Utrecht (Südafrika)

Utrecht is a town in the foothills of the Balele Mountains, in the northwestern corner of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Newcastle, Kwazulu-Natal's third-largest urban center, is 50 km from Utrecht. Utrecht has a population of approximately 32,000 (including surrounding areas).Coal mining and cattle ranching are the predominant economic activities in Utrecht.HistoryIn 1843, the British annexed the Klip River Republic. Most of the inhabitants moved to the (later) Free State and Transvaal Province, but three of them – A. T. Spies, J. C. Klopper and C. J. van Rooyen – traded land east of the Buffalo River for 300 cattle in 1852 from Zulu King Mpande. Van Rooyen, who spoke the Zulu language fluently, was a friend of King Mpande and had assisted him a few years earlier. Prior to 1852, Van Rooyen had permission to use this tract of land for grazing.The majority of northern Natal was intermittently uninhabited, since King Shaka had driven out the resident Hlubi people; the Zulu people inhabited the land generally. In the Transvaal Archive, the settlers who moved there with the trio were called the Buffel rivier maatschappij (Buffalo River Society).