DURBAN, or more correctly D’Urban, a town of South Africa, in Natal, in the county of Durban, situated on a sandflat about a mile to the north of the bay of Port Natal, in 29° 52' S. lat. and 31° 2' E. long. It is well laid out with wide tree-shaded streets, carries on a considerable export and import trade, and possesses an Episcopalian church, two Wesleyan chapels (one for natives and the other for Europeans), a Government school, a prison, a custom-house, a literary institution, and an agricultural and horticultural society. Durban was founded in 1834 as the capital of the republican colony of Victoria, and its name was bestowed in honour of Sir Benjamin D’Urban, the governor of the Cape. The population, mostly English, was in 1866, 4991.