Everything about Zululand totally explained
Zululand, the
Zulu-dominated area of northern
KwaZulu-Natal Province in
South Africa, extends along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the
Tugela River in the south to
Pongola River in the north. Historical Zululand stretches over the modern-day
districts of
Zululand,
Amajuba,
Umzinyathi,
uThungulu,
Umkhanyakude,
Uthukela,
Umgungundlovu and
iLembe.
History
In
1816,
Shaka acceded to the Zulu throne. Within a year he'd conquered the neighboring clans, and had made the Zulu into the most important ally of the large
Mtetwa clan, which competed with the
Ndwandwe clan for domination of the northern part of modern-day
KwaZulu-Natal.
Shaka initiated many military, social, cultural and political reforms, forming a well-organized and centralized Zulu state. The most important reforms involved the transformation of the army, thanks to innovative tactics and weapons he conceived; and a showdown with the spiritual leadership, clipping the wings, claws and fangs of the
witchdoctors, effectively ensuring the subservience of the "Zulu church" to the state.
Another important reform integrated defeated clans into the Zulu, on a basis of full equality, with promotions in the army and civil service becoming a matter of merit rather than due to circumstances of birth.
After the death of Mtetwa king
Dingiswayo at the hands of
Zwide king of the Ndwandwe (around
1818), Shaka assumed leadership of the entire Mtetwa alliance. The alliance under his leadership survived Zwide's first assault at the
Battle of Gqokli Hill (1818). Within two years, Shaka had defeated Zwide at the
Battle of Mhlatuze River (1820) and broken up the Ndwandwe alliance, some of whom in turn began a murderous campaign against other Nguni tribes and clans, setting in motion what became known as Defecane or
Mfecane, a mass-migration of tribes fleeing the remnants of the Ndwandwe fleeing the Zulu. By
1825 Shaka had conquered a huge empire covering a vast area from the sea in the east to the
Drakensberg mountains in the west, and from the
Pongola River in the north to the
Bashee River in the south, not far from the modern-day city of
East London.
An offshoot of the Zulu, the Kumalos, better known to history as the
Matabele created under their king
Mzilikazi an even larger empire, including large parts of the
highveld and modern-day
Zimbabwe.
Shaka, who had had contacts with English explorers, realized that the white man posed a threat to local populations, and had planned to begin an intensive program of education to enable the Nguni people to catch up with the Europeans. However, in
1828 his half brother
Dingane assassinated him and succeeded him as ruler. Dingane planned the execution of
Piet Retief and a number of
Trekboers in
1838. In
1840, Zulu Nyawo, Sambane and Nondawana assassinated Dingane near
Hlatikhulu Forest on the
Lebombo Mountains near
Ingwavuma. Under his successors
Mpande (another half-brother), who reigned till
1872, and Mpande's son
Cetshwayo (effective ruler 1856 - 1879) the Zulu rebuffed
Boer attempts to conquer them.
However, they then faced the problem of the British. In
1878, Sir
Henry Bartle Frere, British Commissioner for South Africa, issued an ultimatum that Cetshwayo disband his army and concede to a number of demands. (Visitors can still see the site of the delivery of the ultimatum, the
Ultimatum tree on the Natal bank of the Tugela river, below the
present-day N2 highway bridge). The
Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 resulted.
Initially the British suffered a heavy defeat at the
Battle of Isandlwana (
January 22,
1879) where the Zulu army killed more than 1,000 British soldiers in a single day. This constituted the worst defeat the British army had ever suffered at the hands of a non-European fighting force. The defeat prompted a redirection of the war effort, and more British troops poured into Natal to ensure a British victory at
Ulundi (
4 July 1879. The British victors exiled Cetshwayo and subdivided Zululand into 13 regions, each administered by a kinglet. The largest region came under the control of
John Dunn, a white hunter who had befriended
Cetshwayo.
After the
Anglo-Zulu War of
1879, the British appointed a
Resident,
Melmoth Osborne, to mediate between the local chiefs and the British government; but continuing strife prompted the annexation of Zululand on
May 9,
1887. The whole Province of Zululand, including
Tongaland, became annexed to Natal on
December 31,
1897.
In
1895, Sir
Charles Saunders of
Eshowe visited the areas of
Ubombo and
Ingwavuma, which subsequently became annexed to Zululand in
1897.
Postal system
A postal system operated in Zululand from
1888 to
1897, issuing its own postage stamps.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Zululand'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://zululand.totallyexplained.com">Zululand Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
