Adelaide is a town and area in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. Population 12,000 (2001). Adelaide is situated near the Great Winterberg Mountain range. The town is a beef, mutton, wool and citrus farming district.

Before European arrival

The modern day area of Adelaide was first inhabited by Bushmen

Bushmen

The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...

, later on with the arrival of the Xhosa and the Europeans, the Bushmen were displaced and are no longer found in the area.

Colonial Adelaide

Adelaide's origins date back to 1834 when a British officer named Captain Armstrong established a military encampment which he named Fort Adelaide after the wife of King William IV. Despite the earlier English settlers, who were part of the 1820 Settlers

1820 Settlers

The 1820 Settlers were several groups or parties of white British colonists settled by the British government and the Cape authorities in the South African Eastern Cape in 1820....

, later on a large number of both Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 and Afrikaans people soon immigrated here too. The Scottish were also the first to erect a church in the local area.