A curated set of 13 early-to-mid-19th-century paintings, sketches and manuscript items related to colonial frontier and landscape history in Southern Africa.
The “The Frontier Wars” item set is a significant thematic collection within the Cory Library and Historical Archives’ digital holdings, documenting the series of conflicts along the Eastern Cape frontier between Indigenous Xhosa groups and colonial forces during the 18th and 19th centuries. These wars — often referred to as the Xhosa Wars in historical literature — were a defining feature of colonial expansion in southern Africa, significantly shaping the region's political, social, and geographic landscape. The collection brings together archival images, maps, and textual records that illuminate aspects of military engagements, frontier settlements, and the broader human experience of conflict on the Eastern Cape frontier.
