Ulundi

Ulundi (ūlūn'dē) [Zulu,=the high place], town (1991 pop. 11,102), cocapital (with the city of Pietermaritzburg) of KwaZulu-Natal prov., SE South Africa. Situated on a hill overlooking the White Mfolozi River, the town possesses a modern administrative complex that is among the largest in the country. It is linked to other urban areas by road, railroad, and air. Its relatively few factories process locally grown foods, tobacco, and lumber. Ulundi became the Zulu capital in 1873 when, shortly after his accession to the throne, King Cetshwayo established his kraal just northeast of the present town. In 1879 it was the site of the final battle of the Anglo-Zulu war, a defeat that resulted in the slaughter of 1,500 Zulus (13 Britons were killed) and the burning of the town by the British. A silver-domed stone temple at the battlefield now serves as a memorial. In the 1970s, South Africa built the new capital of the bantustan of KwaZulu there. Located in Ulundi is the KwaZulu Cultural Museum-Ondini, the restored site of the original royal kraal along with a museum of Zulu history and culture.