Camperdown, KwaZulu-Natal

Camperdown is a settlement in Umgungundlovu District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Town 
some 60km by road north-west of Durban. Laid out in 1865 on the farm Camperdown, named to commemorate the victory of the British navy under Admiral Adam Duncan over the Dutch fleet under Admiral Jan Willem de Winter in October 1797.

Economy 
In the early 1840's, Johan Vanderplank's ship, the Louisa, arrived in Durban. The ship was named after his fiancée who refused to leave England to live as a married couple in Tasmania. He planted black wattle as a windbreak but they flourished to the point where they were trees rather than shrubs. After the discovery of tannic acid 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

Category:Populated places established in 1865
Category:Populated places in the Mkhambathini Local Municipality