Shaka—thus its name "Nomansland". By the time the Griquas arrived in their new promised land eighteen months later they were exhausted and most of their livestock had perished. The impoverished Griquas named the mountain where they settled Mount Currie after Sir Walter Currie who gave support to their effort to settle here. Once settled their leader, Adam Kok, renamed their new land East Griqualand. Every male Griqua who settled in East Griqualand was able to secure a farm, but most of them sold their land cheaply to white settlers and squandered their money. The Rev William Dower in his 1902 book The Early Annals of Kokstad describes in great detail how cheaply the Griqua gave their farms away. When, in 1869, the Reverend William Dower was asked by the Griqua to establish a mission, he agreed on condition that they resettle in a more suitable place on the banks of the Mzimhlava river. Two prominent European settlers George Brisley and Donald Strachan played a major role in the early development of Kokstad and East Griqualand: their trading store, Strachan and Co, in 1874 introduced South Africa's first indigenous currency—a set of trade tokens which circulated across a wide region, covering an area the size of Ireland. Confirmation that the Strachan and Co coins circulated as money in the region at this time comes from the local Standard Bank at Kokstad and the managing director of Strachan and Co. In 1878 East Griqualand came into the possession of Cape Colony. The first hotel in Kokstad, The Royal, was opened by an African-American who also started a newspaper (the Kokstad Advertiser) in 1881. Kokstad became a municipality in 1892. In 1904 the population was recorded at 2903 whom a third were Griquas. The town was transferred to Natal province in 1978. Today the population of Kokstad lies at just over 50,000 people. Cultural assets Stemming from a relatively old farming community, Kokstad rose from the lands beneath Mount Currie. Many old buildings and monuments have been erected that are now considered to be National Heritage Sites. The Adam Kok Monument (Griqua): The monument commemorates the leadership of the Griqua, Adam Kok, who, after leading the Griquas from the Southern Free State to Griqualand East during the 1860s, died after a fall off a cart in 1875. The monument is situated next to the police station of Kokstad. Kokstad Bandstand (British Colonial): The