Empangeni

Empangeni, town, northeastern KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, directly northwest of Richard’s Bay on the Indian Ocean and northeast of Durban. The beginnings of the modern settlement can be traced to 1851, when the Norwegian Missionary Society established a station in the valley of a stream named for the large number of mpange (hard pear) trees. The station was later moved to another location, but in 1894 a magistracy named Empangeni was established in the valley....