Dundee is one of the centres of northern KwaZulu-Natal and started life as a private farm on which British soldiers fighting the Zulu War of 1879 camped. After the soldiers left, the owner of the farm recognized its location and planned a town.
It was named after a town back in his home country by a Scottish coal miner called Peter Smith. The town was proclaimed by Smith and several others, including his son-in law who was reputed to be one of the last men to escape from Isandlwana alive.
Dundee is surrounded by coal mines earning it the title of Coalopolis. Much of the farming activity is centred around dairy farming.
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Local farmers have combined to encourage wildlife to return to their farms and to promote tourism in the area by providing hiking trails, accommodation and working farm holidays. The town has a population of some 30,000 and a mild climate with bracing winters and warm summers.
On the 20th October 1899, the first shots of the Boer War were fired at Talana adjacent to the town (Zulu for Little Shelf because of the small, flat top of the hill). It was also the first time that British soldiers wore khaki instead of their usual redcoats. The British were forced to retreat to Ladysmith whereupon the Boers renamed the town 'Meyersdorp' for the seven months of their occupation.
Dundee is central to the battlefields of Rorkes Drift, Isandlwana, Blood River, the Prince Imperial, Fugitives' Drift and Elandslaagte |
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