In January 1834 in South Africa D'Urban took office as governor and commander in chief of the Cape Colony. His administration was complicated by the exodus of Dutch farmers to the far north and east (known as the Great Trek) and the outbreak of the Cape Frontier Wars of (1834–1835) due to clashes between the colonists and the Bantu-speaking Xhosa peoples. He drove back the Xhosa people and annexed the territory between the Keiskamma and Great Kei (Groot-Kei) rivers. He was in office when the British government abolished slavery, established municipal and legislative councils, occupied Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) and named it as a new colony for the British Empire. To commemorate this the name of the principal port was changed in 1835 from Port Natal to Durban.