Editing Amanzimtoti (section)

==History==

===Precolonial period===
[[Shaka|King Shaka]] visited the area whilst on a raid down to [[Pondoland]] towards the end of his reign (1816 to 1828).<ref name="Meitener">{{cite book|last=Meitener|first=M.J.|year=1994|title=A History of Amanzimtoti|publisher=The Rapid Results College}}</ref> When Shaka stopped to rest in the area, he had his personal attendant collect water from a nearby stream.<ref name="Meitener"/> This water was presented to King Shaka in a [[calabash]].<ref name="Meitener"/> After drinking the water he exclaimed "Kanti amanz'amtoti" (Zulu for "So the water is sweet").<ref name="Meitener"/> Extensions of the legend tell that King Shaka had sat under a large wild [[Ficus|fig tree]] to drink the water, or that he used to meet local ''indunas'' (chiefs) under a specific fig tree.<ref name="Meitener"/> The exact tree is unknown; one tree laying claim to the distinction fell down in March 1972, and another fell down in June 1981.<ref name="Meitener"/>

===Late colonial history===

[[Dick King]] passed through the Amanzimtoti area on his way to [[Grahamstown]] in 1842 in order to request help for the besieged British garrison at Port Natal (now the [[Old Fort (Durban)|Old Fort, Durban]]). The route that Dick King took through Amanzimtoti later became a road named Kingsway.

In 1847 Dr [[Newton Adams]] moved from [[Umlazi]] (where he had established a [[mission station]] in 1836) to Amanzimtoti and started a new mission station.<ref name="Adams">{{cite web|title=Adams College - Historical Background|url=http://www.adamscollegesa.co.za/site/adams-college|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718182427/http://www.adamscollegesa.co.za/site/adams-college|archivedate=18 July 2013|accessdate=26 August 2011}}</ref> Dr Adams died in 1851, and the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]] sent Rev. Rood to Amanzimtoti in 1853 with the express object of opening up a school.<ref name="Adams"/> [[Adams Mission Church]] was built inland of Amanzimtoti in 1852, and [[Adams College]] was built in 1853.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> The college was first named "Amanzimtoti Institute" and was later renamed after Dr. Adams in the 1930s.<ref name="Adams"/>

Different accounts identify the first colonial-era house in the Amanzimtoti area, with one reference claiming a house on the south side of the Amanzimtoti River as the oldest house and another claiming a house to the north of the river as the oldest.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> The "first house" in Amanzimtoti, known as ''Klein Frystaat'' ("Little [[Free State Province|Free State]]"), was owned by Howard Wright and was situated "on the north side of the back of the old [[Anglican]] Church" on Adams Road.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> The house was demolished in 1984.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> However, the "best guess" for the first house built in Amanzimtoti is 1895, and it may have been on the "headland" south of Amanzimtoti Lagoon.<ref name="Meitener"/>

A photograph of a rowing-boat on the Amanzimtoti River taken in 1889 shows the banks of the river vegetated with ''[[Phragmites australis]]'', ''[[Phoenix reclinata]]'' and coastal bush.<ref name="Meitener"/> However a later traveler in 1911 claims to have been the first person to take a camera up the river, but also describes "reed-covered isles" and "overhanging trees", and his photographs show ''Phoenix reclinata'' growing on the banks.<ref name="RailwaysPrinting">{{cite book|last=Tatlow|first=A.H.|year=1911|title=Natal Province: Descriptive Guide and Official Hand-book|publisher=South African Railways Printing Works|location=Durban, Natal}}</ref>

The railway line from Durban to [[Isipingo]] was extended to [[Park Rynie]] from 1896 onwards, and the first train passed through Amanzimtoti in 1897.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> This train left Durban on 22 February at 7:55 AM and consisted of a [[Dübs & Company]] locomotive with two goods trucks, two passenger trucks, and a brake-van.<ref name="Meitener"/> There was a tin [[Shack|shanty]] siding at Amanzimtoti in 1897 which served as a station.<ref name="Meitener"/> The route from the Amanzimtoti train station to Adams Mission was named Adams Road. The first hotel in Amanzimtoti was built in 1898 to cater for holidaymakers, some of whom came from as far afield as [[Johannesburg]] on specially organised trains.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> The first hotel was built of wood and iron, but burnt down in May 1899.<ref name="Meitener"/> Amanzimtoti had its first stationmaster in 1902.<ref name="Meitener"/>

===1900s===

In 1902 Mrs K. Swafton visited Amanzimtoti and reported that the area had 1 hotel, 3 or 4 houses and 12 huts on the lagoon (clustered on the shore between the lagoon and [[Chain Rocks]]).<ref name="Meitener"/> The huts were made of wood and iron or motor-car packing cases and served as holiday bungalows, and two of the houses had been built by the Department of Native Affairs for resident officers. The 5th house in Amanzimtoti was built on the corner of Adams Road and Ross Street in 1908 by the Reinbach family, who came from [[Cape Town]].<ref name="TotiTimes"/>

The Kynoch factory for the manufacture of explosives was built in [[Arklow]], [[Ireland]] in 1895.<ref name="Inggs">{{cite book|author=Donald Inggs|title=Twini's historic Irish Connection}}</ref> Mr Arthur Chaimberlain of Kynochs visited South Africa in 1907 to find a place to start another factory.<ref name="Inggs"/> 1,400 acres of land were bought at [[Umbogintwini, KwaZulu-Natal|Umbogintwini]], and on 24 October 1907, a group of Irishmen (23 workers and their families) from Arklow sailed from [[Southampton]] to work as factory hands at the new Kynoch's factory in Umbogintwini.<ref name="Inggs"/> These people lived in Amanzimtoti and [[Isipingo]] before the village of Umbogintwini took shape. One of these "Irishmen" (Harry Purves) was in fact originally from Durban, where he was born to [[Scotland|Scottish]] immigrants.<ref name="MargaretNicol">{{cite book|author=Margaret Isabella Nicol|title=The Breakfast Room Table}}</ref>

In 1910 Toti had "a dozen families" (according to Bill Bailey), and the ''Toti Hotel'' had 50 rooms. In 1911 Toti was an hour's ride from Durban by train, and a photograph shows a boat race held on the lagoon.<ref name="Meitener"/> The Amanzimtoti River was navigable for 3.5 miles by rowing boat.<ref name="RailwaysPrinting"/>

In the 1920s, a [[steam train]], the [[Port Shepstone Express]], passed through the town once a day, to and from Durban. At around this time there was a Zulu [[kraal]] where the original Amanzimtoti Primary School was later built. One of the bathing areas in the sea for holiday-makers was a gully with rocks sheltering it on either side. Mrs Miller (née Reinbach) and her husband Douglas Miller built a [[bungalow]] near this site in the early 1920s, and a tea room existed there in 1923. The two Reinbach brothers and a Mr Grainger were often called upon to rescue bathers, and it was decided to use the gully, and place suspended chains across it, to provide a safe area for bathers. The chains were put up sometime before 1926, and this place was then called Chain Rocks. Paul Henwood May moved to Amanzimtoti in 1922, and built several colonial-style homes (made from wood, with an iron roof and a front [[verandah]]).<ref name="TotiTimes"/>

Many people moved to Amanzimtoti during the [[Great Depression]], attracted by the lower cost-of-living  compared to the cities.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> Amanzimtoti was granted local administration in 1934, with a population of 774. One of the "highlights" of the 1930s was the arrival of [[Gracie Fields]], a popular singer at the time. Electricity was introduced to the town in 1938, after being voted in by a small majority after Alan Allen campaigned on the benefits of electricity. Telephone lines were installed in 1945, and the manually-operated telephone-exchange was located at the railway station. Running water was introduced in 1949 by Olaf Bjorseth, the first mayor of Amanzimtoti; prior to this, residents used to collect rainwater from the roofs of their houses. The first petrol pump in the town was owned and operated by Mr and Mrs Silverstone, who also ran a store called "The Silverstones". The first post office was situated on the railway station, next door to Mrs Morton's Tea Room. Mrs North was the first post-mistress. The post office and telephone exchange moved to the Telephone Exchange building in Bjorseth Crescent in the late 1940s or early 1950s.<ref name="TotiTimes"/>

Amanzimtoti offered refuge to many [[Middle Eastern]] and [[United Kingdom|British]] evacuees during the [[Second World War]], many of whom lived in holiday cottages and in private homees. When a school was started at Toti Town Hall, Dr Frickle paid for two teachers' salaries out of money he made at his clinic selling "No 9s" (red pills "from the army"), which he purportedly prescribed "for everything". Miss Burns (who ran the Guides) held the first [[Arbour Day]] in [[Natal Province|Natal]], and along with 16 Guides, planted 60 ''[[Erythrina lysistemon]]'' trees along Beach Road.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> These trees "blazed red" when in flower and were known as the "glory of Beach Road"; for this reason, the Coral Tree is included in the crest of Amanzimtoti. These trees were however cut down in the 1950s when Beach Road was widened and tarred.<ref name="TotiTimes"/>

The first newspapers to be produced in the town were attributed to Ivor language, and the first issue of ''The Observer'' was printed in July 1955.<ref name="TotiTimes"/> Before this, newspapers had been brought in by train from Durban. From 1957 to 1959, ''The Observer'' was replaced by a commercial weekly newspaper, the ''South Coast Courier''. ''The Observer'' was again replaced, this time by the ''South Coast SUN'', which Archie and Jenny Taylor started in 1970.
[[File:Mall 2.JPG|thumb|right|The site where a 1985 MK bomb blast occurred]]
In 1961, the nearby settlements of Isipingo Rail and Isipingo Beach, which lie to the north of Amanzimtoti, were incorporated into the Borough of Amanzimtoti, up until July 1972, when [[Isipingo]] gained its own Town Board.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Read more about Amanzimtoti and Durban history - one of the best holiday accommodation destinations on the South Coast! |url=https://www.inyonirocks.co.za/about-amanzimtoti.php |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=www.inyonirocks.co.za}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Amanzimtoti, South Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/amanzimtoti-south-coast-kwa-zulu-natal |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref>

Toti's largest building, then known as ''Sanlam Centre'', was constructed during 1972 to 1973. It originally consisted of a shopping complex and a 25-storey block of flats, which to this day can accommodate 1,500 people.<ref name="TotiTimes" />

===Recent history===

Amanzimtoti made international news when on 23 December 1985, during the peak of the Christmas shopping season, [[Umkhonto we Sizwe]] cadre Andrew Sibusiso Zondo detonated a bomb in a rubbish bin at the Sanlam shopping centre during an armed struggle. Five people (two women and three children)<ref name="IOLKiller">
{{cite web|work=IOL News|title=Honouring a killer?|url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/honouring-a-killer-1.349597|accessdate=2011-08-25}}</ref> were killed in the blast and more than forty suffered injuries.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.polity.org.za/polity/govdocs/commissions/1998/trc/2chap3.htm |title=Volume TWO Chapter THREE |access-date=16 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617122343/http://www.polity.org.za/polity/govdocs/commissions/1998/trc/2chap3.htm |archive-date=17 June 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>