstract

• Opsomming: Die hawestad Oos-Londen het skaars 30 jaar na Port Elizabeth tot stand gekom. Weens sy gunstige topografie en klimaat, in vergelyking met die van Algoabaai, was Oos-Londen eintlik in die posisie om tot die vernaamste Oos-Kaapse hawe te ontwikkel. Tog het 'n reeks vreemde politieke omstandighede Oos-Londen gedurende sy pioniersjare sodanig belemmer dat die agterstand nie weer ingehaal kon word toe 'n tydperk van voorspoed uiteindelik teen 1870 vir hom aanbreek nie. In hierdie artikel word nagegaan watter faktore gedurende die belangrike vestigingsfase nadelig op Oos-Londen se handelsgroei ingewerk het en waarom die hawedorp van meet af aan bestem was om 'n minder prominente rol te speel.

• Summary: East London was established as a port less than 30 years after the creation of Port Elizabeth. The geographic and climatic advantages which East London had over Algoa Bay could have allowed it to develop into the major port for the Eastern Cape. Peculiar political circumstances, however, strangled East London's growth during its initial three decades so that by 1870, when prosperity at last came its way, it was already too late to make up the leeway. This article examines the obstructions to the growth of East London's trade during this important foundation period and attempts to explain why it was doomed from the start to be a port of only secondary importance.