Images of Southern Africa - Durban
Durban
Durban is one of South Africa’s oldest cities, tracing its history back to a visit by Vasco da Gama in 1492. It was named after the British Governor of the Cape in the 1830s, D’Urban. Currently South Africa’s third largest city, Durban has a population estimated to be around 2.6 million (2001). Around one-third of these are under the age of 18 and approximately 1 million are of Indian origin.
This photograph shows recent developments along the so called ‘Golden Mile’- the Indian Ocean beach front developed to meet the needs of a growing tourist industry.
Over 6.5 million tourists visited South Africa in 2002 and of these, approximately 1 million visited KwaZulu-Natal. Access to spaces such as beaches was strictly controlled under the apartheid regime until 1994. Prior to this date opportunities for the non-white South African population to engage in sport and leisure were severely limited. (See also Apartheid sign.)
Ideas for further exploration:
- Durban is rapidly becoming one of South Africa’s major tourist locations. Can you outline three major advantages that help to explain this aspect of the city’s development? (Hint: Think of it in terms of its local as well as international market and also its climate and what it has to offer visitors.)
- Nearly half of Durban’s population is of Indian origin. Can you find out why the large numbers of Indians migrated to KwaZulu-Natal in the nineteenth century?
- As well as beaches, what other geographical spaces were ‘forbidden’ to blacks under the apartheid laws?
- When did the first black Africans play either rugby or cricket for South Africa and who were they?
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