It covered the eastern parts of Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, and changed its makeup several times over the course of its existence.

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place.

[1] As initially created, Pretoria East covered the eastern half of its namesake city, and was one of relatively few seats in Transvaal outside Johannesburg to be held by the Unionist Party.

Notably, in the first House of Assembly election in 1910, Prime Minister Louis Botha stood in the seat and lost to Unionist candidate J. P. Fitzpatrick.

In its final boundaries, delineated in 1981, it covered the outer eastern suburbs of Pretoria, and like other such seats across South Africa, it was an NP stronghold.