The Zulu kingdom was originally a vassal state of the Mthethwa state of king Dingiswayo.  It was ruled by a minor Chief in the person of Senzangakona who happened to be the father of Shaka the brain child/founder of the strong and prominent state of Zulu.  Shaka’s father when still a youth and before undergoing circumcision ceremonies of the tribe fell in love with Nandi a girl from the neighboring tribe and the  end product was Shaka who therefore became an illegitimate son (bastard) for unfortunately Nandi was unaccepted by the Zulu elders although Senzangakona went ahead and married her.  This resulted into constant display of tempers by Shaka’s mother in the Zulu Chief’s household.  This therefore forced Senzangakona to send Nandi and her son Shaka away.  Nandi and her son went back to her home which made Shaka grow up with a spirit of “an unwanted one” by his father and made him to struggle for recognition in future especially because of the humiliation and insults from his age groups. 

Eventually Shaka became a good athlete and developed great strength of personality which enabled him to demonstrate his ability over his fellow youth.  Shaka then joined Dingiswayo’s regiments in 1809 and soon established himself as a courageous and strong leader.  However, following the death of his father in 1816 Senzangakona, Shaka asked Dingiswayo to assist him with soldiers to go and take over his father’s chiefdom.  This request was accepted and Shaka was able to fight and defeat his brother who had taken over as a successor from his dead father.  Shaka then took over the state and started building it into a powerful and prosperous kingdom.  It is from this basis that historians have referred Shaka as the founder father of what came to be the Zulu kingdom.

Shaka knew that the Zulu State could not be properly built when it was still under the control of Dingiswayo.  He therefore decided to first remove his state from foreign domination and this he did by first cooperating with Zwide who was an enemy of Dingiswayo thus manipulating Dingiswayo’s death at the hands of Zwide in 1818.  After the death of Dingiswayo, Shaka knew that he could not rule in peace with the presence of Zwide without first eliminating him.  Thus in the war between the two, Zwide was decisively defeated at the battle of Mhlatuze river in 1819.  And this therefore left Shaka as the only powerful leader in the area who began expansionist policies, terrorized the region leading to the death of people, migrations such as those of the Ngoni and the Ndebele; a period of turmoil that historians have come to refer to as the `Mfecane or Difaqane’.

Political organization

Politically, Shaka established a centralized system of administration with himself as the overall political leader, controller of the economy, land and social affairs.  He organized the whole state on military lines, hence everything social, political and economic revolved around the military.  Shaka however had autocratic powers to appoint transfer and dismiss officials at his own will.  Therefore there was no hereditary system of his chiefs for these were appointed solely by himself on the basis that they were obedient servants to the Zulu king and that they were courageous and intelligent as regards military affairs.  He did appoint military officers known as Indunas who worked as regional chiefs and they were both military and administrative officers.  They dealt with affairs of settling disputes, maintaining roads, ensuring that all people in the area were law abiding, but all in the interest of Shaka.  These Indunas governed various settlements such as those at Bulawayo, Dukuza, Nobamba Dukuza, Gibixhegu, Mbelebele and others.

The position of the Indunas was rather weak as they were a creation of Shaka himself and given that Shaka was very sensitive on the need to maintain their loyalty he always appointed those who would operate in his favour.

There existed a council of state whose duties were largely advisory; consisting of all the Indunas but Shaka had no obligation to take their advice.

The state was headed by a king who was the commander in chief of the armed force as well. It was more or less a military state and the top army officials were king's major advisors. The state was born in war and continued being organized for wars.

Militarily, Shaka established a strong and well trained standing/regular army which was a composition of about 40,000 warriors organized in age regiments.  The purpose of these age regiments was to protect the tribe.  Each of these regiments lived in a stockade village segregated from the rest of the members of society put under vigorous training and discipline and these regiments were strengthened by Shaka’s introduction of new military methods marked him out as a man of strategical, tactical and strategic brilliance a scheme that traces its origin as far back as the time when Shaka was still under Dingiswayo’s control.   For the main tactic practiced by Dingiswayo’s army was to advance on the enemy and to hurl spears which may not pierce the enemy; defenses.  Shaka therefore reasoned that instead of throwing the spear, it would be better to use the spear; as a stabbing weapon which could be used to a great effect at close quarters.  This therefore gave birth to the introduction of the `short stabbing spear’ known as the “Assegai”.

The efficient short stabbing spear was introduced and accepted by soldiers as demonstrated many times in engagements with the enemy.

Tactically, Shaka favoured and established a cow-horn/horns of the buffalo method in attacking the enemy whereby the wings of the regiments advanced around the flanks of the enemy thus preventing any retreat of the enemies who were eventually encircled.

Other methods that Shaka employed were fighting sandleless wars for in Shaka’s opinion bare footed warriors were more mobile.  Later a number of initiation ceremonies were abandoned and recruits from new states were absorbed in the army.  Basic promotions were done based on merit under the king who was the Commander-in-Chief.  The soldiers owed allegiance and loyalty to him.

Hundreds of Zulu clans were all conditioned to be loyal to the king- Even the Indunas were not allowed to hold un-authorized meeting to ensure that there was no development of anti government tendencies. The king had powers to dismiss or execute the potential enemies of the state. Chiefs were all supposed to visit the king's palace regularly.

The king's female relatives were often posted to different provincial centres to enhance the spy network system and safeguard the king's position in different parts of the kingdom.

The conquered areas formed provinces of the state. The chiefs in these areas were to be loyal to the king and were restricted to issues like administration of justice, in some areas they were replaced by the king's nominees.

In 1828, Shaka was assassinated by his brothers Dingane and Mulangane. This started a succession crisis and ended in favour of Dingane. His regime was politically weak and in 1840 he was defeated by Mpande and the movement of the Boer Trekkers.

'Mpande ruled from 1840-1872 when he was replaced by Cetewayo who continued to maintain the independence of the Zulu people amidst intimidation of threats and challenges of Europeans who later took over the independence in 1890s.

In conclusion therefore, Shaka established a strong system of government greatly based on military efficiency, gathered all political power in his hands while paying occasional attention to his Indunas who operated on his behalf.

Economic organization

At the top of the economy of Zulu, there was a king who owned everything. In as much as he was the social and religious head, he was also the source of wealth for all his subjects.

In Zulu system, the age regment was important social "and economic unit since it was supposed to be self sufficient in terms of food production and livestock. Each regiment kept cattle which belonged to the state and were to be used for feeding members of the regiment, rewarding brave soldiers in the regiment and paying of bride price.

Each regiment had an obligation of keeping as many animals as possible. Food all over the kingdom was produced by regiments and stored. The state also monopolized trade of ivory and slaves. Some of the slaves and ivory were offered to the king as tributes from the conquered states.

During Shaka's rule, there were many merciless raids in which people lost lives, homes were destroyed and the rest escaped. As these people ran away, the raiders also plundered, destroyed people's settlements and there was a lot of instability in Zulu kingdom and areas beyond Zulu where these people escaped as the refugees caused instability which was populary termed as time of trouble or Mfecane.

The economy of the Zulu was based on a variety of activities among which include raiding, agriculture, trade and tributes from the protected states like Swaziland, Lesotho but all these forms of economic activities were centralized.  Each barracks or regimental settlement was also allocated one of the royal kraals whereby cattle and captives from the raids were distributed by the king himself. Many of these economic activities were strictly controlled by the king which made them centralized.

Agriculture also played a very important role for although soldiers had to go home on retirement at a certain age, they spent most of their active life on food production in otherwords, homesteads became a focus of economic activity.

The economy also depended on cattle which were acquired in three ways; firstly through rearing at home, through raiding and through tributary states like Lesotho, Swaziland and Faku. The Zulus also grew some few crops like cotton, cassava and pumpkins.

There was also some little trade that existed with the Portuguese at Cape Delgado where they exchanged their cotton products for clothes and porcelain.  In all therefore, the Zulu economy in the pre-colonial period was a centralized one characterized by economic activities such as trade, agriculture and cattle rearing.

Social organization

Socially, like many other centralized societies, the Zulu greatly believed in traditional religion whereby religious festivities were centralized and were therefore used  as an instrument of national building.  The Zulu king was the head of all religious priests and they had to be authorized by him in order to perform any important religious ceremony.

The King presided over important religious festivities for he was the head of all religious institutions and this supremely was symbolized when the annual first fruits’ ceremony became a national event during Shaka’s reign.

Another social element was that of marriage, for the king married women almost from all clans of  the kingdom and this was a way of establishing kinship relations with all the tribes of clans to overcome the problem of his authority being undermined by the different clans or tribes.  Therefore Shaka lived in peace with all the people in his kingdom.

Similarly, Shaka refused his wives from giving birth to children especially sons for he believed that children were a source of instabilities to the smooth running of his state.  Thus in circumstances where he suspected his wife of pregnancy, she was normally subjected to death in fear of giving birth to a son.  This measure was intended to avoid succession disputes and his over throw from power.

Generally, the life of the Zulu revolved around the military whereby people resided in stockade villages where they spent most of their lives and in these military villages, people of different clans or tribes were obliged to stay together and the end result was the assimilation of the non Zulus into the Zulu language and culture especially those who had been brought as captives and they therefore forgot their cultural differences and started calling themselves the Zulu and spoke Amazulu the language of the Zulu.

The social life of the Zulu people was dominated by warfare. People were organized in age groups and initiation ceremonies to mark the entry of people into new groups were organised. The king was regarded as a spiritual leader who presided over the traditional religious ceremonies.

The warriors were not allowed to marry until the right time reached which was determined by the king. Normally the age of 40 was considered fit for the military retirement to begin the family life. A female regiment of the same age group would be dissolved at an appropriate time and its members given to the freed warriors as wives since men retired only at the age of 40 to give them a chance to attend their marriage duties.

In the Zulu society, the young men of the conquered people were absorbed in Zulu army and given a similar treatment as the rest of the Zulu warriors. They mixed freely with other young men in the kingdom and those who were very young looked after the cattle or acted as weapon bearers for the Zulu warriors. The girls and young women of the defeated groups were left to work in the fields. The aged war captives who couldn't fit in the military oriented regimental system of the kingdom were usually put to death.

There used to be the annual first fruit ceremony which was important and interesting occasion. On this day, people could move from various parts of Zulu nation to attend the ceremony which was presided over by the king.

Although it served as an instrument to maintain the king, the ceremony enabled people from various areas to meet and get entertained by the ceremonial dances.

In conclusion therefore, one of the great effects of the life of Shaka was the consolidation of the Zulu nation which was to remain independent and in fact until 1887 when it was brought under colonial rule in what came to be known as the disintegration of the Zulu kingdom.

Factors that led to collapse of Zulu state

As states and empires rise and then fall, time came and the once magnificent and strong state of the Zulu declined and finally disintegrated or collapsed. This was in 1879 following the battle of Isandhlwana with the British. The collapse of the Zulu kingdom was a gradual process and it started in the 1820 during the time of Shaka the King of the Zulu.  He introduced a very dictatorial system which led to very many wars.  This is what was referred to as Mfecane and it led to the migration of many people from Zulu land. 

The most important factors which led to the collapse of the kingdom include the following;

Shaka's policy of war campaigns on which the Zulu state had been formed led to the decline and collapse of the Kingdom. His wars caused trouble and suffering to his own people, which led the Zulu to lose strong generals in the names of Mzilikazi and Zwangendaba who moved north, and leaving the Zulu state weak.

Shaka's character of being ruthless and doctorial alienated the Zulu people from their King and state, which later led to its decline even when other Kings came in. For example it is said that when Shaka lost his mother Nandi, the whole nation was ordered to mourn for her. About 7000 people, who refused to comply were put to death, which made people lose confidence in the Zulu state.

The death of Shaka (1828) contributed to the collapse of Zulu kingdom.  Shaka was killed by his half brothers Dingane and Mulangana and the commander of the Mbopa.  His death was a turning point in the history of Zulu kingdom.  This is because Shaka was the person who kept the Zulu kingdom limited.  His death caused many divisions among the Zulu.  Some of the Zulu supported Dingane and others supported Mutangane which led to succession disputes between the two but at the end Dingane succeeded in defeating his brother.  However, this succession disputes weakened the kingdom because they led to many internal wars.

The existence of succession disputes with in the Zulu state. For example following the death of Shaka, Dingane rivaled with his brothers for the throne which left people divided though, the later overcame the former. The two Mpande's sons, Mbulazi and Cetewayo rivaled for the throne until the latter won but the people were left divided. This situation left the Zulu state weak and vulnerable to its internal and external enemies.

Dingane had inherited a situation where people had got tired of war and when he relaxed it, the regimental system declined and the military spirit of the state too declined. This even enabled the whites especially the Boers to come close, which later prepared events that led to its collapse.

Opposition of the neighboring states to Zulu and their breakaway from the state: Shaka had caused respect and loyality of many areas around him because of war and his ruthless nature. However, Dingane relaxed the war campaign and consequently vassal states asserted their independence. This affected Zulu state for it lost manpower for military capacity, wealth and the war spirit, which led to the decline and collapse of the state.

The deadly effects of the mfacane, which led to depopulation of many Zulu areas, led to its collapse in later years. Europeans from the coast especially the Boers and the British penetrated the interior through these depopulated areas and reached the Zulu stale, conflicted with it which led to its decline and final collapse.

The impact of the penetration of die Boers into the interior and their resultant bitter relations with Dingane. Piet relief one of the Boer leaders on arrival into the interior demanded for Natal from the Zulu with a lot of threats. Dingane manipulated to kill Boers and their leader in 1837. Thus, he organised for a feast and relief and his men were killed. Dingane thought that the Boers were then weak and attacked Natal but was given a crushing defeat at the battle of the blood river sovereignty, this defeat weakened Zulu strength.

Division of the Zulu during Dmgane's reign. The war of the blood river between the Zulu and Boers left the Zulu divided and people took sides between Dingane and Mpande which created more decline for the state.

Rise of Mpande and his alliance with the in-coming Boer trekkers. In the struggle between Mpande and Dingane, the former realized that he was weak and decided to ally with the Boers against his enemy Dingane. Dingane died, giving victory to Mpande but the Boers had started penetrating Zulu politics without fear, which created more room for the whites to consolidate their power.

The fact that Mpande's reign was characterized by general weakness, which brought about general economic and military weakness in Zulu land. This made the Zulu youths get alienated from him and state which led to further clecline.More over, Mpande had given away zulu land to the Boers in appreciation of the help they offered him in defeating Dingane.

The Zulu youths got dissatisfied with Mpande's relationship with the Boers and their consolidation of power at the expense of Zulu state. During Mpande's reign, the Boers became strong in the interior and to the Zulu youths who had heard of Shakas glorious days, Mpande's regime was regarded as a failure and a humiliation. Therefore, people looked for ward for the king that would revive Zulu glorious days. That is why people supported rivalries of the two sons of Mpande, Mbulazi and Cetewayo.

However, as the Zulu were involved in succession disputes, the Boers consolidated themselves, which rendered the state more weaknesses and finally collapsed in later years. By the time Mpande died in 1872, the Boers and the British had fully penetrated the interior because of his weakness yet he even feared to fight with them.

Discovery of diamonds in 1867 at Kimberly increased European interest in the interior of South Africa where Zulu nation was. The British and the Boers realized that, they could not exploit the minerals when Zulu nation was not on their side. They finally decided to crash it, which led to its collapse.

Rise of Cetewayo to power in 1872 and his activities. He was determined to restore the Zulu state's glory and full independence. However, to the Europeans especially the British who had already penetrated the interior got worried and fought to crash Zulu threat.

Cetewayo's revival of Shaka's military system to foil capacity caused further fear and commotion to the British and they had to wash away the state. He had made the army efficient and effective with the attainment of firearms from the Europeans themselves. The whites could not wait to see their being done away with.

The British annexation of Transvaal in 1877 from the Boers facilitated the collapse of the Zulu state for the Boers got annoyed. The British feared that the Boers' resentment would spill over to Zulu land lest the latter join the Boers and threaten British interests. Therefore, the British had to attack the Zulu in 1879, which led to their final collapse.

The rumour that the Zulu had invaded the British worsened circumstances for the Zulu. Thereafter the British did not want to wait for the real action to come from the Zulu and hence Zulu was handled aggressively by the British.

Desire by the Europeans to spread Christianity into the interior of South Africa yet the Zulu state was a hindrance. When the Zulu refused Christian entry, the European missionaries urged Europeans to conquer the Zulu land.

The Zulu themselves were not happy with British penetration into the interior in an aggressive way. They desired to protect their independence. Again, this would affect British hold on Tranvaal and hence Zulu state had to be annexed.

Desire by the British to get areas from which taxes could be collected to get revenue to manage Transvaal administration. Zululand with its big population was seen as the first target and hence it was conquered.

Conflict over owner ship of the blood river soverignily between the Boers in Transvaal and the Zulu and the subsequent involvement of the British. Mpande had given the area to the Boers in Transvaal in 1861, but with the rise Cetewayo, he wanted to recover the area from the Boers. When the Britisl intervened on behalf of the Boers, they too ended up intervening in Zulu independence and finall; collapsed.

Control over the blood river area by the British created more problems for the Zulu. The Zulu to; land to Transvaal as the boundaries of the blood river were expanded into Zulu land.

The conflict resulted into the 1878 land commission, which gave blood river state to Cetewayo o Zulu state. The British felt very much humiliated and they prepared to crash the Zulu forever.

The aggressive attitude and provocative nature of the British official Sir Batle Frere towards Zul state forced conflict against it and it collapsed. He was of the view that Transvaal should be assiste against the Zulu state, so that, Transvaal would accept the federation scheme they were advocatim Hence, the Zulu had to be fought.

The harsh ultimatum or conditions the British set for Zulu when they came in Transvaal also led t the collapse of the state; that the Zulu were to pay fine in cattle, disband Zulu army from the are within 30 days and accept a British resident officer. Refusal of the Zulu to accept these condition led to a war, which led to the final defeat of the Zulu state and collapse.

The humiliating defeat of the British by Zulu in 1879 at the battle to Isandhlwana led to the latter! final collapse. The British could not accept this humiliation and a better-organised force against th Zulu had to be planned. Thus, in the same year 1879 at the battle of Ulundi, the Zulu were defeate by the British and never to recover from the crashing defeat.

Economic and military weakness of the Zulu as opposed to military and economic strength an superiority of the British. Though disciplined and well trained, the Zulu were no match for th maxim gun of the British backed up with a strong economy of the cape and industrialised Britaii Therefore, the Zulu had to surrender forcefully.

The Zulu state had created a series of enemies around her self and no state came to her rescue whe it was attacked. Right from the time of Shaka, the Zulu had alienated her neighbours by attackin them and Cetewayo made it worse. Therefore, some African states are even said to have joined til British against the Zulu, like the Ngwato of Khama.

The earlier Mpande and Cetewayo's policy of peaceful co-existence with the whites led to tli collapse of the Zulu state. The whites were given ample time to prepare and consolidate themselves in the interior and when they striked against the Zulu they were on a firm ground.

It is also said that the action by the Zulu of entering into Natal to chase one of the wives ( Cetewayo who had run there one time led to the collapse of the Zulu state. The British thought thi the Zulu had invaded them and responded aggressively and the events that followed led to th collapse of the state.

The period after 1870 in which the Zulu state collapsed, was an age of scramble for and Partition i Africa. The Zulu as a nation could not survive this ugly episode. The British feared that othi powers as if German and Portuguese would take away the area hence crashed the Zulu.

Then the capture of Cetewayo in 1879 and his eventual exile worsened the disintegration. The Zulu had been humiliated and their strong leader Cetewayo was exiled to London in 18182. Though he was brought back, he never regained the loyally and support of his people and died in 1884.

The impact of civil war after the death of Cetewayo. One rebel called Dini Zulu sought Boer support and emerged the Zulu King. The Boers claimed they were protectors of the Zulu state. This annoyed the British and they had to strike when the tron was still hot.

The last straw that broke the Camel's back was the British annexation of Zulu land and its final division into 13 administrative provinces. This sealed off the fate of the Zulu nation and saw the end of the power and independence of the state.

During the great trek, the Boers were searching for land in the interior of South Africa where they were interested in some parts of Zulu land which had been depopulated by Mfecane.  In 1835, the Boers under Pietretief died for land from Dingane.  But Dingane promised to give it to them only after they had recovered the cattle of the Zulu which was stolen by Sikonyera the leader of the Mokwa.  After Pietretief had recovered the cattle, Dingane decided to kill him.  This led to the Boer Zulu war called the battle of blood river in which the Zulu were obviously defeated in 1839.  Many Zulu were forced to surrender all the areas which they controlled South of Tugela river to the Boers.  In 1840, the Boers together with Mpande a brother of Dingane overthrew Dingane and killed him.  Mpande was declared the king of the Zulu by the Boers.  He ruled like a puppet or stooge until 1872.  The death of Mpande in 1872 was followed by more wars among the Zulu particularly between Setewayo and Mbulazi.  They were struggling to become kings of the Zulu.  These wars weakened the Zulu kingdom internally.  The most serious of these wars was the battle of Tugeta which disunited the Zulu.  Setewayo won the wars and finally became the king of Zulu kingdom.

The migration system: The above period of insecurity led to a number of migrations. People began to flee for their lives. The dissatisfied generals deserted the king important of whom was Mzilikazi who led the group ofNguni speaking people and founded the Ndebele kingdom in central Africa. Zwangendaba and Maputo also led some Ngoni groups towards north and settled . in East. Therefore the kingdom was reduced as most of its inhabitants migrated for safer life elsewhere outside the Zulu kingdom.

Succession disputes: Before Shaka's successor took over the throne, there were disputes between Dingane and his brother Mpande on who to succeed Shaka. This led to rival factions and consequently civil wars. This created turmoil (quagmire) leading to the collapse of the previously strong kingdom.

Weakness of Shaka's successor; Apart from Chetswayo, other leaders were not competent enough to uphold the strength of the kingdom. When Dingane succeeded Shaka, he lacked military campaigns and raids on which the power of the economy of the kingdom had almost entirely depended. This was followed by the conquered states asserting their dependence and hence breaking away. Secondly, when Mpade succeeded Dingane he collaborated with the Boers and in the long run the kingdom had lost its fertile lands to the Boers, and infact during his reign there was no annexation, instead Zulu kingdom lost many territories during this period. However, when Chetswayo came to power in 1872 he tried to revive the Zulu.

In conclusion therefore, it must be emphasised however that the reasons for the disintegration and eventual collapse of the Zulu state were both external and internal. It should however be noted that in as much as the empire had developed cracks of disintegration, it would have continued for at least longer if it was not for the British imperialism; which provided a coup de grace to her independence.