Qonce, town, Eastern Cape province, South Africa, west of East London. Founded as a missionary station in 1826, it later (after 1835) served as a military headquarters for British Kaffraria and was named King William’s Town for the British king William IV. It served as a center for German settlement before officially becoming a town in 1861. In 2021, the town was renamed Qonce. The town has a large textile mill and tannery and is nationally known for its many excellent schools. Its Amathole Museum is considered to have the best collection of African mammal specimens in the world. Pop. (2001) 28,118; (2011) 34,019.