AFRICANWARSANDWHITEINVADERS
named Joseph Byrne. They were mostly middle-class people who had been
able to deposit a small capital sum in return for transport to Natal and
possession of twenty acres of land per head. Their early experiences in
Natal were similar to those of the 1820 Settlers in the Cape Colony. Most
failed to make good as farmers and returned to England, tried their luck on
the highveld, or settled in the port town of Durban, which was named for
the former Cape governor, or the inland capital, Pietermaritzburg, which
had been named for the trek leaders Piet Retief and Gerrit Maritz. By 1870,
the white population
had reached eighteen thousand-fifteen
thousand
British settlers and three thousand Afrikaners.v-
The white population of Natal was engulfed and surrounded by vast and
increasing numbers of Africans. The influx reached flood proportions dur-
ing a series of disturbances in the Zulu kingdom, where Mpande continued
to enroll young Zulu men in age regiments. Initially he was successful in
reestablishing the unity of the state, but in the 1850S factions formed
around two of his sons, Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi, who were rivals for the
succession to the monarchy. In 1856, Cetshwayo defeated his rival in a
massive battle at Ndondakusuka