Dikeni | Formerly Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa, & History | Britannica

Dikeni, town, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. It lies on the southwestern bank of the Tyume River, west-northwest of East London, at an elevation of 1,720 feet (524 m). The town began as a mission station established by the Glasgow Missionary Society for the Xhosa people in 1824. It was named Alice, after Princess Alice (a daughter of Queen Victoria), and became the seat of a magistracy in 1847 and a town in 1852. Alice was renamed Dikeni in 2016. Livestock, citrus fruits, and tobacco are raised on the surrounding undulating coastal plateau. Lovedale Training College and University of Fort Hare (1916), South Africa’s oldest Black African university (though it now accepts non-Black students as well), are located near the town. It has road and rail connections with East London. Pop. (2001) 35,694.