Shaka Zulu

Shaka Zulu

Introduction

Shaka ka Senzangakhona, known as Shaka Zulu, has often been described as a despotic leader and very innovative. This evaluation was based on research into the development of the southern African state Shaka Zulu in the investigation that has focused heavily on military developments, political, economic and demographic. More recent work, however, said that he can be seen as a traditionalist whose power and leadership were reinforced by ideology and invisible factors in religion.

Shaka Life

Shaka was the eldest son of Senganakhona, leader of a relatively small Zulu chiefdom. Shaka is often described as illegitimate, and rejected separately from their father for many years, grew up between his mother Nandi people Langeni. Later, he joined the Mthethwa led by Dingiswayo where he became one of his warriors. Shaka residence with his mother's people, however, was a common practice throughout the region. When Senzangakhona died, Shaka was installed as the head, possibly with the help of Dingiswayo. It is important to note that the concept of a Zulu "nation" was in its infancy during the period Shakan. The variations in terms of political and ethnic identity.

The main political struggle in the nineteenth century confronted the nascent state against Ndwandwe Mthethwa. In 1816, Chief Ndwandwe Zwide Mthethwa was attacked, defeated and killed Dingiswayo army. After the death of Dingiswayo, the Mthethwa joined by Shaka Zulu. Mounted a successful campaign against Ndwandwe in the 1820's and early Zulu moved to incorporate the above groups Zwide tax. Shaka established his rule over much of the south "in a strip of land along its borders to the south-west and south that extends from the bottom Mzinyathi south-east between Mvoti Thukela rivers and the coast, and from there south to the bottom Mlazi Mngeni-zone "(Wright 1995, 172). The groups had been pushing for dominance in the area under Thukela (Qwabe, the Mbo, Ngcobo) were submitted and the top Hlubi Mzinyathi fragmented. It is often argued that the emergence of the Zulu-up period of turbulence, displacement and depopulation of the region referred to as the Mfecane. However, in the 1980 Julian Cobbing challenged the concept of Mfecane saying it was a myth of settlers set off a debate among academic historians (see Hamilton, 1995).

Great man theory of leadership

Since around the 1830's to 1930's, Western scholarship interpreted the rise of the Zulu kingdom as the ultimate in "primitive" and "wild" can. internal cohesion was viewed as the product of repressive measures instituted by Shaka and later leaders. Shaka began military innovations, commanding obedience, and was ruthless and cruel. Henry Francis Fynn (1803-1861) and Nathaniel Isaacs (1808-1872), who were among the first travelers to write about the Zulus, said that the revolution began when Shaka Zulu ambitions led him to murder his protector, Dingiswayo. This allowed Shaka to unite the groups under their authority, what he did with great ferocity. The State was based on the character of Shaka, succession struggles, and ambition. According to this view, was a wild horrible, detestable unprecedented in the history and driven by ...