Page 28 - All About History - Issue 12-14

Heroes & Villains

Shaka, king

of the Zulus

Through wisdom, courage and warrior strength

Shaka, king of the Zulus, united the greatest African

kingdom the world has ever seen
Written by Chris Fenton

haka flexed his muscles and adopted warrior with his first confirmed kill.
a hunting posture as he looked The victory over the snake was the
down at the venomous snake first of many conquests won by
in the long grass. The black Shaka was Shaka as he rose through the
Smamba had just killed one noted for his ranks of Zulu society. His next
of the prized bulls his chief success came when he joined
and patron, Dingiswayo, had strength and agility, the warrior fraternity of his
charged him to protect and but he was a poor tribe, the Impi regiment, in
now it had turned on Shaka. public speaker and 1809. He found the kinship
By allowing the snake to kill often tripped over and acceptance of the soldier
Dingiswayo’s property, Shaka group a welcome relief from the
had failed him, the man who his own words constant taunting over his status
had taken him in after he and his as an outcast from the other boys
mother were cast out of his father’s in Dingiswayo’s tribe. The children
tribe; he had also brought shame on the would shout, call him names and insult
dignity of his warriors. The snake hissed and made his beloved mother. Now he was a man who
a warning gesture, Shaka had to best it in order to commanded respect from the other warriors and
keep his place within the tribe. He was tall, fast and he quickly became a popular and able leader. His
agile, but he knew a bite from the venomous physical prowess and hunting ability stood him
pest would be fatal. The snake struck, head and shoulders above the rest, but
Shaka side-stepped the lightning-fast he was also known to be a man of
strike and lunged with his spear, original ideas. He found traditional
driving it into the snake’s body. Shaka’s given forms of African combat, which
Dingiswayo had always lauded name was actually often involved little more than
Shaka for his royal blood, it was Tshaka. Shaka literally small skirmishes with throwing
one of the reasons he took him spears, to be no true test of a
and his mother in when they means ‘bastard’ and warrior’s mettle. He introduced
were alone on the plains. As was used to taunt a short stabbing spear, the
Shaka stood triumphant having him as a child, but iklwa, and ordered them to be
avenged the death of the bull, he it stuck used in close combat with large
was now more than a political tool shields in order to devastate the
– he had become a fully fledged Zulu enemy’s position quickly and with
28