Government of Natal

The first European settlers in Natal were a party of British traders who came from Cape Town in 1824, and were given a concession of land by the Zulus. In 1838 some of the Dutch emigrant farmers who made the Great Trek settled there. Two years leater they proclaimed the Republic of Natalia, which the British Government refused to recognise. They eventually surrended after defeat by the British. In 1845 the colony was proclaimed a dependency of the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1856 it became a separate British colony, with limited self government. In 1907 'responsible government' was granted, and following the referendum in 1909 Natal became one of the four original provinces of the Union of South Africa.