British Kaffraria was a British colony/subordinate administrative entity in present-day South Africa, consisting of the districts now known as Qonce and East London. It was also called Queen Adelaide's Province and, unofficially, British Kaffiria and Kaffirland. The British Kaffraria was established in 1847 when the British colonial government in the Cape Colony annexed the Ciskei region between the Keiskamma and Great Kei rivers and declared it a Crown Colony. Just 17 years later, it was incorporated into the Cape Colony after the Xhosa people suffered from a great famine following the Xhosa cattle-killing movement of 1856-7 and required relief from the British colonial government in the Cape Colony. The term Kaffraria stems from the derogative word "Kaffir" which was used as a term for the Black African inhabitants of southern Africa. The word is derived from the Arabic kafir that is usually translated into English as "disbeliever" or "non-believer", i.e. a non-Muslim or "one without religion". The word was originally applied to non Muslims in general, and therefore to non-Muslim black peoples encountered along the Swahili coast by Arab traders. The word "Kaffraria" came to refer specifically to the Xhosa lands in what is now the Eastern Cape. Later, the western Xhosa lands which fell under British rule came to be known as British Kaffraria, while the still independent Xhosa territory to the east in the Transkei region was known simply as Kaffraria proper and would be incorporated into the Cape Colony later. A subsection of British Kaffraria was later reconstituted by the apartheid regime as the semi-independent homeland of Ciskei. Colonial rule Similar to elsewhere in Southern Africa, the aboriginal inhabitants of the area were the Khoisan hunter gatherers and herders. Early on, these peoples were displaced by the Bantu expansion, when it crossed the Kei river from the north. The area was consolidated under the rule of a branch of the Xhosa people. Xhosa rule The native Xhosa were ruled by the Ngqika ("Gaika") chiefs (part of the Rarabe offshoot of the main Xhosa line): Ngqika ka Rarabe (the founding Chief), 1797 – 13 November 1829 Mgolombane Sandile, 13 November 1829 – 1 June 1878 British rule The territory came under British rule in the 19th century. However, there was great disagreement on how it should be governed, with the Cape Colony being reluctant to take responsibility for its administration. Its status therefore changed several times before it