Griqualand, 1903

The Griqua people are a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin (mainly Dutch and Khoikhoi) who, like the Boers, trekked away from the Cape Colony and established several short-lived states. Griqualand West, in the Northern Cape Province, near Kimberley, was where diamonds were discovered in 1867, leading to annexation by the British in 1871. A group under their leader Adam Kok III settled between the Umzimkulu and Kinira Rivers, south of Basutoland (Lesotho), in 1862 - Griekwaland-Oos (Griqualand East). Here Adam Kok III founded Kokstad in 1872. In 1874 the British assumed direct control of the territory and annexed it into the Cape Province in 1879. In 1994 it became part of KwaZulu-Natal. The Griqua nation is not known to have used a flag in those days, but in about 1903, they adopted one as a symbol uniting the widely scattered Griqua communities. It is the inverse of the Transvaal “Vierkleur” (‘Four colours’), the flag of the South African Republic, but with the green stripe at the fly.