Durban
Divi Group Real Estate Litigation Case
June 2018 – August 2018
Lieutenant James King was captain of the ship Salisbury in 1822. Lt. Francis George Farewell and Lieutenant James King, both ex-Royal Navy officers of the Napoleonic Wars, were involved in trade between Delagoa Bay and the Cape.
They were caught in a severe storm while returning to Cape in 1823. They were able to find a safe anchor after the storm, and their crossing was successful. Lt. King mapped the Bay and named it the “Salisbury” and “Farewell Islands.” In 1824, Lt. Farewell and J. R. Thompson & Co. established a trading station in the Bay.
Henry Francis Fynn was another trader from Delagoa Bay. Fynn left Delagoa Bay to sail for the Bay of Natal aboard the brig Julia. Farewell followed six months later on the Antelope.
They had 26 potential settlers between them, but only 18 of them stayed. Henry Francis Fynn made a friend of King Shaka by helping him recover from a stabbing wound he sustained in an attack by one of his half brothers. Fynn was given a 25-mile stretch of coast that was 100 miles deep as a token of Shaka’s appreciation.
They reached an agreement with King Shaka on 7 August 1824 to a cession of land. This included the Bay of Natal, ten miles south of it and twenty-five miles north of it.
It also provides land stretching a hundred miles inland. Farewell obtained this grant and raised the Union Jack with a Royal Salute.
It consisted of four cannon shots as well as twenty musket shots. Only 6 of the 18 original settlers remained and can be considered the founders of Port Natal, a British colony. In 1825, Lt. James Saunders King joined these six and Nathaniel Isaacs.
Rodney Rindel, Mayor of Umhlanga 1972
The 1980s saw the development of inland, from a small village east of the M4 highway to an expanded town that occupied most of the N2 highway area and south of Hawaan Forest. The Hawaan Forest is to the north of the city, which is the natural habitat for many creatures like the vervet monkey. Residents and tourists are often the ones who lure the monkeys into the town to feed them.
Umhlanga is a diverse city with many people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. English is the first language of 78.9%, 9.0% Zulu, and 6.12% Afrikaans. A significant Portuguese community is also found.
Between 2001 and 2011, the number of people belonging to each racial group grew. While the number of white people increased by 11,523 to 12,925, their percentage fell from 74.9% a 53.3%. The number of blacks grew from 1,770 to 4,147. The number of “Indians” or Asians grew from 1,953 up to 6,353. The number of coloreds increased from 141 to 297.
The new town center, which is 24.1% of total black as per the 2011 census, is the most black. On the other hand, the northern coast area, including Umhlanga village, is the most white. It is 66.9% of the total area. Higher white populations are found in the older regions of Umhlanga than the average.
Umhlanga, Umdloti and Umdloti make up the Sugar Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Umhlanga is a popular tourist destination in South Africa. In 2015, Umhlanga saw 1.2 million tourists and generated a gross domestic product of R20 billion. However, Peter Rose, the chairman of tourism, stated in 2016 that “I can confidently state that within five years you won’t recognize uMhlanga.” Residents of Umhlanga are mixed about the changes. They feel that Umhlanga is losing its village appeal, but they also appreciate the improved infrastructure and higher property values.
Weitere tourist attractions in Umhlanga include the Umhlanga Country Club and The Mount Edgecombe Country Club near Mount Edgecombe.