Uitenhage (/ˈjuːtənheɪɡ/ YOO-tən-hayg;[3] Afrikaans: [œitənˈɦɑːχə]), officially renamed Kariega,[4] is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province.

Along with the city of Port Elizabeth and the small town of Despatch, it forms the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.

Uitenhage was founded on 25 April 1804 by landdrost (district magistrate) Jacob Glen Cuyler and named in honour of the Cape's Commissioner-General Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist by the Dutch Cape Colony governor, Jan Willem Janssens.

In 1875, the Cape government of John Molteno took over the rudimentary Uitenhage railway site, incorporated it into the Cape Government Railways (CGR), and began construction of the lines connecting Uitenhage to Port Elizabeth and the Southern African interior.

[6] Nearly a hundred years later, as part of the Republic of South Africa, Uitenhage became a centre for resistance against apartheid.

[9] Kariega is situated on the banks of the Swartkops River, approximately 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) north-west of Gqeberha.

Kariega, along with the city of Gqeberha, the neighbouring town of Despatch, the adjoining township of KwaNobuhle and surrounding areas, form the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.