Shaka Zulu (ca. 1787 - 1828) changed the Zulu tribe from a small clan into a nation that held sway over a large proportion of Southern Africa. His military prowess and new tactics, his practice of destroying his enemies and assimilating the remainder marks Shaka Zulu as one of the greatest Zulu chieftains.

Biography

Some historians offer that Shaka (1787 - 1828) was a child of prophecy, destined to conquer and then to lead the previously unknown Zulus to unite the tribes of South Africa, through bloody spears and shields, into a strong economic co-existence... a military nation, all under a single, brilliant ruler… the warrior King... Shaka.

Shaka Zulu’s journey from his mother's (Nandi) unwed pregnancy by young Zulu Chief, Senzangakhona... the young chief trying to avoid political conflict, denying responsibility by stating "perhaps she is simply bearing iShaka (an intestinal beetle)... to Nandi and unborn Shaka's virtual banishment... to Shaka becoming a young man, fighting as another tribe’s common soldier, his innovative leadership eventually enabling him to quickly surpass his military trainers, teaching them new strategies and devising new weapons... Becoming the master, he led his new army to return and conquer both his birth land and his father, where Shaka fulfilled his compelling destiny to create and lead new, dominant armies to conquer rival tribes and fold them into his newly supreme, Zulu empire.

“The Ultimate African-Warrior King”, his matchless armies swept through South Africa, like the Roman Legions of antiquity moved through Europe and Asia, repeatedly achieving countless victories, uniting a fractured South Africa to grow in strength and newfound prosperity. Anticlimactically, however, and like Julius Caesar, Shaka eventually suffered betrayal and assassination by those within in his small, trusted inner circle... Dingane and Mhlangana, his half-brothers.

Shaka’s famous broad-blade stabbing-spear, the "iKlwa", as legendary as King Arthur’s Excalibur, is romanticized to have either been magically forged for or to have been conceived by Shaka.

Whether the sword type was already available prior to Shaka is not important, relative to history’s reverent memory of the great King Shaka’s renowned rise to power. His dominant leadership and conquering fame rivals that of Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Napoleon, and Genghis Khan.

At Shaka’s apex, the European colonization of Africa encountered King Shaka's armies of nearly 85,000 Zulu Warriors, repeatedly suffering tremendous losses. Nonetheless, the imperialist colonists' desire to exploit the continent's abundant resources was too powerful to withstand. The Zulu empire, just as history's other great empires, declined to its demise and Shaka's assassination.

The Zulu empire had finally suffered a deathblow, and the European invaders eventually ensured the people's instability and inability to fight back, when using vastly superior firepower, they later defeated and exiled Zulu King Cetshwayo and divided the vast Zulu empire amongst 13 pro-European-colonists chiefs. Their plan has since endured, casting the nation into nearly two centuries of constant turmoil, apartheid and persistent civil wars.

Reputed by some to be heroic, and by others to be cruel and ruthless in his bloody carnage and empire building, Shaka’s history will always be tainted by the fact that those events were mostly recorded by the literate Europeans who had invaded the continent, ultimately intent on its abundant riches, minerals, gold, silver, gems, and generous diamond mines. The colonists left written accounts intended to both document and serve their own interests.

Nonetheless, history's fascination with Shaka's omnispresent character, both regal and ruthless, reverberates through his descendants and the spirit of his Zulu people.

The greatest African leader in history, Shaka's strength of convictions, doctrine of discipline, powerful life force, and belief in a united South Africa has been imprinted on the annals of time and the legend of what was one of the world's most dominant empires.

One of history's greatest leaders, uniters of people, and most important warrior Kings, he is… Shaka Zulu.

From:www.smoothwebs.com
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