Dundee

History

* The Boers reported surface coal here and named one of the streams Steenkoolspruit (Afrikaans for Coal Stream). * Peter Smith, a Scottish settler started sending wagonloads of coal, which was discovered close to the surface, to be sold in Pietermaritzburg. This started the coal mining industry in Natal. * The first geological survey of the Natal coalfields was made in the 1860s and proved that there were workable coal deposits. * In 1882 a town was laid out and named after Smith’s Scottish hometown Dundee. * Smith, with partners Dougald McPhail and Charles Willson, floated the Dundee Coal and Estate Company on the London Stock Exchange in 1899. *Second Boer War: The British started massing troops at Dundee and were given an ultimatum by the Boers to retreat with the troops. On 20 October 1899, the first shots of the war were fired. The news of this battle hit the headlines in Britain as the "Battle of Glencoe", which was corrected the following day to the "Battle of Dundee" and on the third day to the "Battle of Talana." It was on the slopes of Talana Hill that the British army troops officially wore khaki uniforms for the first time in battle; it is also notable as the first indisputable use of indirect fire in modern warfare, and the tactic as applied by Boer field artillery had a devastating effect. After the battle, the British troops retreated to Ladysmith and Boer forces occupied the town, renaming it Meyersdorp. This occupation lasted seven months. Dundee was relieved after the battle of Helpmekaar in May 1900. * The town's folk who had left before or shortly after the battle returned and the town began to flourish again. Dundee soon emerged as a boomtown graced with stately homes and the first theatre north of Durban. * Pioneer traders from the Indian…

Geography

The town lies nestled in a valley of the picturesque Biggarsberg and is surrounded by historical remarkable mountains of “Indumeni” (where the thunder rolls), “Mpati” (The place of good waters), and “Talana” (The shelf where precious items are kept). Dundee has trails of the San people that lived here 4 000 – 5 000 years ago. Evidence of this is to be found in lifestyle and rock paintings in several caves and shelters. Dundee has a subtropical highland climate (Cwb, according to the Köppen climate classification), with pleasant summers and cool, dry winters. The average annual precipitation is , with rainfall occurring mainly during summer.

Most-observed species

• Cape Wagtail

  Motacilla capensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  41
• Cape Sparrow

  Passer melanurus (Statius Muller, 1776) · Aves
  41
• Southern Masked-Weaver

  Ploceus velatus Vieillot, 1819 · Aves
  40
• Hadada Ibis

  Bostrychia hagedash (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  39
• Speckled Pigeon

  Columba guinea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  38
• Southern Fiscal

  Lanius collaris Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  36
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  34
• Red-eyed Dove

  Streptopelia semitorquata (Rüppell, 1837) · Aves
  29

Most recent

• M 4.6 — 2022-11-05
  44 km NNE of Greytown, South Africa