Banking, Credit and Capital in Colonial Natal, c.1850-1910

Abstract

In 1843 Natal, on the south east coast of Africa, became a British colony after a contest between Boer and British forces which had culminated in the battle of Congella. The colony was not particularly wealthy; its resources being made up primarily of wild game and cattle, the latter chiefly in the possession of the yet unsubjugated Africans of the area. The Zulu state was still intact and abutted the northern borders of the colony. One of the earliest concerns of the colonisers was to make the colony pay for itself which involved searching for minerals and increasing agricultural productivity, primarily by settling whites on the land and establishing export crops such as sugar.