The town resulting from this agreement was named Durban after the then Cape Governor Sir Benjamin D’urban. This became a sporadic port of call for ships, but it was only in 1824 that a real colony called Port Natal began to develop after merchants from the Cape Colony reached agreement with Shaka the Zulu king who allowed them to establish a trading station. Vasco Da Gama carefully studied reports written by explorer Bartholomew Dias and set sail with 4 ships in July 1497 and on Christmas day 1497 he reached what is today Durban Bay which he called “Natal” Christmas. Vasco Da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and navigator who was commanded by King Emanuel in 1497 to lead a new expedition to find a new route to India by sea around Africa.
