Between the Sundays River and the Great Fish River lies an area once known as the Zuurveld, the scene of years of bitter rivalry in the 18th and 19th centuries between the white colonists and the Xhosa tribes.  The Great Fish River was declared the eastern boundry of the Cape Colony in 1780 during Dutch East India Company rule. By 1801 there had been three frontier wars, mostly prolonged skirmishes between burgher commandoes and natives over possession of cattle.

An attempt by the Brittish to remove the Xhosa presence, during the Fourth Frontier War of 1811-12 led to the frontier being fortified with a series of blockhouses. Garrisons were established, to the north at Cradock and in the south at Graham's Town, so named after Col John Graham. He chose the deserted farm of trekboer (nomadic farmer) Lucas Meyers to house his men, in a hollow among rolling hills. Today the site is located on the south side of High Street, besides the Cathedral.

Trouble continued along the frontier, culminating in a concerted attack, the Battle of Graham's Town in 1819, when some 10 000 Xhosa, led by the charismatic Nxele or Makana,  caught the ill-defended village completely unawares. The main attack was launched on the thinly manned position in the dip at the bottom of High Street (below the present railway station). Although vastly out-numbered, British firepower won the day and the Xhosa force finally surrendered leaving 700 dead. A heroine of the battle, Margaret Salt, trusting in the Xhosa tradition of not attacking women and children, walked unarmed through the enemy lines concealing a keg of gunpowder, is remembered in a monument "To Pioneer Woman" in High Street. John Henry Webber, a former owner of the Cock House, planted the trees on Makana's Kop in the early 1900's in memory of Makana, the Xhosa leader who was the first political prisoner on Robben Island.

Realising that military strength alone was not sufficient to defend the border, the British Government accepted a plan put forward by the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, to settle British immigrants in the re-named Albany district to create a buffer zone along the frontier. Thus came the 1820 Settlers, some 4 500 men, woman and children who then constituted one-ninth of the white population in the Cape Colony. Entirely unaware of the dangerous position into which they were being placed, the settlers, escaping poverty and unemployment in Britain, were lured by Somerset's description of a land of milk and honey.

The reality which greeted them was harsh: after a voyage of four months, they faced another long and arduous journey by ox-wagon to their alloted plots of land. Most arrived in winter and had to provide their own shelter and live off the land immediately. They came from every class and occupation with few having any knowledge of agriculture. The initial years were marred by failed crops, drought, floods, attacks by wild animals which then roamed the countryside and cattle raids by the Xhosa. Many were reduced to abject poverty but please for assistance were met with indifference by the authorities. Eventually their plight was communicated by friends and relatives to the British Government and a commision was sent to Graham's Town in 1823.

Once those settlers who were qualified in trades and professions were allowed to move into the small centres, primarily Graham's Town, they found ready employment. Artisans such as bricklayers, masons and cabinet-makers were given erven (small plots) in lieu of their vacated land and the village grew rapidly with small cottages built closely together with their frontage directly on the street and long narrow gardens behind. A good example of these early dwellings is Artificer's Square, between Bartholomew and Cross Streets.

Thus began the development of the most English of South African towns. The main streets were made sufficiently wide to permit the turning of ox-wagons. The main water supply was a large tank at the top of High Street where the Drostdy was later built.  One of the first schools was set up in the Yellow House in High Street which had served initially as a jail. St George's Church was built in the middle of the town and, although it has been replaced over the years by the present Cathedral, one of the original walls still remains.

Development of trade was greatly improved once trade with the natives was officially permitted in 1824. Fort Willshire, now located within the Great Fish River Reserve, was the site of weekly markets with ivory and hide offered by the natives in exchange for beads, blankets, cloth, picks and hoes. Subsequently Grahamstown's Market Square, where the present shopping centre is located, became the main emporium for trade. By 1830 Grahamstown was the second most important urban settlement in the Colony after Cape Town. The only session of the Cape Parliament to be held outside Cape Town took place in Grahamstown in 1864.

These early years saw the beginnings of a prosperous wool industry, with the introduction of fine-wooled merino sheep. Most of the wool clip was exported via agents in Grahamstown, though there was a small local market - Bradshaw's Mill at Bathurst, now restored and open to view daily - manufacturing blankets and hats. By the 1840's the wool industry had overtaken the wine industry as the Cape Colony's prime export and it remained so untill replaced by diamonds in the 1870's.

However the relatively peaceful times were shortlived. In 1834 the Sixth Frontier War, the culmination of years of raids, reprisals and frustration, left a trail of murder and destruction as the Xhosa swept through beyond the Sundays River. Settler refugees poured into Bathurst and Grahamstown. Streets leading to St George's Church were barricaded to provide a central core of defence.

For many Dutch farmers the devastation was a crucial factor in their decision to emigrate and follow Piet Retief north on the Great Trek. At the end of the war in 1835, farmers were advised to build fortified farmhouses. Barville Park near Port Alfred is a classic example. To help fortify Grahamstown, Fort Selwyn was built on a hill (today next to the 1820 Monument) overlooking the military buildings and Drostdy below.

For other settlers, however, the war gave sheep-farmers added impetus. Many farmers used their compensation money to extend their herds while others moved to safer locations inland at Cradock and Graaff-Reinet.

Ironically the identification in Grahamstown in 1867 of the first diamond discovered in South africa contributed to the decline of the city. The opening of the diamond fields helped to deprive Grahamstown of its important commercial function. The economic focus in South Africa was moving to the area above the escarpment, to Kimberley and later to Johannesburg, and Grahamstown was not even on a direct railway line from Port Elizabeth to these developing regions.

It continued, however, as a local centre for the farming community and from the mid 19th century education and law took the place of commerce and the military as the main functions of the town. The establishment of Grahamstown as the seat of the Eastern Districts Supreme Court in 1864 ensured that the town developed as a legal centre. By 1876 five major schools had opened - the Assumption Convent, St Andrew's College, Graeme College, the Diocesan School for Girls and St Aidan's College. The Victoria Girls' High School, Kingswood College and the Teacher's Training College were also established before the turn of the century. Rhodes University College was founded in 1904.