Oral history has been passed down from generation to generation by the Zulu nation, who were inhabitants of the land before colonisers, but there is no written history of the area until it was sighted by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who sailed parallel to the KwaZulu-Natal coast at Christmastide in 1497 while searching for a route from Europe to India. These people lived throughout the area of KwaZulu-Natal until the expansion of agro-pastoralists and pastoralists from the north saw their gradual incorporation. Durban is an ethnically diverse city, with large Zulu, White, and Indian/ Asian populations.įor a chronological guide, see Timeline of Durban.Īrchaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. Durban is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, and along with Johannesburg is one of the largest cities in Africa. Durban was also one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.ĭurban was formerly named Port Natal due to its position as the chief seaport of South Africa, and its location on the Natal Bay of the Indian Ocean.

Durban forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which includes neighbouring towns and has a population of about 3.44 million, making the combined municipality one of the largest cities on the Indian Ocean coast of the African continent.

Durban ( / ˈ d ɜːr b ə n/ DUR-bən Zulu: eThekwini, from itheku meaning 'the port' also called eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area) is the third-most populous city in South Africa after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal.

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