Category: Towns

Empangeni is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is approximately 156 kilometres northeast of Durban, situated in hilly countryside, overlooking a flat coastal plain and the major harbour town of Richards Bay only 15 kilometres away. The N2 freeway runs just east from Empangeni intersecting the John Ross Highway (R34) which connects Empangeni and Richards Bay. The climate is sub-tropical with an average temperature of 28.4 °C in summer and 14.5 °C in Winter. History In 1851, the Norwegian Missionary Society established a mission station on the banks of the eMpangeni river. The river was named after the profusion of Mpange trees (Trema guineensis) growing along its banks. The mission was later moved to Eshowe, 61 kilometres north-west. In 1894 a magistracy was established. The Zululand Railway reached the town in January 1903 and linked the area to Durban and Eshowe. The government planted eucalyptus trees in 1905 as part of an experimental timber plantation. The plantation was a success and led to a large scale planting along the coastal belt. In 1906 Empangeni became a village. Rapid expansion began when a sugar mill was erected at Felixton. The establishment of the Empangeni Sugar Mill set the area on the road to rapid development. Empangeni was officially proclaimed as a township on 15 January 1931 and declared a borough on 13 October 1960. For nearly a year in 1983 and 1984, the town was terrorized by 35-year-old Simon Mpungose, who was called the Hammer Man because he would break into homes in the dead of night and kill the occupants with a hammer before robbing them of their money and jewels. Source: Empangeni – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Port Shepstone is situated on the mouth of the largest river on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the Mzimkulu River (the great home of all rivers). 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of Durban, it is the administrative, educational and commercial centre for southern Natal. History Port Shepstone was founded in 1867 when marble was discovered nearby and is named after Sir Theophilus Shepstone of the Natal government of the 1880s. William Bazley built a harbour and the first coaster entered the harbour on the May 8, 1880. In 1882 a party of 246 Norwegian immigrants settled here and played a large part in the development of the area. After the opening of the railway to Durban in 1901 the harbour fell in disuse and eventually the river silted up again making it impossible to use. The 27,000 candela lighthouse still stands at the mouth of the Mzimkulu River. Source: Port Shepstone – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Newcastle is the third-largest city in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with a total population of 363,236 citizens as of the 2011 census. 56,144 of these citizens reside in Newcastle West, whilst the balance of the population reside in the townships of Madadeni and Osizweni, which form Newcastle East. Newcastle is located in the north west corner of the province along the Ncandu River and is one of the country’s main industrial centers, encompassing four industrial zones. Newcastle covers an area of approximately 222 km2 (86 sq mi) and has a population growth rate of 0.87%, ranking the Newcastle area as South Africa’s tenth-largest city. The upper part of the Drakensberg mountain range curls around the city. The N11 is the principal road running through the city with the R34 being the alternate route. Major roadworks are being undertaken on both routes with the N11 bypass set for realignment south of Newcastle. History The city started as Post Halt Two on the journey between Durban (then Port Natal in Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and Johannesburg. The city was strategically placed in 1854 by the Surveyor General of the Natal Colony, Dr PC Sutherland. It was later known as the Waterfall River Township because of the Ncandu River. In 1864, the town of Newcastle was founded on the site, becoming the fourth settlement to be established in Natal after Durban, Weenen and Pietermaritzburg. Newcastle was named after the British Colonial Secretary, the Duke of Newcastle. In 1876, Fort Amiel was constructed to ward off the Zulus. In 1873 Newcastle became a separate electoral division. To commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond (60th) Jubilee the construction of a sandstone town hall started in 1897, and was completed two years later. The town was used as a depot by the British during both the First and Second Boer War. Newcastle functioned as a major transport junction and popular stopover for wagons and post chaises during the late 19th century. British preparation work for the Pretoria Convention of 1881 was done at Newcastle. In 1890, the first train arrived in Newcastle, and the town was declared a borough in 1891. The discovery of coal brought a new era of prosperity and several ambitious building projects were planned. Newcastle is the seat of the local municipality by the same name as well as being the seat to the Amajuba District Municipality. Source: Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Umhlanga is a residential, commercial and resort town north of Durban on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, created in 2000, which includes the greater Durban area. Commonly and erroneously pronounced (by residents and visitors alike) as Umshlanga (the correct pronunciation of “hl” in Umhlanga is similar to the Welsh “ll”), the name means “place of reeds” in isiZulu. History Umhlanga is named after the Ohlanga River, which reaches the Indian Ocean three kilometres north of the town. The Oyster Box, a luxury hotel since the 1930s, was originally built as a beach cottage in 1869, before the town had even been founded. In 1895, Sir Marshall Campbell founded Umhlanga. The town’s first hotel was established in 1920, followed by a shop, a lighthouse, the Natal Anti Shark Measures Board (today called the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board) and further hotel developments. The Borough of Umhlanga was formed in 1972 through the merger of Umhlanga Rocks, a seaside resort town, and the suburb of La Lucia. In the 1980s, development expanded inland. Umhlanga, specifically the former sugarcane fields of Umhlanga Ridge, has become the focus of development in the greater Durban area with many businesses relocating offices from central Durban (similarly to Sandton forming the new centre of Johannesburg), a move that has been criticized for “fragmenting the urban fabric” and furthering “the new apartheid” in Durban. In 2010, Durban International Airport was moved to La Mercy, near Umhlanga, and reopened as King Shaka International Airport. Source: Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ubombo, is a small town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa about 17km north-east of Mkuze. It takes its name from the Lebombo Mountain range, on which it is situated. Derived from Zulu Lumbombo, ‘high mountain ridge’. The Zulu name for this village is Obonjeni, ‘on the big nose’, i.e. ‘ridge’. The site and remains believed to be those of the camp where Sir David Bruce and his wife Mary worked between 1894 and 1897, and where Bruce discovered the causative agent of nagana, African trypanosomiasis (“sleeping sickness”) and its transmission by the tsetse fly were discovered here. Bethesda district hospital, founded by the Methodist Church is in this village. It started in 1932 and was initially built by Dr Robert Albert Turner who was the medical superintendent after being the District Surgeon and was a mission training hospital. Source: Ubombo – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Durban (Zulu: eThekwini, from itheku meaning “bay/lagoon”) is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. After Johannesburg, the Durban Metropolitan Area ranks second among the most populous urban areas in South-Africa, virtually ex-aequo with Cape Town. It is also the second most important manufacturing hub in South Africa after Johannesburg. It forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the city’s warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches. The municipality, which includes neighbouring towns, has a population of almost 3.5 million, making the combined municipality one of the biggest cities on the Indian Ocean coast of the African continent. The metropolitan land area of 2,292 square kilometres (885 sq mi) is comparatively larger than other South African cities, resulting in a somewhat lower population density of 1,513/km2 (3,920/sq mi). History Archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. These people lived throughout the area of present-day KwaZulu-Natal until the expansion of Bantu farmers and pastoralists from the north saw their gradual displacement, incorporation or extermination. Little is known of the history of the first residents, as there is no written history of the area until it was sighted by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who sailed parallel to the KwaZulu-Natal coast at Christmastide in 1497 while searching for a route from Europe to India. He named the area “Natal”, or Christmas in Portuguese. First European settlers The modern city of Durban dates from 1824, when a party of 25 men under British Lieutenant F. G. Farewell arrived from the Cape Colony and established a settlement on the northern shore of the Bay of Natal, near today’s Farewell Square. Accompanying Farewell was an adventurer named Henry Francis Fynn. Fynn was able to befriend the Zulu King Shaka by helping him to recover from a stab wound he suffered in battle. As a token of Shaka’s gratitude, he granted Fynn a “30-mile [50 km] strip of coast a hundred miles [160 km] in depth.” During a meeting of 35 European residents in Fynn’s territory on 23 June 1835, it was decided to build a capital town and name it “d’Urban” after Sir Benjamin d’Urban, then governor of the Cape Colony. Republic of Natalia The Voortrekkers established the Republic of Natalia in 1838, with its capital at Pietermaritzburg. Reports filtered back to the Cape Colony of mistreatment of the Zulu by the Voortrekkers. The governor of the Cape Colony dispatched a force under Captain Charlton Smith to re-establish British rule in Port Natal. The force arrived on 4 May 1842 and built a fortification that was later to be The Old Fort. On the night of 23/24 May 1842 the British attacked the Voortrekker camp at Congella. The attack failed, and the British had to withdraw to their camp which was put under siege. A local trader Dick King and his servant Ndongeni were able to escape the blockade and rode to Grahamstown, a distance of 600 km (372.82 mi) in fourteen days to raise reinforcements. The reinforcements arrived in Durban 20 days later; the Voortrekkers retreated, and the siege was raised. Fierce conflict with the Zulu population led to the evacuation of Durban, and eventually the Afrikaners accepted British annexation in 1844 under military pressure. British colonial rule A British governor was appointed to the region and many settlers emigrated from Europe and the Cape Colony. The British established a sugar cane industry in the 1860s. Farm owners had a difficult time attracting Zulu labourers to work on their plantations, so the British brought thousands of indentured labourers from India on twenty five-year contracts. As a result of the importation of Indian labourers, Durban has the largest Asian community on the African continent, and has the largest Indian population outside of India. Durban’s historic regalia Coat of arms of the City of Durban (1912–2000) When the Borough of Durban was proclaimed in 1854, the council had to procure a seal for official documents. The seal was produced in 1855 and was replaced in 1882. The new seal contained a coat of arms without helmet or mantling that combined the coats of arms of Sir Benjamin D’Urban and Sir Benjamin Pine. An application was made to register the coat of arms with the College of Arms in 1906, but this application was rejected on grounds that the design implied that D’Urban and Pine were husband and wife. Nevertheless, the coat of arms appeared on the council’s stationery from about 1912. The following year, a helmet and mantling was added to the council’s stationery and to the new city seal that was made in 1936. The motto reads “Debile principium melior fortuna sequitur” — better fortune follows a humble beginning. The blazon of the arms registered by the South African Bureau of Heraldry and granted to Durban on 9 February 1979. The coat of arms fell into disuse with the re-organisation of the South African local government structure in 2000. The seal ceased to be used in 1995. Source: Durban – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia