Colony of Natal

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

The economy of the colony is mainly based on the cultivation of sugar cane. As the local population refused to work on the sugar plantations, workers from British India were recruited from 1860 to a large extent. The Indian population surpassed already in the 1890s, the number of European, including German -born, settler. Today in Durban there is the largest community of Indian origin outside India.

To investigate the geological conditions and natural resources, the Government Established in 1901, the Geological Survey of Natal and Zululand.

1910 Natal was united with the Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal Colony Union of South Africa and from then formed the province of Natal (since 1994 KwaZulu- Natal) in South Africa.