The Stormberg is a range of mountains situated in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, are an easterly extension of the Bamboesberge and form an outlier of the greater

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Zulu language, Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho language, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, Southern Africa, Great Escarpment, which encloses the central South Africa#Geography, Sout ...

mountain range. They form part of the ' Amatola and Stormberg' region which includes major towns like

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

and

Port Alfred Port Alfred is a small town with a population of just under 26,000 in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated on the eastern seaboard of the country at the mouth of the Kowie River, almost exactly halfway between the larger ci ...

. Towns in the Stormberg Mountains include Sterkstroom, Jamestown,

Molteno Molteno (; ) is a (municipality) and a hill-top town in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,206 and an area of .Al ...

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

Barkly East Barkly East (Afrikaans: Barkly-Oos) is a town in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, seat of the Joe Gqabi District Municipality, and 117 km by road E.S.E. of Aliwal North, lying in the mountainous area just south of Lesotho. The town lies ...

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

and

Steynsburg Steynsburg is a small town in the Walter Sisulu Local Municipality of the Joe Gqabi District Municipality, Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Steynsburg is located on the intersection of the R56 and R390. The town lies south-west of Bur ...

. South Africa's only ski resort, Tiffindell, is also situated in these mountains.

Geology

Geologically, the mountains form part of the Stormberg Series of the

Karoo System The Karoo Supergroup is the most widespread stratigraphic unit in Africa south of the Kalahari Desert. The supergroup consists of a sequence of units, mostly of nonmarine origin, deposited between the Late Carboniferous and Early Jurassic, a peri ...

where some of the only workable coal seams in the Cape are to be found. These coal fields are being explored for possible

coal bed methane extraction Coalbed methane extraction (CBM extraction) is a method for extracting methane from a coal deposit. Coal bed methane (CBM) is one of the factors restricting the safe production of coal in underground coal mines. It is also a form of high-quality en ...

History

These mountains - like all of South Africa - was originally home to the

Khoisan Khoisan ( ) or () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for the various Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who traditionally speak non-Bantu languages, combining the Khoekhoen and the San people, Sān peo ...

hunter gatherers. The Nguni migrations saw the arrival of the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

herders from the north and the displacement of the Khoisan. The subsequent arrival of the Cape colonists in the area resulted in a series of ' frontier wars' which led to the region's incorporation into the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

. During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, this was the site of the Battle of Stormberg, fought on 9 December 1899.

Gallery

File:R390 road-001.JPG, Highway R390 between

Venterstad Venterstad is a settlement in Walter Sisulu Local Municipality in Joe Gqabi District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Town 43 km south-east of Norvalspont and 65 km west of Burgersdorp It was laid out in 1875 ...

and Steynsburg File:R56 Road-001.JPG, Highway R56 between Steynsburg and Molteno File:Wilson-stormberg-map-121.jpg, Positions at the Battle of Stormberg, 1899

References

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Eastern Cape

Geology

History

Gallery

See also

References