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Africa · Sultanates, sharifs and the Atlantic trade

Zululand

1820–1897

Zululand (KwaZulu) was the territory of the Zulu Kingdom, the most famous African military state of the 19th century, occupying the coastal belt of south-east Africa between the Tugela and Pongola rivers in what is now KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (The table's dates 1820–1897 span the kingdom from Shaka's consolidation to British annexation; Wikipedia dates it 1816–1897.)

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗
Existed
1820–1897
Shown on the map
1820–1897
Peak area
26k km²
Region
Africa

Overview

Zululand (KwaZulu) was the territory of the Zulu Kingdom, the most famous African military state of the 19th century, occupying the coastal belt of south-east Africa between the Tugela and Pongola rivers in what is now KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (The table's dates 1820–1897 span the kingdom from Shaka's consolidation to British annexation; Wikipedia dates it 1816–1897.) The kingdom emerged from the Mfecane, the era of upheaval and state formation among the Nguni chiefdoms. Shaka, an exiled son of the Zulu chief Senzangakhona raised among the Mthethwa, took the Zulu throne with Dingiswayo's help and, after his patron's death c. 1816, led the Mthethwa alliance, defeating the rival Ndwandwe at Gqokli Hill (1818) and the Mhlatuze River (1820). His reforms — the short stabbing assegai, encircling "horns of the bull" tactics, and the amabutho age-regiment standing army — built by 1822 a realm of some 80,000 square miles ruled from royal kraals such as Bulawayo and uMgungundlovu; offshoots like Mzilikazi's Ndebele carried the model to the highveld and Zimbabwe.

Decline and legacy

Shaka was assassinated in 1828 by his half-brother Dingane, whose reign collided with the Great Trek: after signing a land cession with Piet Retief in February 1838, Dingane had Retief's party executed and massacred Voortrekker camps (Weenen), only to be crushed by Andries Pretorius at the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838. Pretorius then backed Dingane's brother Mpande, who took the throne in 1840 and ruled a reduced kingdom north of the Tugela alongside the Boer Natalia Republic and then British Natal. Under Mpande's son Cetshwayo — victor of the 1856 Ndondakusuka succession battle — the kingdom's economy of cattle, agriculture and tribute persisted under Zulu traditional religion with growing Christian missions. In 1879 Sir Bartle Frere's ultimatum forced the Anglo-Zulu War: the Zulu won at Isandlwana, the worst British defeat by an African army, but lost at Ulundi in July. Cetshwayo was exiled, the kingdom split among 13 kinglets, and after civil war and the Boer-allied reign of Dinuzulu, Britain annexed Zululand in 1887 and folded it into Natal in 1897. The Zulu monarchy survives ceremonially, and Zulu identity — some 12 million South Africans — remains a major cultural and political force.

Common questions

What was Zululand?
Zululand (KwaZulu) was the territory of the Zulu Kingdom, the most famous African military state of the 19th century, occupying the coastal belt of south-east Africa between the Tugela and Pongola rivers in what is now KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (The table's dates 1820–1897 span the kingdom from Shaka's consolidation to British annexation; Wikipedia dates it 1816–1897.)
When did Zululand exist?
Zululand existed 1820–1897. On this map it is drawn 1820–1897.
How large was Zululand?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Zululand covered about 26,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
How did Zululand end?
Shaka was assassinated in 1828 by his half-brother Dingane, whose reign collided with the Great Trek: after signing a land cession with Piet Retief in February 1838, Dingane had Retief's party executed and massacred Voortrekker camps (Weenen), only to be crushed by Andries Pretorius at the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated .

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

Around the same time

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