Zulu Empire: A Visual History

The Zulu Kingdom was created by Shaka, who took over the small Zulu chiefdom in 1816 and, with the short stabbing spear, age-regiments (amabutho) and the 'buffalo horns' formation, conquered the peoples of what is now KwaZulu-Natal by 1826, setting off the Mfecane migrations that reshaped southern Africa. Shaka was assassinated by his half-brothers in 1828; Dingane murdered the Boer leader Piet Retief in 1838 and lost at Blood River; Mpande kept the peace with the British. Cetshwayo's army annihilated a British column at Isandlwana in January 1879, but Britain crushed the kingdom at Ulundi in July and divided it, annexing Zululand in 1887.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Zulu Kingdom. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Zulu army strength

Timeline of the Zulu Kingdom

1. 1816
   Shaka becomes Zulu chief
2. 1819
   Ndwandwe defeatedThe Zulu supreme in the region.
3. 1828
   Shaka assassinated
4. 1838
   Retief killed; Blood River
5. 1840
   Mpande king
6. 1879
   Isandlwana and Ulundi
7. 1887
   Zululand annexed by Britain
8. 1897
   Zululand joined to Natal

Shaka

An illegitimate son of the Zulu chief, Shaka grew up among the Mthethwa and served their king Dingiswayo, learning war. Taking the Zulu chieftaincy in 1816 with Dingiswayo's backing, he replaced throwing spears with the iklwa stabbing spear, drilled barefoot regiments quartered by age, and enveloped enemies with the horns of the buffalo. After Dingiswayo's death he absorbed the Mthethwa, destroyed the Ndwandwe and by 1826 ruled from the Pongola to the Tugela. Peoples fleeing him, the Ngoni, Ndebele and others, scattered as far as Tanzania.

Boers and Dingane

Shaka's grief-mad tyranny after his mother's death in 1827 led his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana to stab him in 1828. Dingane received the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief in 1838, had his party killed and attacked the Boer camps; the Boers under Pretorius won at Blood River on 16 December 1838. Mpande allied with the Boers to depose Dingane in 1840 and reigned 32 years, ceding Natal to the British.

Isandlwana and Ulundi

Cetshwayo, king from 1872, rebuilt the army. The British high commissioner Frere provoked war with an impossible ultimatum; on 22 January 1879 about 20,000 Zulus destroyed the British camp at Isandlwana, killing over 1,300, while the defence of Rorke's Drift the same night won 11 Victoria Crosses. Reinforced, Chelmsford broke the Zulu army at Ulundi in July. Cetshwayo was exiled, restored, and defeated in civil war; Zululand was annexed in 1887 and Dinuzulu's revolt of 1888 was the last flicker.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• Rozvi Empire (1660 to 1866)
• Third Portuguese Empire (1822 to 1999)
• Second Portuguese Empire (1663 to 1822)
• Dutch Empire (1602 to 1975)
• German colonial empire (1884 to 1919)

8 surprising things about the Zulu Kingdom

1. Isandlwana was the worst defeat of a modern army by indigenous forces in the colonial era; the British lost more officers than at Waterloo.
2. Shaka is said to have executed men for sneezing or for not weeping enough at his mother's funeral.
3. Rorke's Drift, defended by about 150 men against 4,000, produced 11 Victoria Crosses, the most for a single action.
4. The word 'Mfecane' (the crushing) describes the upheaval Shaka set off, though historians debate how much was his doing.
5. Cetshwayo visited London in 1882, met Queen Victoria and was a celebrity in the press.
6. The Zulu iklwa spear was named, according to tradition, for the sound it made being pulled from a body.
7. Shaka's warriors ran barefoot up to 80 km a day; he had men who wore sandals killed.
8. The Zulu monarchy survives: King Misuzulu kaZwelithini was crowned in 2022.

Sources

• Zulu Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Zulu Kingdom Wikipedia
• Anglo-Zulu War Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Ian Knight, Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift (2010) Macmillan

Back to all empires and wars