The Sixth Xhosa War breaks out in the Cape Colony

Background. Tensions existed between the various Europeans in the Cape region, between Empire administration and colonial governments, and within the Xhosa Kingdom, where rival chiefs gave Europeans openings to meddle in Xhosa politics. The Dutch East India Company had demarcated the Great Fish River as the colony's eastern boundary in 1779, though many settlers ignored it, leading to the First Cape Frontier War breaking out. The Zuurveld acted as a buffer zone between the Cape Colony and Xhosa territory, while the frontier region saw increasing admixture among Europeans, Khoikhoi, and Xhosa living and trading throughout it.

Outbreak. On 11 December 1834, a Cape government commando party killed a chief of high rank. This act incensed the Xhosa, prompting an army of 10,000 men led by Maqoma, the chief's brother, to sweep across the frontier into the Cape Colony. The forces pillaged and burned homesteads, killing all who resisted, marking the start of severe clashes.

Resolution. The passages record that hostilities finally died down on 17 September 1836, after having continued for nine months; this nine-month span is a passage-stated duration and is not tied by the sources to a specific starting month. D'Urban had come to the frontier in May 1835 and led a large force across the Kei River to confront Hintsa at his Great Place, dictating terms under which the country from the Keiskamma River as far as the Great Kei River was annexed as the British Queen Adelaide Province and its inhabitants declared British subjects. The province was disannexed in December 1836, the Cape's border was re-established at the Keiskamma River, and new treaties were made with the chiefs responsible for order beyond the Fish River.