History

Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese seafarer, arrived in Durban on Christmas Eve in 1497 and called it Terra do Natal which means Christmas Country. Much later in 1824 merchants from the Cape Colony founded the area and called it Port Natal. Under the leadership of Henry Francis Fynn, the merchants reached a contractual agreement with the mighty King Shaka Zulu, authorizing them to establish a trading station. Later in 1835 the town was named Durban after the Cape governor of the time, Sir Benjamin D’Urban.

Durban’s seaport became the largest sugar terminal in the world and today more than 4 million people live in the metropolitan area of Durban.