Historical development of Natal Province

Archaeological evidence shows that people lived in the Kwaina Province area 10,000 years ago. King Shaka, the founder of the Zulu Kingdom, used military conquests and diplomatic activities in the early 19th century to divide the different areas. The tribes formed a unified country, controlling the area from what is now Mozambique in the north to the border of the Eastern Cape in the east. The kingdoms ruled by subsequent heirs became even more famous. The Zulu, the largest group in the province, have traditionally made a living by herding cattle, a nomadic lifestyle that can still be seen in remote rural areas.

As early as the 1820s, the first group of white immigrants arrived in what is now Durban from the Cape Province by boat. Their occupations were merchants and missionaries. At the same time, the Boers, mainly Dutch and French, drove overland carriages to the Longshan area in search of land and settled along the way. Indians came to this province relatively late. In the 1860s, they were trafficked here as prostitutes to work on sugar plantations, and they never returned to their homeland. The Indians who arrived later were mainly engaged in trade, commerce and missionary work.