Shaka: Zulu Chieftain

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At the same time that Napoleon Bonaparte was conquering much of Europe, there arose in the eastern provinces of South Africa a black warrior and empire builder who, in his own world, was to become even more famous than the French emperor. By sheer strength of character and visionary ideas, Shaka molded a tiny band of loyal fighters into a conquering army that built the first Zulu nation. Not only did he introduce new tactics that proved devastating on the battlefield, but he also pursued total warfare on a scale just short of genocide, depopulating vast regions in the process.

In the late 18th century, the Zulus were an obscure Nguni tribe of some 1,500 people, ruled by a petty chief named Senzangakhona. In either 1786 or 1787, he met Nandi, a woman of the eLangeni tribe, while traveling and the two engaged in the Nguni institution of uku-hlobonga, designed to release sexual tension among the young without conception resulting. However, both partners broke the rules. Once it was discovered that Nandi was pregnant, a messenger was dispatched, bearing a formal indictment against the young Zulu chief. He replied insultingly that the pregnancy no doubt was false and due to iShaka, an intestinal parasite known to cause menstrual irregularity. Some months later, the eLangeni elders requested Senzangakhona to come and collect his woman and her ‘iShaka,’ which he reluctantly did. A corruption of the intestinal parasite’s name became the less-than-flattering name Senzangakhona gave to his newborn son-Shaka.

At the age of 6, Shaka began to care for his father’s sheep with the other herd boys. When he allowed a dog to kill one of the flock, his father became angry, his mother defended him and Senzangakhona dismissed them both from his kraal. Nandi and Shaka spent miserable years wandering from one kraal to another, pursued by derision and abuse. Around 1803, Nandi and her son finally found a haven in a kraal close to the center of the dominant power group in the region-the Mthethwa hegemony. Because of his intelligence, drive and unconquerable spirit, 16-year-old Shaka became the senior herd boy. Once the young man even stood his ground and single-handedly killed a leopard attacking the herd, earning praise and a cow from the king.

King Dingiswayo came to the Mthethwa throne and by diplomacy and warfare built up a federation of more than 50 tribes. He introduced the practice of organizing youths into military regiments, called amabutho, based on their age groups, which others soon emulated. The fierce competition among the cattle-herding Ngunis for the scarce grazing land was drastically changing the nature of warfare from a quasi-recreational pastime to a serious struggle for survival.

When King Dingiswayo called up Shaka’s age group to form the Izi-cwe (’Bushmen’) regiment, the 21-year-old recruit stood 6 feet, 3 inches, with a body that seemed to be all muscle, sinew and bone. He was issued an oval shield, 5 feet 9 inches high and 3 feet wide, and three light throwing spears, or assegais. His uniform consisted of white oxtails at the wrists and ankles, a kilt of fur strips, a skin cape with black widow-bird plumes and cowhide sandals.

An intertribal battle at that time normally consisted of two armed bodies of warriors facing each other at 40 and 50 yards, with each side casting their light spears at the other and returning those already hurled, until one side had enough and fled. If pursued, the retreating warriors had only to drop their weapons to the ground, signifying surrender, and their lives would be spared.

To Shaka, hurling the light spear at a distant foe, usually without any effect, seemed stupid, since the opponent merely picked up the thrown assegai and threw it back. He soon began to close with the enemy instead of standing off from him. Parrying his opponent’s thrown spear with his shield, he would charge forward, hook the enemy’s shield aside with his own, and stab him to death with his assegai. Declaring that his cowhide sandals hampered his movements, he discarded them. The whole regiment soon became aware of the young warrior’s skill in combat, and Shaka began leading the victory dance.

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Tags: 19th Century, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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