Durban, whose Zulu name is Tekweni, lies in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal which is the ancestral home of the Nguni people. Probably the first European to have sight of the bay around which Durban was to develop was Vasco De Gama on his pioneering sea voyage to India in 1497.

Durban takes it's name from Sir Benjamin D'Urban, governor of the Cape Colony at the time of the first successful colonial settlement in 1835. Since then, Durban has been colonised by firstly Dutch and then English traders. A large number of Indian labourers were brought to Durban during the 19th century to farm the emerging sugar industry. With them came traders and their ancestors form a large percentage of Durban's current population.

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