Durban & KwaZulu-Natal

San hunter-gatherers lived in the Drakensberg for thousands of years and left tens of thousands of paintings in its rock shelters. Nguni-speaking farmers had settled the coast and valleys by the first millennium AD, living in chiefdoms among which the small Zulu clan was one of many. In the 1810s and 1820s Shaka built the Zulu into a powerful military kingdom, absorbing or scattering neighbouring peoples in the upheavals known as the Mfecane.

British traders set up at Port Natal, later Durban, in 1824, and Voortrekkers crossed the Drakensberg in 1837. After their leader Piet Retief was killed at King Dingane's royal kraal, the trekkers defeated a Zulu army at Blood River (Ncome) on 16 December 1838 and founded the Republic of Natalia, annexed by Britain as the colony of Natal in 1843. From 1860 sugar planters brought indentured labourers from India, followed by traders, and Mohandas Gandhi spent two decades in Natal and the Transvaal, developing his tactics of non-violent resistance.

In 1879 Britain invaded the Zulu kingdom. The Zulu army destroyed a British column at Isandlwana, a small garrison held Rorke's Drift the same night, and the kingdom was defeated at Ulundi that July and broken up. The Boer War brought the siege of Ladysmith and the battle of Spion Kop. Under apartheid, KwaZulu was a self-governing homeland under Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who refused nominal independence. Fighting between supporters of his Inkatha Freedom Party and the ANC killed thousands in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the IFP joined the 1994 election only days before the vote. The province has been politically contested ever since.

KwaZulu-Natal is the home of isiZulu, the language spoken at home by more than four fifths of the people and the largest first language in South Africa. The Zulu monarchy retains great cultural weight: the king, currently Misuzulu kaZwelithini, presides over the Umkhosi woMhlanga, or Reed Dance, held at the Enyokeni palace near Nongoma each September, when thousands of young women bring reeds to the king. Beadwork, whose colours and patterns carry messages, and basket weaving from the north are the best-known crafts.

Durban has one of the largest communities of Indian descent outside Asia, most of them descended from the indentured labourers and traders of the 1860s onwards. Hindu temples, the Juma Masjid mosque on Grey Street and festivals such as Diwali and temple firewalking ceremonies are part of city life, and South African Indian English has its own vocabulary. The province also has an English-speaking white community, historically strong in Natal's towns and sugar estates.

Music ranges from maskandi, the guitar-driven Zulu folk music of migrant workers, to the a cappella isicathamiya made famous by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The Shembe church, the Nazareth Baptist Church, is a major independent African church with its headquarters near Durban. The Durban July horse race and the Comrades Marathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg are the sporting fixtures of the year.

About 12.4 million people live in KwaZulu-Natal, the second most populous province. The eThekwini metro around Durban has roughly 4 million, and Pietermaritzburg, the provincial capital, Richards Bay, Newcastle and Ladysmith are the other main centres. Much of the population lives in rural areas, where land is held under traditional authorities and the Ingonyama Trust controls large areas on behalf of the Zulu king.

Durban's port is the busiest container port in sub-Saharan Africa, and the city's economy runs on shipping, manufacturing, the motor industry and tourism from Gauteng. Sugar cane covers the coastal hills, Richards Bay has an aluminium smelter and a big coal export terminal, and the Midlands farm dairy, timber and beef. Durban's Warwick Junction is one of the country's biggest informal markets.

The pace in Durban is relaxed and beach-orientated, with early-morning surfers and weekend family outings to the beachfront. Politics is intense and sometimes deadly, with killings of local councillors a recurring problem. The July 2021 riots, which followed the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma, and the April 2022 floods, which killed more than 400 people around Durban, left lasting damage.

Durban's Indian cooking is the province's best-known cuisine. Durban curry is fiery and red, coloured by chilli, and made with mutton, chicken, prawns or beans. Bunny chow, a hollowed-out quarter, half or whole loaf of white bread filled with curry, was born in Durban and is eaten with the hands. Breyani, a rice dish with meat, chicken or vegetables, and rotis with curry fillings are staples, and Durban's spice shops sell masala blends with names that hint at their heat.

Zulu food centres on maize: phuthu, a crumbly porridge often eaten with amasi, or fermented milk, and meat grilled at weddings and ceremonies. Amadumbe, a root similar to taro, is boiled or roasted, and umqombothi, maize and sorghum beer, is brewed for celebrations. Chakalaka, a spicy vegetable relish, is eaten beside the braai.

The subtropical coast grows litchis, bananas, pineapples, mangoes and avocados, and sugar cane is sold in pieces on roadsides. The Midlands produce cheeses, craft beers and smoked trout.

Durban's sights run along the Golden Mile: uShaka Marine World, the piers of the surfing beaches, and the Moses Mabhida Stadium built for the 2010 World Cup. Inland are the Victoria Street Market and the Juma Masjid, the Durban Botanic Gardens, and the KwaMuhle Museum. North of the city, Umhlanga has its lighthouse and resort hotels, and inland the Valley of a Thousand Hills folds away to the Mgeni River.

The Drakensberg forms the western border. The Amphitheatre in Royal Natal National Park, with the Tugela Falls dropping from its rim, anchors the north; Cathedral Peak, Champagne Castle and Giant's Castle, with its bearded vultures, lie in the centre; the Kamberg area is the heart of the San rock-art region; and in the south the Sani Pass climbs towards Lesotho.

The Midlands centre on Howick, with its waterfall and the sculpture marking the site of Nelson Mandela's arrest in 1962, and the Midlands Meander craft route winds north from there. North of the Tugela, the Zulu battlefields around Dundee include Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift and Blood River, with Ladysmith and Spion Kop from the Boer War.

In the far north-east, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park holds rhinos, elephants, lions and buffalo in rolling hills. iSimangaliso Wetland Park stretches from Lake St Lucia, with its hippos and crocodiles, through the coral reefs of Sodwana Bay to the lakes of Kosi Bay near Mozambique, and uMkhuze Game Reserve lies inland.