The History of KwaZulu-Natal

By Deidré Linden

South Africa is today one of the world=s great trading nations and Natal, the Republic=s smallest but most densely populated Province makes a large contribution to this development with its manufacturing industry and its major port at Durban Harbor.

Natal is on the threshold of great events. All the indicators point to tremendous economic expansion. So vast its potential, so high its growth rate and so scientific its planning that there would appear to be no reason why it should not capture the supreme industrial pinnacle in time.

But alas, upon ascending to the thrown of South Africa=s elite province, Natal experienced a remarkable history worth sharing. In horrific scenes blood was shed, tears were lost en heartache grew, but Natal survived the passing tornado of disruption and bloomed into a beautiful province to be proud of.

A short crash course in geography taught me that Natal was a former province in eastern South Africa, located on the Indian Ocean. The region of Natal is at present contained by the province of KwaZulu-Natal, one of nine provinces established in April 1994, at the time of South Africa=s first free democratic elections. Now the history of this enthralling province stretches back to the Phoenicians. It seems likely that they were those enterprising, fearless navigators who inhabited the Middle East coast, and that already become a sea-faring nation some 3 000 years ago when they supposedly were the first civilized people to set foot in the city of Durban.

But, it was at the beginning of the 19^th century with a Bantu-speaking people, which formed the Nguni-group that first ignited Natal=s spark. Shaka B the great warrior chief, was the chief of the Zulu group that formed a branch of the Nguni. Though his path to leader was very hard, it was indeed very successful. Shaka, the son of the Zulu chieftain but born of a repudiated wife, spent his childhood and youth in exile, stigmatized and humiliated. In his twenties he disguised himself for six years as a warrior in the service of Chief Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa. When Shaka=s father died in 1816, Dingiswayo sent Shaka to rule the Zulu. And with this he immediately reorganized the Zulu fighting force and, with innovations in tactics and weaponry, shaped it into a formidable military machine geared to total warfare. Within in a year, Shaka had quadrupled the number of his subjects and army members by absorbing conquered groups into his Zulu Nation.

But what is not in doubt is that Vasco de Gama, the great Portugese navigator, steered his three small ships, Sao Gabriel, Berreio and Sao Rafael, up the Pondoland coast and named the unknown land, Natal from the portugese word, Christmas, as he arrived in December 1497. European settlement began to establish formidably in 1824 when the British established a trading post at Port Natal, now known as Durban. The Europeans acquired the site from Shaka. Psychologically disturbed throughout his life, and obsessively fearful of being supplanted by an heir, Shaka became clearly deranged by the death of his mother in 1828. Dingane, Shaka=s half-brother and another great South African Zulu chief, formed an alliance with other members of his family and in doing so took part in the assassination of the increasingly despotic Shaka on September 24, 1828. Following this Dingane subsequently murdered his co-conspirators and became king of Zululand.

As king, Dingane tried to end the ten years of continual war, but to keep the kingdom from splintering he was forced to continue Shaka=s repressive policies. In 1835 the Great Trek was formed, that initiated the migration of Afrikaners from the Cape of Good Hope into what is now the northern part of South Africa lasting into the early 1840s. Pieter Retief, an Afrikaner commander, was one of the leaders of the Great Trek. Retief led a group of Voortrekkers in the Orange River area, known presently as the Orange Free State, where he was elected supreme commander. The trekkers, however, divided into two groups, with Retief and his followers wanting to go east, to the region of Natal, and the others wishing to remain in the Orange River country under command of Hendrik Potgieter.

Retief led his group east into Zululand and sought a land concession from the Zulu chief, Dingane, who was deeply suspicious of the Afrikaners. Dingane only agreed to make a land grant on the condition that Retief restore to him cattle that had been stolen by Chief Sekonyela of the Tlokwa. Retief retrieved the cattle and returned them to Dingane in February, with Afrikaners already streaming into Zulu territory, and news reached a nervous Dingane of Potgieter=s victoy over Mzilikazi, another Zulu chief. Dingane took fright and formulated a plan and on February 6, 1838, he invited Retief and his party to a celebration in Dingane=s kraal, where his warriors later massacred and murdered them. As a result, the other Voortrekkers united under Andries Pretorius and made an alliance with Dingane=s brother, Mpande, against Dingane. The death of Retief and his followers was avenged on December 16, 1838, at the Battle of Blood River B one of South Africa=s most gruesome and horrific historic tales. Andried Pretorius killed 3 000 Zulu=s with a force of 500 men. After this defeat, some of Dingane=s followers broke away and followed his brother, Mpande, who collaborated with the Boers to defeat Dingane=s forces in 1839. Retief in his heroic figure became a hero to all and with this his followers created the republic of Natalia which survived until 1843, when it came under British control. Many Afrikaners left when Natal came under British control.

In 1844 Natal was annexed to the Cape Colony, but it was reestablished as a separate colony in 1856. During the second half on the 19^th century, many British immigrated to Natal. Starting in 1860, the British brought indentured laborers from India to work on the sugar plantations in Natal. Later, many free Indians immigrated to Natal; the region today still continues to have the largest Indian population in South Africa.

In 1879 another war between the British and the Zulu in Natal ended with a British victory. Natal gained limited self-government in 1893, and four years later Zululand was officially incorporated into the colony. In 1899 the Anglo-Boer War erupted between South Africa and Great Britain. When gold was discovered in 1884 the found lured thousands of British miners and prospectors to settle in South Africa. The influx being so great that the city of Johannesburg was created almost overnight. The Afrikaners, primarily farmers, resented the newcomers, whom they called Uitlanders or foreigners, and in token of their feeling, taxed them heavily and denied them voting rights. The resentment on both sides grew, utimately leading to a revolt by the Uitlanders against the Afrikaner government.

Ultimately Natal was invaded by Afrikaners in 1899 at the outbreak of the Boer War, but the Afrikaners were driven out by the British in 1900. Ten years later Natal became one of the original provinces of the Union of South Africa. Following the run to independance, Hendrik Verwoerd succeeded in establishing the Union of South Africa into the Republic of South Africa in 1961.

From 1948, with the triumph of the National Party=s election win, South Africa was racially segregated under a system known as apartheid. In the 1950s all black South Africans were divided according to ethnicity and assigned to certain territories called Bantustans, or black homelands. The Bantustan of KwaZulu was created in Natal and designated as a supposed homeland for the Zulu. KwaZulu consisted of many small fragments of land scattered throughout the province. In 1994 following the release of Nelson Mandela some time later, South Africa held its first free democratic elections and then in that same year Natal and the Bantustan of KwaZulu were recombined to form the new province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Today KwaZulu-Natal is a wonderful province. KZN can boast with beautiful recreational sights for all races with beautiful sight-seeing to be done as well. Not only is KZN a picturesque province, but it has a variety of things to offer its visitors. This province is one of the few remaining nature wonderlands in the world; its scenery is varied, it is rich in historical sights and it has a year round sunny climate. KwaZulu-Natal is one of the most popular holiday playgrounds in the Southern Hemisphere.

In conclusion it is my believe that it is an amazing milestone that KwaZulu-Natal survived its formidable past with flying colors. And furthermore I truly believe that KwaZulu-Natal is on the threshold of great events B after all, KZN is now but a mere seed waiting to bloom into something even more spectacular.

THE HISTORY OF NATAL

By Liam Durham

During the past four centuries many thousands of people from Britain and Europe have left their homes and sailed across the oceans in order to make new homes in other countries including South Africa. Many immigrants have come to our country. In the days of Simon van der Stel the French Huguenots settled at the Cape. When the British occupied the Cape for the second time in 1806, the European population of the Cape Colony was about 40,000. By 1819 about 4,000 British were at the Cape. The Dutch by this time numbered about 43,000. Then during the next two years the British population was doubled.

In l820 about 4,000 British settlers arrived at the Cape. They were accustomed to freedom of speech and criticized the government because of the way the emigration scheme had been handled. It was partly because of the settlers' complaints that the British government investigated their grievances. The settlers had a great influence on the development of the country

A serious shortage of land developed because both Europeans and Africans were cattle‑farmers and required extensive grazing land. Quarrels arose over the possession of land on the Cape frontier, and many wars were fought between the African and Europeans.

Pressure on the frontier increased as the Xhosa were being pushed from behind, but at the same time were unable to move forward because of the pressure of the Europeans farms, while the frontier farmers formed commandos and rode off into African territory in search of cattle which had been lost.

Many frontier farmers began to think that there would never be peace and safety on the frontier. The result was that many farmers decided to leave the Colony and go on trek.

Many of the farmers relied on African slave labour. The English and French also entered the slave trade. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a movement to have slavery abolished began. Slave‑owners were angry when these laws were applied in the Cape Colony, they thought the laws were unnecessary and an interference with private property. Finally in August 1833 the British parliament passed an Act abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire.

The slave‑owners in the Colony suffered many hardships, as the loss of so much money was a serious blow to a poor colony. The farmers also feared that the liberation of thousands of slaves would increase lawlessness and idleness, and that there would be a shortage of labour on the farms. Many frontier farmers were so indignant that they decided to trek from the Colony. Piet Retief published their grievances in the Grahamstown Journal on the 2.2.1837.

CONDITIONS IN THE INTERIOR OF SOUTH AFRICA

In the interior lived African tribes. The African tribes of southern Africa consisted of people whose ancestors migrated from parts of central Africa three or four hundred years ago. This migration was really a form of natural expansion, for as area became overcrowded with increasing population there was insufficient grazing or arable land for everyone.

In Natal the first settlement on the shores of Durban Bay was established in 1824 when two Englishmen, Lieutenants Farewell and King, obtained a grant of land from the Zulu king Shaka. Soon other Englishmen arrived and started to trade in ivory. In 1835 an ex‑naval officer, Captain Gardiner, settled at Port Natal to do missionary work, and in the same year the town of Durban was founded. Gardiner persuaded Dingaan, who became chief of the Zulu in 1828, to allow another missionary, Rev. Francis Owen, to establish a mission station near the kraal called Umgungundhlovu.

In the area now called Zululand lived a number of independent groups of the Nguni tribe. One group called the Mthethwa under their chief Dingiswayo were stronger that the other. This group grew more and more powerful. One of his warriors was Shaka the son of the chief of the Zulu group. In 1816 when his father died, Shaka became chief of the Zulu people. Shaka became the most powerful chief of all the groups in the country called Zululand.

THE FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLERS IN NATAL.

For three hundred years after Vasco da Gama had sailed along the coast of Natal, passing the area now called Natal at Christmas time, ships of trading companies passed the entrance to the bay which was later called Port Natal, but little use was made of the vast inlet. The reason for this was that a sandbar guarded the entrance to the bay and prevented large ships from entering. Nevertheless from time to time a passing vessel would anchor outside the bay and send a small boat nosing in for food and water.

The British navy surveyed the whole coast as far as Delagoa Bay, and this aroused the interest of trading companies of the Cape Colony in the possibilities of trading with the area Natal. The first two traders on the scene were Lieutenants James Saunders King and Francis Farewell, who had served in the British navy during the Napolionic wars. King found sanctuary in the bay in1822 and charted it before sailing for the Cape. In 1824 Farewell, accompanied by Henry Francis Fynn and several other adventurers, sailed for Natal in two vessels. They hoped to trade with the Zulu people. Fynn became a favourite with Shaka as he had knowledge of medicine and attended to one of Shaka's wound. Shaka was so grateful that on 7 August 1825 he granted to Farewell and his followers all the land around Port Natal and extending a hundred miles inland.

The settlers at the port were then able to commence the trade in ivory, skins and gum which was the beginning of the great commercial city of Durban. ‑ Meanwhile the ivory traders were exploring the country to the south of Port Natal.

The settlers had also been building their huts of wattle and daub with thatched roofs and reed doors. The traders were able to enjoy wild fruits and bananas, which grew well in this climate. Farewell's wife, Elizabeth, who had been separated from her husband for two and a half years, arrived at the port. She was the first European woman to settle in Natal.

Shaka was assassinated by Dingaan, who became king of the Zulu people. Francis Farewell was the founder of the settlement in Natal. Natal was attracting attention in the Colony and new men began to appear on the scene. Dr. Andrew Smith, a military surgeon at the Cape, reported with enthusiasm about the opportunities offered by Natal, and consequently many Cape Town inhabitants petitioned the government in favour of the occupation of Natal.

Early in 1835 Captain Allen Francis Gardiner established a mission station on the ridge overlooking the Bay. He called his station Berea, a name which this area of Durban still bears. Gardiner was responsible for the calling of a public meeting on 23 June 1835 for the purpose of organizing the settlement. When a suitable place had been found, the settlers were each given a plot of ground on condition that they built decent houses of a certain size. Land was also set aside for the building of a church, a school and a market place. Gardiner suggested that the new town should be named Durban in honour or the governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin D'Urban.

Meanwhile one of the Voortrekkers Piet Retief who had left the Cape in 1837 arrived in Natal and received a warm welcome from the few British settlers at Port Natal. He sent a letter of greetings to Dingaan telling him of his wish to visit the royal kraal to discuss the question of land. Dingaan was willing to grant the Trekkers land on condition that certain cattle stolen by another chief were restored. This Retief did. Dingaan was becoming afraid of the Boers with their firearms and horses. Retief returned to the royal kraal to make final arrangements about the land. Dingaan killed Retief and his men. The impis were sent out to attack the rest of the Trekkers who were spread out along the various rivers near the present towns of Escourt, Weenen and Colenso. After these attacks some of the Trekkers left Natal and settled in Potchefstroom. The Zulu warriors then attacked Durban, the British there being forced to take refuge in a ship anchored in the bay.

In November 1838 the last of the Voortrekker leaders to leave the Colony, Andries Pretorius arrived. Pretorius gathered together a commando of 464 men and travelled into Zululand. About a week later the commando occupied a position on the banks of a river, which was later called Blood River. On the 16 December, about 10,000 Zulu stormed the laager, wave after wave, but the fire of the Trekkers mowed them down as they rushed at the wagons. The Zulu withdrew. The position of the Boers was strengthened when Panda, a half‑brother of Dingaan, joined the Boers. They inflicted another severe defeat on the Zulu king, who fled into Swaziland and was killed by the Swazis. The Voortrekkers now established the Republic of Natal, with the capital at Pietermaritzburg.

THE REPUBLIC OF NATAL

The republic stretched from the Tugela to the Umzimvubu River in the south. There were three districts: Pietermaritzburg, Port Natal and Weenen. They elected a volksraad a law‑making body. Andries Pretorius was made the commandant‑general of the republic, and was still regarded as the leader of the people. The Republic of Natal lasted three years only, for in May 1843 Britain annexed the territory and made it a British colony. Resulting from reports reached in Cape Town that the relationships between the Boers in Natal and the Africans were causing trouble, Sir George Napier, sent a force of 260 men under Captain T.C. Smith to the southern borders of Natal to see what was happening.

The Boers, led by Pretorius, decided to force the British out of Natal. They summoned the commando to come to their assistance from Winburg. The Boers were encamped at a place called Congella, about 3 miles from the British camp, which was at a spot today known as the Old Fort. The British camp was besieged. Dick King, an English trader at the port escaped from Port Natal, and rode to Grahamstown for reinforcements. The siege lasted for almost a month. Then British reinforcements arrived at Port Natal; the Boers withdrew and in July 1842 the volksraad surrendered. About a year later Britain decided to annex Natal, and sent an official, Henry Cloete, to reach an agreement with the Voortrekkers. They were not prepared to accept the British policy of equality between the Africans and the Europeans or remain under British rule. Many of the Voortrekkers immediately packed their wagons and re‑crossed the Mountains

The British took control in 1843, and the territory became part of the Cape Colony, subsequently reverting to separate colonial status in1856. Zulu resistance was finally crushed by the British in 1879, and the colony was granted self‑government in 1893.

During the South African Wars (Boer Wars), the colony was invaded by the Boer army, but reverted to British rule in 1902 after the Boer defeat. In 1910 Natal was incorporated into the newly created Union of South Africa.

KWA‑ZULU NATAL

The 1980's and the 1990's witnessed a bitter, violent conflict between rival supporters of the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party led by Chief Mangosutu Buthelezi. About 10,000 people were killed and conflict has impeded the province's economic development. Following the election of a democratic South African government, KwaZulu‑Natal became one of nine provinces in May 1994. Chief Buthelezi became Minister of Home Affairs in the Government of National Unity. It is the only province with a monarchy explicitly provided for in the 1993 constitution, and the reigning Zulu king of KwaZulu‑Natal is Goodwill Zwelithina. The provincial assembly and premier are elected for five‑ year terms, or until the next national election. Political parties are awarded assembly seats based on the percentage of votes that each party receives in the province during the national elections. The assembly elects a premier, who then appoints the members of the executive council.