These pictures show how much Durban has changed in the last 70 years

·22 Oct 2017

Durban is the third largest city in South Africa, and is also one of the oldest, dating back as far as 1824, when the colonists from the Cape Colony established a settlement which would ultimately become the Durban we know today.

The city, which gets its name from Cape Colony governor Benjamin d’Urban, was developed on a piece of land gifted to early settlers by Zulu King Shaka, who led the Zulu domination of the region in the early 19th century.

Durban has the busiest port in South Africa, and is the busiest container port on the continent. It’s the closest port for many of South Africa’s land-bound metro areas, and as such proves a popular holiday destination for a large part of Gauteng’s residents.

Over the years, the city has gone through a lot of changed – one of the biggest being in the lead up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup where the popular ‘Golden Mile” beach-front was redeveloped to appeal to the influx of tourists.

More recently, while much of the development in the area has moved further along the north coast to places like Ballito and Umhlanga, there are still many projects in the works for the city itself – particularly along the Point, where, among others, there is a proposal to build the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.

The pictures below show how Durban has changed over the last few decades, using Google Earth’s 3D mapping technology to replicate the same frames as archived images of the city.

For a look at how South Africa’s other major cities have changed over the past few decades, be sure to check out:

How Cape Town looked in the 1940s compared to today

What Joburg looked like in 1930

How Pretoria has changed over the last 70 years

The pictures below were taken from various archives, and capture Durban from around 1940 and beyond. The modern re-creations taken from Google Earth.

Durban city