Vasco Da Gama
On Christmas Day 1497 Vasco Da Gama first landed here, and named the harbour Rio de Natal (Christmas River) in the mistaken belief that it was a lagoon at the mouth of a river, which was later, changed to Port Natal by others who discovered Da Gama's mistake. It probably provided refuge for seafarers at least as early as 1685, and since then a countless number of merchants and sailors travelled for the bay, but the Port Natal settlement only started to evolve in 1823.
Although the harbour had many pirates, shipwrecked souls and slave traders in the intervening years, no one stayed until November 1823 when a group of British merchants from the Cape went ashore and liked it so much that they returned the next year.

The Settlement

With an excellent port established at Delagoa Bay now Maputo, Mozambique, Natal Bay attracted little attention from Europeans until 1824 when Henry Fynn and Francis Farewell used the port to trade ivory.
A contingent of British pioneers, under the leadership of Flynn arrived by ship and started a settlement at Port Natal. The settlement of Port Natal encompassed just 30 people (others were in trading, the hinterland and hunting) and was renamed “Durban” in 23 June 1835 in honour of Cape Governor, Sir Benjamin D'Urban as proclaimed by Captain Allen Gardiner, the newly arrived naval officer. Even then, the bay was one of the few natural harbours along South Africa's eastern coastline. The Phoenicians possibly used it on their epic voyage around Africa 2 700 years ago.

The Zulu

Although the settlers maintained cordial relations with the powerful founder of the Zulu nation to their north matters changed for the worse when Dingane took over. Dingane showed open animosity and aggression, while Shaka instructed his citizens to live in peace with the white settlers. Life in the small harbour town was very uncertain. Natal was regarded by the Zulus as their own territory and merely tolerated the white settlers, because of the usefulness the port was as a trading centre to them.

The Great Trek
In 1837 the Voortrekkers crossed the Drakensberg and founded Pietermaritzburg in 1838, 80-km northwest of Durban. The British settlers at this outpost were therefore quite happy to welcome the Voortrekkers in their midst. The Boers who trekked from the Cape to escape the British rule, found the people at Port Natal quite friendly and made plans to establish their own little republic nearby. The next year, bloody battles with the Zulus ensued and Durban was permanently threatened with the assaults. Dingane played a massive role in the war between British and Boers. First he ambushed and killed the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief, and then sent his armies out to destroy the white intruders. They were beaten back by the Voortrekkers at Blood River and crushed with the help of the British.
After Durban was evacuated during a Zulu raid, the Boers declared control, renaming it Port Natal even though it was reoccupied by a British force later that year, but the Boers stood by their claim.

The Great Trek

For some time after the final defeat of the Zulus, there was peace, until the Voortrekkers and the British began to fight for power over Natal. The brutal conflicts were ultimately decided in favour of the British. In 1844, Natal became a part of the Cape Colony.
The British sent troops to Durban but they were defeated at the Battle of Congella in 1842. The Boers retained control for a month until a British frigate arrived and dislodged them.
In 1842, the Voortrekker republic at Pietermaritzburg, named after Piet Retief and Gert Maritz, was included by the British when they annexed Natal. The Boers promptly retaliated by laying siege to the Old Fort in Durban. Dick King came to the rescue. He escaped on horseback and after ten days arrived in the Cape. He informed the British authorities about the siege and received reinforcements by sea. The Old Fort was freed five weeks later. The Voortrekkers retired to Pietermaritzburg and Natal officially became British and Durban began its growth as a foremost colonial port city.
The first Indian indenture arrived in 1860 to work the canefield and cotton plantations and soon many more Indian labourers arrived including, in 1893, Mohandas Gandhi. Their descendants have lent an exotic dimension to our city. Today, Durban is vastly different from what it was more than a century ago.
With the discovery of gold in the then South African Republic (Transvaal), Durban grew as prospectors poured into the country. An area called The Point on Durban's harbour was the birth of the first railway line in Southern Africa. This railway eventually went all the way to the goldmining areas of the Witwatersrand.

Today Durban is South Africa's busiest port and beach resort. Most of the province of Natal is populated by the north Nguni or Zulu and Durban has a strong infusion of tribal citizens. Durban has the largest Indian population descendants of indentured labourers.
This is the city where Mahatma Gandhi started a political career that eventually led him to great prominence in the struggle for independence in India. Gandhi was invited by a wealthy Moslem client in Durban as a lawyer and not as an indentured worker.
Although Durban is viewed by most as a resort city with deluxe hotels, good beaches and interesting restaurants and night life, it does offer a rich cultural heritage and history.