Kingdom of Zululand KwaZulu | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1816–1897 | |||||||||||||
 Location of the Zulu Kingdom, c. 1890 (red) (borders in flux) | |||||||||||||
| Status | Protectorate of theUnited Kingdom 1887–1897 | ||||||||||||
| Capital | kwaBulawayo;uMgungundlovu;Ulundi | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | isiZulu | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Zulu religion | ||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||||
• 1816–1828 | Shaka | ||||||||||||
• 1828–1840 | Dingane | ||||||||||||
• 1840–1856 | Mpande | ||||||||||||
• 1856–1884 | Cetshwayo | ||||||||||||
• 1884–1887 | Dinuzulu | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Death of Dingiswayo | 1818 | ||||||||||||
• Accession of Shaka | 1816 | ||||||||||||
| 1818 | |||||||||||||
| 1820 | |||||||||||||
| 1838 | |||||||||||||
| 1879 | |||||||||||||
• British protectorate | 1887 | ||||||||||||
• to Natal | 1897 | ||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
| 1822[1] | 207,000 km2 (80,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1828 | 250,000 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | Sanga cattle | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | South Africa | ||||||||||||
TheZulu Kingdom (/ˈzuːluː/ZOO-loo;Zulu:KwaZulu), sometimes referred to as theZulu Empire, was a monarchy inSouthern Africa. During the 1810s,Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of theIndian Ocean from theTugela River in the south to thePongola River in the north, centred on the presentKwaZulu-Natalprovince of South Africa.
A bitter civil war in the mid-19th century erupted which culminated in the 1856Battle of Ndondakusuka between the brothersCetshwayo and Mbuyazi. In 1879, aBritish force invaded Zululand, beginning theAnglo-Zulu War. After an initial Zulu victory at theBattle of Isandlwana in January, the British regrouped and defeated the Zulus in July during theBattle of Ulundi, ending the war. The area was absorbed into theColony of Natal and later became part of theUnion of South Africa. The current Zulu king isMisuzulu Sinqobile, who serves as the monarch of South Africa'sKwaZulu-Natal province.
Shaka was theillegitimate son ofSenzangakhona, Chief of the Zulus. He was bornc.1787. He and his mother,Nandi, were exiled by Senzangakhona, and found refuge with theMthethwa. Shaka fought as a warrior underDingiswayo, leader of theMthethwa Paramountcy. When Senzangakona died, Dingiswayo helped Shaka become king of the Zulu. AfterDingiswayo's death at the hands ofZwide, king of theNdwandwe, around 1816, Shaka assumed leadership of the entire Mthethwa alliance.[2]
Shaka's clan at first numbered no more than a few thousands, but eventually grew in size to 45,000 after absorbing neighbouring clans. His military reforms included new battle techniques, training, and tough discipline, as well as the replacement of long-throwing spears in exchange for the more effective short-stabbing spears. Conscripted men were segregated from the rest of Zulu society to be trained as an organised standing army called theamabutho.[3]
The alliance under his leadership survived Zwide's first assault at theBattle of Gqokli Hill (1818). Within two years, Shaka had defeated Zwide at theBattle of Mhlatuze River (1820) and broken up the Ndwandwe alliance, some of whom in turn began a murderous campaign against otherNguni tribes and clans, setting in motion what became known asDifaqane orMfecane, a mass-migration of tribes fleeing the remnants of the Ndwandwe fleeing the Zulu. TheNgoni people fled as far north as Tanzania and Malawi.[4] The death toll has never been satisfactorily determined, but the whole region became nearly depopulated.[5][6][7] By 1822, Shaka had conquered an empire covering an area of around 80,000 square miles (210,000 km2),[1] covering Pongola to the Tugera Rivers.[3]
An offshoot of the Zulu, the amaNdebele, better known to history as theMatabele, created an even larger empire under their kingMzilikazi, including large parts of thehighveld and modern-dayZimbabwe.[8]
Shaka was succeeded byDingane, his half-brother, who conspired with Mhlangana, another half-brother, and Mbopa, aninduna, to murder him in 1828. Following this assassination, Dingane murdered Mhlangana, and took over the throne. One of his first royal acts was to execute all of his royal kin. In the years that followed, he also executed many past supporters of Shaka in order to secure his position. One exception to these purges wasMpande, another half-brother, who was considered too weak to be a threat at the time.[9]
In theCape Colony, increasing tensions between some Dutch Settlers and theBritish colonial authorities led to a wave ofBoer (also known as Voortrekkers) migration northwards from 1836 onwards in order to establish autonomous Boer states independent of British control. The Boers settlers began moving across theOrange River northwards. While travelling they first collided with the Ndebele kingdom, and then with Dingane's Zulu kingdom.[10] In October 1837, theVoortrekker leaderPiet Retief visited Dingane at his royal kraal to negotiate a land deal for the voortrekkers. In November, about 1,000 Voortrekker wagons began descending theDrakensberg mountains from theOrange Free State into what is nowKwaZulu-Natal.[citation needed]
Dingane asked that Retief and his party retrieve some cattle stolen from him by a local chief as part of the treaty for land for the Boers. This Retief and his men did, returning on 3 February 1838. The next day, a treaty was signed, wherein Dingane ceded all the land south of theTugela River to theMzimvubu River to the Voortrekkers. Celebrations followed. On 6 February, at the end of the celebrations, Retief's party were invited to a dance, and asked to leave their weapons behind. At the peak of the dance, Dingane leapt to his feet and yelled"Bambani abathakathi!" (isiZulu for "Seize the wizards").[citation needed]
Retief and his men were overpowered, taken to the nearby hill kwaMatiwane, and executed. Some allege that they were killed for withholding some of the cattle they recovered, but it is likely that the deal was a plot to overpower the Voortrekkers.[citation needed] Dingane's army then attacked andmassacred a group of 250 Voortrekker men, women and children camped nearby. The site of this massacre is today calledWeenen, (Dutch for "to weep"). The remaining Voortrekkers elected a new leader,Andries Pretorius, who led a successful defence of the Voortrekker position from the Zulu forces and Dingane at theBattle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, when 15,000 Zuluimpis (warriors) attacked a group of 470 Voortrekker settlers led by Pretorius.[citation needed]
Following his defeat, Dingane burned his royal household and fled north.Mpande, the half-brother who had been spared from Dingane's purges, defected with 17,000 followers, and, together with Pretorius and the Voortrekkers, went to war with Dingane. Dingane was assassinated near the modernSwaziland border. Mpande then took over rulership of the Zulu nation.
Following the campaign against Dingane, in 1839 the Voortrekkers, under Pretorius, formed theBoer republic ofNatalia, south of the Tugela, and west of the British settlement of Port Natal (nowDurban). Mpande and Pretorius maintained peaceful relations. However, in 1842, war broke out between the British and the Boers, resulting in the British annexation of Natalia. Mpande shifted his allegiance to the British, and remained on good terms with them.
In 1843, Mpande ordered a purge of perceived dissidents within his kingdom. This resulted in numerous deaths, and the fleeing of thousands of refugees into neighbouring areas (including the British-controlledNatal). Many of these refugees fled with cattle. Mpande began raiding the surrounding areas, culminating in the invasion ofSwaziland in 1852. However, the British pressured him into withdrawing, which he did shortly.[9]
At this time, a battle for the succession broke out between two of Mpande's sons,Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi. This culminated in 1856 with theBattle of Ndondakusuka, which left Mbuyazi dead. Cetshwayo then set about usurping his father's authority. When Mpande died of old age in 1872, Cetshwayo took over as ruler.
On 11 December 1878, with the intent of instigating a war with the Zulu,Sir Henry Bartle Frere, on his own initiative and without the approval of the British government, presented an ultimatum to the Zulu king Cetshwayo in terms with which he could not possibly comply:[11] that the Zulu army be disbanded and the Zulus accept a British resident. British forces crossed the Tugela river at the end of December 1878. Initially, the British suffered a heavy defeat at theBattle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 where the Zulu army killed more than 1,000 British soldiers in a single day.
The Zulu deployment at Isandhlwana showed the well-organized tactical system that had made the Zulu kingdom successful for many decades. This constituted the worst defeat the British army had ever suffered at the hands of a native African fighting force. The defeat prompted a redirection of the war effort, and the British, though outnumbered, began winning small engagements and later larger setpiece encounters. The fighting culminated in theSiege of Ulundi, the Zulus' capital city, and the subsequent defeat of the Zulu Kingdom.
Cetshwayo was captured a month after his defeat, and then exiled toCape Town. The British passed rule of the Zulu kingdom onto 13 "kinglets", each with his own subkingdom. Conflict soon erupted between these subkingdoms, and in 1882, Cetshwayo was allowed to visit England. He had audiences withQueen Victoria and other famous personages before being allowed to return to Zululand to be reinstated as king.[9]
In 1883, Cetshwayo was put in place as king over a buffer reserve territory, much reduced from his original kingdom. Later that year, however, Cetshwayo was attacked at Ulundi byZibhebhu, one of the 13 kinglets. Cetshwayo was wounded and fled. Cetshwayo died in February 1884, possibly poisoned. His son,Dinuzulu, then 15, inherited the throne.[9]
The academic Roberto Breschi notes that Zululand had a flag from 1884 to 1897 but this is pure conjecture as A.P. Burgers notes in his book.[12] It consisted of three horizontal bands in equal width of gold, green and red.
Dinuzulu made a pact with theBoers of his own, promising them land in return for their aid. The Boers were led byLouis Botha. Dinuzulu and the Boers defeated Zibhebhu in 1884. They were granted about half of Zululand individually as farms, and formed the independentRepublic of Vryheid. This alarmed the British who wanted to prevent the Boers access to a harbour. The British then annexed Zululand in 1887. Dinuzulu became involved in later conflicts with rivals. In 1906 Dinuzulu was accused of being behind theBambatha Rebellion. He was arrested and put on trial by the British for "high treason and public violence". In 1909, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment onSt Helena island. When the Union of South Africa was formed, Louis Botha became its first prime minister, and he arranged for his old ally Dinuzulu to return to South Africa and live in exile on a farm in the Transvaal, where he died in 1913.[9]
Dinuzulu's sonSolomon kaDinuzulu was never recognised by South African authorities as the Zulu king, only as a local chief, but he was increasingly regarded as king by chiefs, by political intellectuals such asJohn Langalibalele Dube and by ordinary Zulu people. In 1923, Solomon founded the organisation Inkatha YaKwaZulu to promote his royal claims, which became moribund and then was revived in the 1970s byMangosuthu Buthelezi, chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan. In December 1951, Solomon's sonCyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon was officially recognised as the Paramount Chief of the Zulu people, but real power over ordinary Zulu people lay with South African government officials working through local chiefs who could be removed from office for failure to cooperate.[9]
KwaZulu was abantustan inSouth Africa, intended by theapartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for theZulu people. The capital was moved fromNongoma toUlundi in 1980.
It was led until its abolition in 1994 by ChiefMangosuthu Buthelezi of theZulu royal family and head of theInkatha Freedom Party (IFP). It was merged with the surrounding South African province ofNatal to form the new province ofKwaZulu-Natal.
The nameKwaZulu translates roughly asPlace ofZulus, or more formallyZululand.
The Zulu Kingdom is currently part of South Africa'sKwaZulu-Natal (of which theKing of the Zulu Nation is the monarch), one of the country's nine provinces, under the leadership ofKing MisuZulu ka Zwelithini. A large portion of the territory is made up of wildlife reserves and a major contributing source of income is derived from tourism – the area is known for itssavanna covered hills. It is home to aWWFBlack Rhinoceros reintroduction project known as "The Black Rhino Range Expansion Project" within theZululand Rhino Reserve (ZRR). The ZRR is a 20,000 hectare reserve consisting of 15 individually owned farms that have lowered their fences in order to further conservation. TheZulu royal family still fulfils many important ceremonial duties.
By 1822 he had made himself master over 80,000 square miles
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FormerBritish Empire and currentBritish Overseas Territories | |||||||
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