Natal Colony

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Natal colony location
Flag of the British Colony of Natal
View over Sandy Bay and The Point to the Bluff Peninsula (1878)

The colony Natal (stress on the second syllable) was a British colony in southern Africa . On May 4, 1843, the British annexed the Republic of Natalia, founded by Boer settlers, and declared the area part of the Cape Colony . In 1856 Natal became an independent colony, the capital being Pietermaritzburg . The Kingdom of Zululand was also administered from Natal after the Zulu War in 1879 . In 1897 Zululand was finally annexed to Natal, making the colony about twice its original size.

The colony's economy was mainly based on the cultivation of sugar cane , which was exported through the port of Durban . Since the local population refused to work on the sugar cane plantations, workers from British India were recruited on a large scale from 1860 onwards . The population of Indian descent exceeded the number of European settlers as early as the 1890s, including settlers of German descent. Today, Durban has the largest Indian community in a city outside of India.

In 1901, the government set up the Geological Survey of Natal and Zululand to research geological conditions and mineral resources .

In 1910 Natal was united with the Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal Colony to form the South African Union and henceforth formed the Province of Natal ( KwaZulu-Natal since 1994 ) in South Africa.

literature

  • Robert Russell: Natal. The Land and Its Story . JM Dent, London 1899 ( archive.org ).
  • Robert James Mann: The Colony of Natal. An Account of the Characteristics and Capabilities of This British Dependency . Jarrold and Sons, London 1859 ( archive.org ).
  • Joseph Forsyth Ingram: The Colony of Natal. An Official Illustrated Handbook and Railway Guide . J. Causton, London 1895 ( archive.org ).
  • SW Silver & Co (Ed.): SW Silver and Company's Handbook to South Africa. Including the Cape Colony, Natal, the Diamond Fields, the Transvaal, Orange Free State, etc . 3rd revised edition. SW Silver, London 1880 ( archive.org ).
  • John C. Noble (Ed.): Illustrated Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa. A Résumé of the History, Conditions Populations, Productions and Resources of the Several Colonies, States an Territories . JC Juta, Cape Town / Johannesburg 1893 ( archive.org ).
  • Henry Brooks, Robert James Mann: Natal, a History and Description of the Colony. Including Its Natural Features, Productions, Industrial Condition and Prospects . L. Reeve, London 1876 ( archive.org ).
  • William Clifford Holden: History of the colony of Natal, South Africa . A. Heylin, London 1855 ( archive.org ).
  • Walter Peace: Our Colony of Natal . E. Stanford, London 1883.
  • George McCall Theal : South Africa. The Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State South African Republic, Rhodesia, and all other Territories South of the Zambesi . GP Putnam's Sons, New York 1900 ( archive.org ).
  • Edgar Harry Brookes, Colin de B. Webb: A history of Natal . University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg 1965.
  • George McCall Theal : History of South Africa Swan Sunshine, London
    • Volume 4. The Republics and Native Territories from 1854 to 1872. 1900, archive.org
    • Volume 5. From 1873 to 1884, Twelve Eventful Years, with Continuation of the History of Galekaland, Tembuland, Pondoland, and Bethshuanaland until the Annexation of those Territories to the Cape Colony, and of Zululand until its Annexation to Natal . 1919 Volume 1, archive.org ; Volume 2, archive.org


Coordinates: 30 °  S , 30 °  E