Durban Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == History == {{For timeline}} Archaeological evidence from the [[Drakensberg]] mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of [[hunter-gatherer]]s since [[Middle Paleolithic|100,000 BC]]. These people lived throughout the area of [[KwaZulu-Natal]] until the [[Bantu expansion|expansion of agro-pastoralists and pastoralists]] from the north saw their gradual incorporation. [[Oral history]] has been passed down from generation to generation by the Zulu nation, who were inhabitants of the land before colonisers, but there is no [[Recorded history|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 {{Lang|pt|Natal}}, meaning "Christmas" in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]].<ref name=walker1>{{cite book|title = A History of Southern Africa|author=Eric A. Walker|publisher=Longmans|orig-year = 1928|year = 1964|location = London|chapter = Chapter I: The discovery}}</ref> === Abambo people === In 1686, a ship from the [[Dutch East India Company]] named ''Stavenisse'' was wrecked off the eastern coast of South Africa. Some of the survivors made their way to the Bay of Natal (Durban) where they were taken in by the "Abambo" tribe ([[Hlubi people]]), which was led by Chief [[Langalibalele]]. The crew became fluent in the tribe's language and witnessed their customs. The tribe told them that the land where the Abambo people lived was called Embo by the natives and that the people were very hospitable.{{cn|date=December 2023}} On 28 October 1689, the [[galiot]] ''Noord'' travelled from Table Bay to the Bay of Natal to fetch the surviving crew of the ''Stavenisse'' and to negotiate a deal for purchasing the bay. The ''Noord'' arrived on 9 December 1689, whereafter the [[Dutch Cape Colony]] purchased the Bay of Natal from the Abambo people for £1,650. A formal contract was drawn up by Laurens van Swaanswyk and signed by the chief of the Abambo people, with the crew of the ''Stavenisse'' acting as translators.<ref>History of South Africa 1486 - 1691, George McCall Theal, London 1888.</ref> === First European colonisers === By 1822, James Saunders King, captain of the British ship {{ship||Salisbury|1818 ship|2}}, together with [[Francis Farewell|Lt. Francis George Farewell]], both men being former [[Royal Navy]] officers from the [[Napoleonic Wars]], were engaged in trade between the [[Cape Colony|Cape]] and [[Maputo Bay|Delagoa Bay]]. On a return trip to the Cape in 1823, they were caught in a severe storm and decided to risk the Bar and anchor in the Bay of Natal. The crossing went off well and they found safe anchor from the storm. Lt. King decided to map the Bay and named the "Salisbury and Farewell Islands". In 1824 Lt. Farewell, together with a trading company called J. R. Thompson & Co., decided to open trade relations with [[Shaka]], the Zulu King, and establish a trading station at the Bay. [[Henry Francis Fynn]], another trader at Delagoa Bay, was also involved in this venture.{{cn|date=December 2023}} Fynn left Delagoa Bay and sailed for the Bay of Natal on the brig ''Julia'', while Farewell followed six weeks later on the ''Antelope''. Between them they had 26 possible settlers, although only 18 stayed. On a visit to King Shaka, Henry Francis Fynn succeeded in befriending the king by helping him recover from a stab wound that he had suffered as a result of an assassination attempt by one of his half-brothers. As a token of his gratitude King Shaka granted Fynn a "25-mile strip of coast a hundred miles in depth".{{cn|date=December 2023}} On 7 August 1824, they concluded negotiations with King Shaka for a cession of land, including the Bay of Natal and land extending {{cvt|10|mi|disp=flip}} south of the Bay, {{cvt|25|mi|disp=flip}} north of the Bay and {{cvt|100|mi|disp=flip}} inland. Farewell took possession of this grant and raised the [[Union Jack]] with a Royal Salute, which consisted of four cannon shots and twenty musket shots. Only six of the original eighteen would-be settlers remained, and these six can be regarded as the founders of Port Natal as a British colony. These six were joined by Lt. James Saunders King and [[Nathaniel Isaacs]] in 1825.{{cn|date=December 2023}} The modern city of Durban thus dates from 1824, when the settlement was established on the northern shores of the bay near today's Farewell Square.<ref name=walker7>{{cite book |title = A History of Southern Africa|author=Eric A. Walker|publisher=Longmans|orig-year = 1928|year = 1965|location = London|chapter = Chapter VII: The period of change 1823–36}}</ref> 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 [[Benjamin D'Urban|Sir Benjamin D'Urban]], who was the governor of the Cape Colony at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover-durban/our-durban/history/naming |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071103144254/http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover-durban/our-durban/history/naming|archive-date= 3 November 2007|title= The Names and the Naming of Durban|access-date=9 July 2008|author=Adrian Koopman|publisher=Natalia, the Journal of the Natal Society}}</ref> === Republic of Natalia === {{Main| Battle of Congella}} The [[Voortrekkers]] established the [[Natalia Republic|Republic of Natalia]] in 1839, with its capital at [[Pietermaritzburg]].{{cn|date=December 2023}} Tension between the Voortrekkers and the Zulus prompted the governor of the Cape Colony to dispatch a force under Captain Charlton Smith to establish British rule in Natal, for fear of losing British control 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 {{convert|600|km|abbr=on}} in fourteen days to raise reinforcements. The reinforcements arrived in Durban 20 days later; the Voortrekkers retreated, and the siege was lifted.<ref name=bulpin12>{{cite book|title = Natal and the Zulu Country|author=T.V. Bulpin|publisher=T.V. Bulpin Publications|orig-year = 1966|year = 1977|location = Cape Town |chapter = Chapter XII: Twilight of the Republic}}</ref> Fierce conflict with the [[Zulu people|Zulu]] population led to the evacuation of Durban, and eventually the [[Afrikaner]]s accepted British annexation in 1844 under military pressure.{{cn|date=December 2023}} ====Durban's historic regalia==== 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".{{cn|date=December 2023}} 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/za-kn-dur.html |title=Durban (South Africa) – Flags of the World |author=Bruce Berry |date=8 May 2006 |access-date=8 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613221018/http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/FLAGS/za-kn-dur.html |archive-date=13 June 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.ngw.nl/int/zaf/d/durban.htm |title = Durban – Civic Heraldry of South Africa |author = Ralf Hartemink |access-date = 8 July 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101205062839/http://www.ngw.nl/int/zaf/d/durban.htm |archive-date = 5 December 2010 |url-status = dead}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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