Lost Kingdoms of Africa – The Zulu Kingdom

BBC (2013)

Film Review

King Malendela founded the Zulu dynasty in the 17th century. He named his son Zulu (heaven), and their subjects became known as Aman Zulu or people of heaven. Historicaly KwaZulu-Natal, the historical home to the Zulu nation, was a rich grasslands, ideal for pasturing cattle and raising cultivated crops. With the arrival of Europeans, they became heavily involved in trade with the Portuguese, which greatly increased their wealth and power. For the most part they traded ivory and captured slaves for copper, brass, textiles and beads.

Shaka, the 19th century Zulu nation founder, transformed a small network of chieftains into a massive military force. Born in 1780 the oldest son of a Zulu chief, he was sent to a neighboring chiefdom as a child to be trained in statecraft and soldiering.

When inter tribal conflict erupted in the early 1800s, he returned to his family’s tribe, seized the chieftaincy and unified the Zulu tribes. He then enacted compulsory conscription for all males at age 14. At 35, they were allowed to marry as a reward for a successful military career. Zulu society was patriarchal and polygamous.

Under Shaka, the Zulu invented “horns of the buffalo” formation they used to surround their enemies and substituted throwing spoons (daggers), which were more suited for hand to hand contact, for their longer spears. During four years of aggressive regional expansion, the Zulus drove many neighboring tribes off their land. Those who chose not to join the Zulu nation fled to the foothills.

By 1816, Shaka had expanded the area of the Zulu nation from 10 to 12,000 square miles and its population from 3,000 to 250,000. By 1824, the British had settled Durban, the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal and traded textiles and metals for Zulu hides and ivory. In 1828, Shaka was  assassinated by his half-brothers, one of whom (Dingane) seized the throne. In 1836 Dingane and his men clubbed 100 Boer settlers to death for stealing cattle. In the Battle of Blood River,  420 armed Boers retaliated and defeated 25,000-30,000 Zulus. The latter’s short daggers were no match for the Boers’ firearms.

In 1867, the discovery of diamonds and gold in southern African created an insatiable need for labor. Heavy recruitment of Zulus to work in Kimberly’s diamond mines was devastating to their traditional way of life. Driven off their land by Dutch and British settlers, many Zulu natives were forced to leave their families to live in miners barracks 800 miles away.

The Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 was the first major Anglo-Zula military encounter. After invading Zulu territory without consent of the British government, their High Commissioner for Southern Africa suffered a humiliating defeat when the Zulu successfully employed a horn of the buffalo formation to destroy the British camp and kill 1200 troops. Despite having only a few archaic firearms, the Zulu used their superior numbers to overwhelm the British before they could mount a defense.

At their second encounter, the Battle of Rourke’s Drift, 25,000 British troops returned to Zulu territory, where they used a block formation similar to that used by the Boers in the Battle of Blood River. This time 1500 Zulus died, with only 13 British losses. The British supported rivals of the Zulu king, leading to civil war and his capture.