In 1893, Gandhi was thrown out of a first-class compartment of a train in South Africa because of his colour at the railway station of:

In June 1893, Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out of a first-class compartment of a train at Pietermaritzburg station, in the colony of Natal (South Africa), because of his colour.

The incident:

• Gandhi had gone to South Africa in May 1893 as a young lawyer, to help an Indian merchant firm (Dada Abdulla and Company) in a legal case.
• He was travelling by train from Durban to Pretoria, with a valid first-class ticket.
• At Pietermaritzburg, a white passenger objected to the presence of a "coloured" man in the first-class compartment.
• The railway officials ordered Gandhi to move to the van compartment (third class).
• When he refused, he was pushed off the train with his luggage by a police constable.
• He spent the night in the cold waiting room of the station, shivering, as his overcoat was in his luggage, which had been taken away.

The turning point:

• Gandhi later described this night as a turning point in his life.
• He thought about whether to go back to India or to stay and fight for his rights.
• He decided to stay and resist racial discrimination, not just for himself but for all Indians in South Africa.
• This led to his long struggle in South Africa and the development of satyagraha.
• In his autobiography, he wrote that his "active non-violence began from that date".

Later events of the journey:

• On the next part of his journey, by stagecoach, he was beaten by the coach driver for refusing to sit on the footboard.
• He also faced discrimination at hotels.

Memorials:

• A bronze statue of Gandhi stands in Pietermaritzburg (unveiled in 1993, on the centenary of the incident).
• In 1997, Nelson Mandela conferred the "Freedom of Pietermaritzburg" on Gandhi posthumously.
• The incident is shown in Richard Attenborough's film "Gandhi" (1982).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria were other cities connected with Gandhi's life in South Africa.