Photograph of Pietermaritzburg taken from the north-west. There is a river in the foreground with fields behind. Beyond the fields is an urban area with houses and trees. Hills extend into the distance. Pietermaritzburg was the capital of the Colony of Natal, a British colony in south-eastern Africa. This photograph was taken during the Anglo-Zulu War (1879), which ended the independence of the neighbouring Zulu Kingdom and brought it under British control.