Map of KwaZulu-Natal

History

On Christmas Day 1497, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama saw the coast of Natal and named the site after the Portuguese word for Christmas, Natal. The Nguni branch of the Bantu occupied this area from the early 1300s.

The first European settlers, mostly British, established Port Natal, a trading post. They made almost no attempt to develop the interior, whose inhabitants had been decimated by the Zulu king, Shaka. The Afrikaner Voortrekkers entered the area via the Drakensberg passes in 1837. These Afrikaners defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838 and thereafter established the Republic of Natal. Thus, the territory was once part of a short-lived Boer republic between 1839 and 1843 until its annexation by Britain.

Geography

At around 92,100 km2 (35,600 sq mi) in area, KwaZulu-Natal is roughly the size of Portugal. It has three different geographic areas and is the eastern most province in the country. The lowland region along the Indian Ocean coast is extremely narrow in the south, widening in the northern part of the province, while the central Natal Midlands consists of an undulating hilly plateau rising toward the west. Two mountainous areas, the western Drakensberg Mountains and northern Lebombo Mountains form, respectively, a solid basalt wall rising over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) beside Lesotho border and low parallel ranges of ancient granite running southward from Eswatini. The area's largest river, the Tugela, flows west to east across the center of the province.

Economy

KwaZulu-Natal has the second largest regional economy in the country after Gauteng. Durban is a rapidly growing urban area and is by most measures the busiest port in Africa. A good railway network links the city to other areas of Southern Africa.

Sugar refining is Durban's main industry. Sheep, cattle, dairy, citrus fruits, corn, sorghum, cotton, bananas, and pineapples are also raised. There is an embryonic KwaZulu-Natal wine industry. Other industries, located mainly in and around Durban, include textile, clothing, chemicals, rubber, fertiliser, paper, vehicle assembly and food-processing plants, tanneries, and oil refineries.

Demographics

As of the 2022 census, KwaZulu-Natal had a population of 12,423,907, an increase of 21.0% from the prior census in 2011. It is the second-most populous of South Africa's nine provinces. The median age is 28, an increase of 6 years from 2011.

In the 2022 census, 84.8% of the population described themselves as Black African, 9.3% as Indian/Asian, 4.1% as White, and 1.5% as Coloured. A large majority of Black African people in the province are Zulu. KwaZulu-Natal has the largest Indian population in South Africa, with a majority of all Indian South Africans living in the province.