Major Industries and Cities
Durban is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the world. It boasts the Durban is a thriving, vibrant and pulsating city and home to Africa's major seaport and busiest harbour in South Africa. Durban harbour is also one of the ten largest in the world.
Industries in Durban include shipbuilding and repairing, sugar refining, petroleum refining, fishing and the production of paint, chemicals, fertilizers, footwear and textiles.
The capital city is Pietermaritzburg. Founded in 1838, it is the second largest city in KwaZulu-Natal and an hour away from Durban’s King Shaka International Airport. The city is the birthplace of the former University of Natal.
Other important towns include Richards Bay, an important coal export harbour and many coastal holiday resort towns, such as Port Shepstone, Umhlanga Rocks and Margate.
In the interior, Eshowe is the centre of the sugar cane and forestry industries, Newcastle is the main hub of steel production and coal mining while Estcourt is a meat processing town and Ladysmith and Richmond hubs of mixed agriculture. Nuts are also an important agricultural product, as is subtropical fruit, vegetable, dairy and livestock farming.
This verdant and green province, which forms the east coast of South Africa from Port Edward northwards to the Mozambique boundary, is aptly called South Africa's "garden province".