Camperdown is a settlement in Umgungundlovu District Municipality in the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It is approximately 60 km by road northwest of

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

and 20 km southeast of

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

. It was laid out in 1865 on the farm Camperdown, which was named to commemorate the victory of the British navy under Admiral Adam Duncan over the Dutch fleet under Admiral

Jan Willem de Winter Jan Willem de Winter (French: Jean Guillaume de Winter, 23 March 1761 – 2 June 1812) was a Dutch admiral during the Napoleonic Wars. Biography Early life De Winter was born in Kampen and entered naval service at a young age. He distin ...

in October 1797.

Economy

In the early 1840s, John Vanderplank's ship, the ''Louisa'', arrived in Durban. It was named after his fiancée who refused to leave England to live as a married couple in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. He planted black wattle as a

windbreak A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edges ...

but they flourished to the point where they were trees rather than shrubs. After the discovery of

tannic acid Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity ( pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, which corresp ...

for use in the tanning industry, the wattle industry grew. Wattle wood was also later found suitable for pulp and paper manufacturing.

Sources

* Erasmus, B.P.J. (1995). '' Op Pad in Suid-Afrika''. Jonathan Ball Uitgewers. . * Rosenthal, Eric (1967). '' Ensiklopedie van Suidelike Afrika''.

References

Populated places established in 1865 Populated places in the Mkhambathini Local Municipality {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub