Flag of the Natalia Republic
The Flag of the Natalia Republic was the official flag of this short-lived South African state, which existed from 1839 to 1843. The Natalia Republic was a short-lived Boer republic straddling the coast of Southern Africa and the Drakensberg range, established in 1839 by Voortrekkers shortly after the Battle of Blood River.
On Christmas Day 1497 Vasco da Gama was sailing past the region now known as Transkei and named the country Terra Natalis. He next sighted the bluff at the entrance to what is now the harbour of Durban. Da Gama made no landing here, but in later years the name Natália became associated with it. Like the rest of South Africa, Natal was neglected by the Portuguese, whose nearest settlement was at Delagoa Bay.
Proclaimed a British Colony of Natal in 1843, it became a part of Cape Colony in 1844, not being separated again until 1856. The power of the volksraad did not truly end until 1845, when an effective British administration was established under Martin West as lieutenant-governor. After the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, the British defeated the Zulu army, and annexed Zululand to Natal in 1897. One of the four founding provinces of South Africa, it is now KwaZulu-Natal. This province is still home to the Zulu nation
