In colonial times it was defined as consisting of the districts of Emjanyana, Engcobo, Mqanduli, Umtata, St Marks, Southeyville and Xalanga.

The Thembu Paramount-Chief, Ngangelizwe, had sought to unite the Xhosa federations including the Pondo and Bomvana tribes against the Cape Colony, but failed after an invasion by Sarili kaHintsa of the amaTshawe clan.

[2] Facing severe military pressure from the combined armies of his enemies, Chief Ngangelizwe and his Ministers approached the nominally-independent Cape Colony to negotiate alliance and possible incorporation.

[6] The Cape government agreed to these terms and signed them into law with the Tembuland Annexation Act (1876), creating the magisterial districts of Xalanga, St. Marks, Elliot and Engcobo.

[7][8] The resignation of the controversial Thembu King Ngangelizwe, in favour of his successor, had initially been demanded by the Cape government as a precondition for annexation, but this condition was waived as being impractical.

Traditional land ownership was fully recognised and, with the exception of a few missionaries and white traders, Thembuland was preserved for Thembu occupation, as part of the "Transkeian territories".

Thembuland also submitted troops to the Frontier Armed forces of the Cape Colony, who, in this capacity, fought several victorious campaigns against their Gcaleka and Mpondo enemies.

This was initially intended to prevent the dispossession of the Thembu by aggressive settlers, however in the ensuing political upheavals, the law was badly enforced.

From the 1880s, the pro-imperialist governments of Prime Ministers John Gordon Sprigg and Cecil Rhodes turned a blind eye to white incursions.

The Government of Cecil Rhodes passed legislation, such as the Parliamentary Registration Act, that severely curtailed the voting rights of the Thembu and all Black African citizens of the Cape.