Nathaniel Isaacs
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Nathaniel Isaacs (1808-1872) was an English adventurer who played a part in the history of Natal, South Africa.
He was born in Canterbury, England into a Jewish family. His father was a merchant and resident of Chatham. His mother was Lenie Solomon, daughter of Nathaniel Solomon of Margate and Phoebe Mitz, who was Dutch; his uncle was Saul Solomon, the merchant king of St. Helena.
In 1824, Isaacs accompanied Lieutenant King on his voyage to Natal in search of King's friends, Lieutenant Francis Farewell and Francis Fynn the Physician. The former were shipwrecked in Natal Bay and while the crew built another ship, Isaacs ventured inland to visit Shaka's royal kraal.
Isaacs wrote a book called "Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa". He records his impressions of the Zulu people and their customs which are particularly interesting as they are an accurate account of the Zulu people before they came under European influence. He lived in daily contact with the powerful King Shaka of the Zulus, at the time the Zulu Empire was at its peak influence in Southern Africa. He was treated on the whole with favour, having rank and honours conferred upon him, as well as a large tract of land.
Most of what we now know about Shaka, in fact, comes from the accounts of Henry Francis Fynn and Nathaniel who learned to speak the Zulu language fluently,
Lt Farewell, Fynn and Isaacs established the town of Port Natal, later renamed Durban, which became the second largest city in South Africa in modern times. In 1828 King Shaka made Isaacs "Induna Incoola", or Principal Chief of Natal, and granted him great areas of land.
Isaacs left Natal in 1831, when Shaka's successor Dingane had prepared to massacre the few whites living there; and he spent the remainder of his life in Gambia and on an island in the Gulf of Guinea.
