Pinetown is a large area and former independent city that is now part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, based just inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The town is situated 16 km north-west of Durban and 64 km south-east of Pietermaritzburg.
Pinetown is situated at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,300 feet (305 to 395 m) in the hills adjoining Durban on the northwest.
First laid out in 1847 and later named after Sir Benjamin Pine, governor of Natal (1873–75), Pinetown did not officially become a town until 1948.
It is now an important industrial centre with factories producing leather goods, concrete products, corrugated containers, plywood products, aluminum products, and confectionery.
Much of the population commutes to work in Durban, and a sizable minority of it is Indian. Pinetown lies on the national road and railway from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Pop. (2001) 100,036.
Pinetown was named after the governor of Natal, Sir Benjamin Pine. The town was established in 1850 around the Wayside Hotel, itself built in 1849 along the main wagon route between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. In the Victorian era Pinetown was known as health resort.
During the Second Boer War, the British built a concentration camp in Pinetown to house Boer women and children.
A number of German settlers made Pinetown their base and this accounts for the neighbourhood known as New Germany and the German Lutheran Church. Indeed, to this day imported German cakes and goodies pack the shelves at Christmas time in the Knowles Spar, the largest grocery store of Pinetown. One of the largest monasteries was located south of Pinetown in Mariannhill, home to the Mariannhill monastery founded by Abbott Francis Pfanner. The establishment of this monastery had huge influence in the expansion of the Catholic Church in KwaZulu Natal.
The neighbouring area of Clermont was a solely black residential zone during the apartheid era, with land tenure being on a freehold basis unlike the state-owned townships elsewhere in Greater Durban metropolis. This meant residents enjoyed an atmosphere of freedom and this led to Clermont being a base for some well-known political activists during the apartheid era such as the lawyer Archie Gumede. Other personalities associated with Clermont are relatives of the leader of the world-renowned Ladysmith Black Mambazo musical group.
