Battle of Congella

Part of Great trek

Date	23 May 1842
Location	Port Natal later known as Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Result	British victory

Belligerents

Boers or Voortrekkers; Natalia Republic

Port Natal traders and garrison; British Empire

Commanders and leaders

Andries Pretorius

Captain Charlton Smith

Strength

unknown

Casualties and losses

unknown

The Battle of Congella, beginning 23 May 1842, was between the British of the Cape colony and Voortrekkers or the Boer forces of the Natalia Republic. The Republic of Natalia sought an independent port of entry, free from British control and thus sought to conquer the Port Natal trading settlement which had been settled by mostly British merchants in modern day KwaZulu-Natal. The battle ended in a British victory due to the heroic ride of Dick King for reinforcements.

According to South African history, in the mid-1820s King Shaka (Chaka) swept through the countryside now known as KwaZulu-Natal, killing almost the entire native population of bushmen. Through his conquests, Shaka founded the first unified Zulu Kingdom. A few years later, the English colonists living in the coastal settlement of Port Natal (Durban) requested to be officially recognised by the Cape Government as a dependency of Britain. This was rejected, and as a result the colonists began to trade and settle with the Zulus.

However, the Afrikaner Boers, who had recently left the Cape Colony in the mass exodus called the Great Trek, had ventured over the Drakensberg mountains, settled in the area of Natalia (later known as KwaZulu-Natal) and resumed their farming lifestyles. The Zulu people naturally had misgivings about the intentions of the newcomers and war followed soon afterward. Eventually the Cape Government heard news of this unofficial Boer republic and the subsequent attacks on white people in Port Natal, and how these attacks were approaching the Cape Colony. The Governor of the Cape, Benjamin d'Urban (the colony in Port Natal was later named Durban in his honour), sent a regiment to take possession of Natal from the Boers and to settle the Zulu attacks. It was, however, D'Urban's successor, Governor Napier, who dispatched Captain Charlton Smith (who had served at the Battle of Waterloo).

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Wikipedia