`l-nätäl`), province (1995 est. pop. 8,713,000), 33,578 sq mi (86,967 sq km), E South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. Formerly Natal province, in the constitution of 1994 it was renamed KwaZulu-Natal.
Land and People
The province has two capitals, Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (pē'tərmăr`ĭtsbûrg'), city (1991 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. and Ulundi Ulundi (l
..... Click the link for more information. ; the largest city is Durban Durban (dûr`bən), city (1991 pop. 473,826), KwaZulu-Natal, E South Africa, on Natal Bay, an arm of the Indian Ocean.
..... Click the link for more information. . The province is bounded on the north by Mozambique, Swaziland, and Mpumalanga and on the west by Free State, Lesotho, and Eastern Cape; a small portion of Eastern Cape also forms an enclave in S Natal. The province rises from a narrow (except in the north) coastal belt to an inland region fringed in the west by the Drakensberg Range, whose highest point in Natal is c.11,200 ft (3,410 m). The Tugela River flows west to east across the center of the province.
Sugar refining is the main industry. Sheep, cattle, citrus fruits, corn, sorghum, cotton, bananas, and pineapples are also raised. Industries, located mainly in and around Durban, include (besides sugar refineries) textile, clothing, rubber, fertilizer, paper, and food-processing plants, tanneries, and oil refineries. There large aluminum-smelting plants at Richards Bay, on the central coast. The province produces considerable coal (especially coking coal) and timber. It has a good rail network; Durban is one of South Africa's major ports. About 75% of the population is black. During apartheid, a large percentage were forced to live in Bantu homelands (Bantustans), which had a subsistence economy based on cattle raising and corn growing. The main institutions of higher education are the Univ. of Natal (Durban and Pietermaritzburg) and the Univ. of Durban. Natal National Park in the Drakensberg Range includes falls (c.2,800 ft/850 m) of the Tugela River.
History
In the early 19th cent. the area was inhabited primarily by Bantu-speaking Zulu people. In the 1820s and 30s the British acquired much of Natal from the Zulu chiefs Shaka Shaka (shä`kä), d. 1828, paramount chief (1818–28) of the Zulus.
..... Click the link for more information. and Dingane. Afrikaner farmers (Boers Boer (b
r, bôr) [Du.
..... Click the link for more information. ) arrived (see Trek, Great Trek, Great (trĕk), the journey by Afrikaner farmers ( Boers ) who left the Cape Colony to escape British domination and eventually
..... Click the link for more information. ) in 1837 and, after battles with the Zulu (notably the Boer victory over Dingane at Blood River in 1838), established (1838–39) a republic. In 1843, Britain annexed Natal to Cape Colony, and a Boer exodus followed. In 1856, Natal became a separate colony. Sugarcane cultivation began c.1860, and many Indians (mostly indentured laborers) came to work in the sugar industry. Many Indians remained in Natal after their indenture expired; by 1900 they outnumbered whites. In 1893, Natal was given internal self-government; in 1910 it became a founding province of the Union (now Republic) of South Africa. In the 1980s and early 1990s, KwaZulu-Natal was wracked by conflict between the African National Congress African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black (now multiracial) political organization in South Africa; founded in 1912. Prominent in its opposition to apartheid , the organization began as a nonviolent civil-rights group.
..... Click the link for more information. and the Zulu-nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party, under the leadership of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi Buthelezi, Mangosuthu Gatsha (Ashpenaz Nathan Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi)
..... Click the link for more information. ; fighting has since diminished.
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