The first of apartheid South Africa's Bantustans (nominally self-governing 'homelands') to be declared independent, established for the Xhosa people as part of the policy of 'separate development'; internationally unrecognised throughout its existence.
Reincorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994 with the end of apartheid and the country's first non-racial elections; its territory became part of the new Eastern Cape province.
Focused scholarly political-economic study of Transkei's creation, nominal independence, and dependence on South Africa.