Shaka kaSenzangakhona—a Reassessment

Abstract

The history of Shaka kasenzangakhona, the rise of the Zulu kingdom and its military system, and the manner in which it was built up out of previously existing chiefdoms through conquest and incorporation n, is one of the great themes of South African history. It is also one of the most controversial. From Shaka's time to the present day first travellers and explorers, then officials, missionaries, journalists, politicians and historians and novelists have debated and disagreed upon almost every aspect of Shaka's history. For some he is a bloodthirsty tyrant: for others heis the founder of one of the greatest African kingdoms. Popular contemporary Zulu nationalism stresses the heroic nature of Shaka's history. Some historians have argued that he began a process of African nation-building which changed the pre-colonial map of Africa from the Cape to Tanzania. For others the kingdom was a desperate attempt to defend his people from the effects of slave-raiding. Some see the changes to African political organization as the result of his military genius. Others look further afield and have suggested it was a response to new trading opportunities or the result of ecological change.' The most recent interpretations have portrayed Shaka not as an assertive conqueror, but as a man trying to defend his people and territory against the consequences of expanding colonialism.