<P> Natal is positioned on the Indian Ocean coast of southern Africa, just northeast of the Cape Colony . Home to the indigenous Nguni and later the Zulu, the region of Natal played a key role in European colonisation . First called the Natalia Republic, the territory was set up in 1839, by Boer Voortrekkers on their "Great Trek", fleeing the Cape English . When the British established the colony four years later--as a strategic land gain--the border was extended to the Tugela and Buffalo Rivers . </P> <P> In the 1870s, Natal was a British Colony, with a degree of autonomy in its local administration, but under the direct control of the appointed British Governor . It had a more restrictive political system than the neighbouring Cape Colony and its small (mostly British) white population had an uneasy relationship with the powerful independent Zulu Kingdom on their northern border . The Anglo - Zulu War (1879) led to the later annexation of Zululand to Natal in 1897 . </P> <P> At the close of the South African Wars, the colony became part of the 1910 Union, and is now known as Kwazulu - Natal, a province of South Africa . </P> <P> The land of indigenous Khoi Khoi and Sotho people, Basutoland was positioned between the Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Natal . Basutoland was annexed to Britain in 1868 as Moshoeshoe I, King of the Sotho, was threatened by Free State (Boer) encroachers . Three years later it was given to the Cape Colony . </P>

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