The Probert Encyclopaedia of Places of the World

NATAL

Natal is the eastern coastal province of the Republic of South Africa. It was first settled by a few British traders in 1823, then by Boers in 1838, when it became a Boer republic. Annexed by the British in 1845, it acquired internal self-government in 1893 and from 1910 was a province of the Union of South Africa. It was named Terra Natalis (Latin: land of the day of birth) by Vasco da Gama because he sighted the entrance to what is now Durban harbour on Christmas Day, 1497.
Research Natal