Zulu Kingdom
The Zulu Kingdom (/ˈzuːluː/ ZOO-loo; Zulu: KwaZulu), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.
This article is about the Zulu Kingdom in Southern Africa. For other and related uses, see Zululand.
Kingdom of ZululandKwaZulu
Protectorate of the United Kingdom 1887–1897
1818
1816
1818
1820
1838
1879
1887
1897
207,000 km2 (80,000 sq mi)
250,000
A bitter civil war in the mid-19th century erupted which culminated in the 1856 Battle of Ndondakusuka between the brothers Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi. In 1879, a British force invaded Zululand, beginning the Anglo-Zulu War. After an initial Zulu victory at the Battle of Isandlwana in January, the British regrouped and defeated the Zulus in July during the Battle of Ulundi, ending the war. The area was absorbed into the Colony of Natal and later became part of the Union of South Africa.