Queenstown, South Africa

Queenstown, officially renamed Komani in 2016, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom on the N6 national route. It was founded in early 1853 under Sir George Cathcart, who named the settlement, first a fort, after Queen Victoria, and it was planned as a defensive stronghold with a central hexagon from which six streets radiate. A railway to East London on the coast opened in 1880. The town serves as the commercial, administrative and educational centre of the surrounding farming district and lies on the Komani River, with water stored in the Bongolo Dam. It is administered by the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality within the Chris Hani District, and is the seat of a Roman Catholic and an Anglican diocese. In the 1960s much of its black population was moved to the township of Ezibeleni.