Historians disagree on how cruel Shaka truly was as a ruler, but his military prowess was indisputable.
Wikimedia CommonsA rendering of Shaka , founder of the Zulu empire .
Shaka , chief of the Zulu kinship group , was line as the “ African Napoleon ” for his military brilliance and integration of hundreds of South African folk under the Zulu Empire . Though abruptly - lived , Shaka left quite a legacy abide by his turbulent and by some accounts , cruel , reign .
Who Was Shaka?
Shaka , king of the Zulus , was stick out around 1787 to the Zulu headman Senzangakhona KaJama , and Nandi , of the conterminous Langeni clan . One popular tale is that Shaka ’s conception was a mistake after his parent got carried aside duringuku - hlobonga , a rite for unmarried distich involving intimate foreplay and no knifelike sex . When Zulu elder include Senzangakhona himself discovered that Nandi was pregnant , they tried to deny it . Senzangakhona claimed that Nandi ’s bloated abdomen was a symptom of iShaka , an intestinal and parasitic beetle .
Shaka , or Sigidi kaSenzangakhona , was given his name as a ceaseless monitor of his bar sinister , and at years six , Shaka and his female parent were exile from his father ’s kraal , a traditional African village of huts , or courtroom .
Shaka and his female parent bring back to her abode where they were unwished and finally driven out to join a different tribe entirely , the Mthethwa . In his late teen , Shaka wasassigned an amabutho , or a military regiment of young men discriminate based on age group . Each amabutho was call upon when needed for combat , labor , policing , or hunting .
Wikimedia CommonsA rendering of Shaka, founder of the Zulu empire.
During this meter he caught the attention of chancellor chieftain , Dingiswayo . Shaka displayed expectant valor , acquirement , and strength . An impressed Dingiswayo became a sort of wise man to him .
The Young Warrior
Shaka got his first perceptiveness of warfare at years 21 . By then , he was a powerhouse of all heftiness stand at six foot and three inches . Shaka was outfit with three assegais , or “ clean spear , ” for throwing and a five - foot , 9 - inched oval shield . He was clad with a kilt of fur stripes , a skin cape with black widow - fowl feathers , cowhide sandals and whitened oxtail around his ankles and wrist .
Intertribal fight of the time were a show of potency with very little bloodbath . The two oppose English would face each other at 40 or 50 yards and hurtle their assagai until one side take flight . Even if pursued the fleeing side just had to swing their assegais and give up and their lives would be spared .
Wikimedia CommonsLarge statue of Shaka at Camden Market in London , England .
Wikimedia CommonsLarge statue of Shaka at Camden Market in London, England.
Shaka quickly display his innate power for war and start to change the fight tools he was come forth . First , he cast out his cowhide sandal because they could make him lose his remainder . With increase lightsomeness , Shaka could operate an foe at close fourth . He deflect spears with his shell then charge in for the kill . hook the enemy ’ shield away with his own he could then immerse his assegai into his dupe .
He also fashioned his own arm with a short , thick handle and a massive leaf blade . In essence , he had created a sword . Shaka call in it theiklwabecause of the sound it made when it was throw and pulled out of someone ’s body .
He became known asNodumehlezi , “ the one who when seated make the world to rumble . ”
Wikimedia CommonsDepiction of a Zulu warrior under Shaka’s command.
Shaka ’s successfully get the better of the army of Zwide , the top dog of the Ndwandwe clan , which win him a generous share of captured cattle . Chief Dingiswayo , in turn , made Shaka his commander in chieftain , and more significantly , helped organize a reconciliation between Shaka and his alienated father , Senzangakhona .
Senzangakhona made Shaka his heir , but before his character assassination in 1816 one of his wives convert him to make Shaka ’s half - sidekick Sigujana his replacement or else . But the unseasoned warrior did not let it stand . With the help of one of Dingiswayo ’s regiments , Shaka pour down Sigujana and took electric charge of the 1,500 Zulus . They were among the smallest of the more than 800 clan — but under Zulu , this would all vary .
A United Zulu Kingdom
His fresh domain extended 100 square miles . Shaka still remained a subordinate to Dingiswayo until the chief conk at the hands of Zwide in 1817 .
Dingiswayo ’s death resulted in many Mthethwa defecting to the Ndwandwe , while others joined Shaka . Zwide proved a redoubtable enemy to him in the beginning , but the young warrior chief ’s superior military strategy would score a major triumph against the Ndwandwe the next year .
Wikimedia CommonsDepiction of a Zulu warrior under Shaka ’s command .
This winner allowed Shaka the freedom to pursue alliances with other clan and he consolidated his power while he grew his army .
The young Zulu king was known for his cruelty . The worldwide consensus among historians is that as he form more alliance , defeated more chiefs , and expanded the Zulu Kingdom , he became a brutal despot . He necessitate loyalty from his warriors . Should anyone diss his mother or him he condemned them to death by clubbing , spearing , school principal - twisting or impaling .
But he stay passive to lily-white colonialist and even sent delegates of his land to visit them . Under his sovereignty , there were no conflicts between the Zulu people and white trader . Though the British did negotiate control over the Port Natal — now the metropolis of Durban in South Africa — they made no endeavor to challenge Shaka . It would n’t be until after Shaka ’s death that blooming conflicts between his mass and the Dutch - Afrikaner settlers know as the “ Boers ” began .
The warrior king ruled without challenger over 250,000 masses for ten long time . He could gather more than 50,000 warriors at a fourth dimension and it is said that he was responsible for the deaths of some two million people by warfare alone .
When his female parent died in 1827,some saythat the Zulu magnate fall behind his mind . whelm with grief , Shaka Zulu illegalize land and the function of Milk River for a year . Pregnant woman and their husbands were murdered .
Perhaps eat up , Shaka ’s half crony , Dingawe , assassinated the young autocrat in 1828 . He then feign the can himself and murdered all Zulus who were likely to remain loyal to Shaka Zulu . He had his half - blood brother ’s body buried in an unmarked grave .
Disputed History
But in late years , historian Dan Wylie has challenge this narrative of the Napoleonic African king . His book of account , Myth of Iron : Shaka In History , posits that almost every record book written on Shaka over the last 170 years has been drawn from the distorted and embellished body of work of two colonial author Nathaniel Isaacs and Henry Francis Fynn .
Isaacs even pen to Fynn advising him to make the Zulus “ out to beas bloodthirsty as you canand strive to give an estimate of the bit of hoi polloi they have murdered during their reign[s ] . ” This would not only boost sales of Fynn ’s book but also help to justify colonial assume Zulu lands .
Wylie , as well as other scholarly person , have doubt that Shaka was outlawed , that he revolutionized African warfare , and that he was as violent as he was made out to be . But even Wylie cede that as far as the history of the warrior chief give out , “ There is a enceinte muckle that we do not know and will never know . ”
you may also check a much - dispute 1986 miniseries , Shaka Zulu , on the reign of Shaka now available on Netflix .
After learning about the real Shaka Zulu , check out thisgallery of African kingdomslike Shaka ’s just before the invasion of European colonial . Then , register about the fearless west African leader , Queen Nzinga , who fought off slave monger .
