Greytown: A South African townscape

Abstract

With only a few exceptions, South Africa's urban settlements were founded by people of either Dutch or British descent. The Dutch-Afrikaner dorp and the British-settler town can be recognized as contrasting places, but the British takeover of each of the four provinces initiated a period in which dorp and town elements were blended. This process of inter-cultural borrowing produced South African townscapes, of which Greytown, Natal is a prime example. Townscapes are vivid reflections of cultural history, and their interpretation can therefore be a useful adjunct to other sources of historical information.