Nightshift – Kurzgesagt after Dark
Nightshift – Kurzgesagt after Dark
Rise of Zulu SOURCES
Thank you to:
Prof. Benedict Carton, Associate Director of the Center for Mason Legacies at George Mason University
and
for contributing to the script writing process and visual input.
Please check out Bendeict’s book Zulu Identities and Mphumeleli’s article on the coronation of a Zulu king in apartheid South Africa.
INTRO
People flee across the banks of the Thukela River in panic. It’s the early 19th century, and the Zulu regiments are here to raid them. Children struggle to cling to their mothers’ backs. Elders get stuck and crocodiles snap at their legs.
Some men try to hold back the attackers, but the odds aren’t good. The Zulu count thousands of soldiers and have already conquered many other chiefdoms in the region.
In personal communication Mphumeleli Ngidi comments that during his reign (1816–1828), King Shaka incorporated numerous neighbouring chiefdoms into the expanding Zulu Kingdom. The political landscape of south-eastern Africa consisted primarily of numerous small chiefdoms and kinship-based communities, some of which were incorporated through military conquest, while others entered the kingdom through alliance, diplomacy, or voluntary submission. Communities and chiefdoms which did not consent to succumb were forced to flee or encountered the wrath of King Shaka’s spear.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 103)
#EBSCO. (2026). Shaka. Davis, Ronald W.
It’s impossible to get past the raider’s colossal shields. A wall of Zulu fighters closes in on the defenders. The Zulu drive their short, sharp spears into their chests before moving on to the next foe.
#The colossal shields can be seen here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jong_Zoeloekryger_1860.jpg
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 58).
https://www.jonathanball.co.za/product/the-zulu-kings/
#Deflem, M. (1999). Warfare, Political Leadership, and State Formation: The Case of the Zulu Kingdom, 1808-1879. Ethnology, 38(4), 371–391.
Vultures circle the sky as the raiders cut open the torsos of the dead, releasing their spirits so their enemies cannot return to haunt them.
They round up the prisoners to bring to their leader, King Shaka. Now they are people of Zululand.
He was once cast out of his home, but now his ambition knows no bounds. His brothers fear he has gone mad. If no one stops the Zulu leader, not even his subjects will be safe.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 103).
2 SIMPLE JOYS
The Zulu were not always this powerful juggernaut. By the late 18th century, they’re only a small chiefdom of less than 2,000 living on Africa’s southeastern coast.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi comments that instead of depicting life as “peaceful,” it is more accurate that there was competition over cattle and grazing land and that political authority existed long before King Shaka although warfare generally occurred on a much smaller scale.
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shaka-Zulu-chief
#Bragg, M. (Host). (2010, April 15). The Zulu nation’s rise and fall [Audio podcast episode]. In *In our time*. BBC Radio 4.
When neighboring chiefdoms do clash, it is usually disputes over resources like ivory or cattle or access to goods flowing from harbours like Delagosa Bay, where the Portuguese have already been getting rich off the slave trade.
#Bragg, M. (Host). (2010, April 15). The Zulu nation’s rise and fall [Audio podcast episode]. In *In our time*. BBC Radio 4.
For Senzangakona, the Zulu’s young chief, life revolves around his friends, herding cows and breaking hearts. Yet something changes when he meets Nandi, the princess of a neighboring chiefdom.
The two young nobles flirt and fall in love; neither one of them suspects that their union will change Southern Africa forever.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 43).
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
3 EXILED
Soon, Nandi’s belly begins to swell. A married man would be delighted, but Senzangakona isn’t. He’s young and, crucially, single. Their love affair becomes a scandal.
When Nandi’s son is born in 1787, his father names him “Shaka” after the mythical ishaka beetle which makes bellies swell – a useful way to explain the pregnancy.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi comments on the circumcision and illegitimacy interpretation surrounding Shaka’s birth. Within Zulu customary law, circumcision does not determine the legitimacy of a child. Rather, legitimacy is determined by whether the child is born within a recognised marriage. Zulu customary terminology distinguishes between different categories of children born outside marriage. For example, umlanjwana refers to a child born to an unmarried woman; izezandlebe refers to a child fathered by a man other than a married woman's husband while the husband is still alive; and ilongwe refers to a child conceived during marriage but born after the death of the husband, where the biological father is another man. These distinctions demonstrate that illegitimacy was defined according to marital status rather than circumcision.
#Golan, D. (1990). The Life Story of King Shaka and Gender Tensions in the Zulu State. History in Africa, 17, 95–111.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171808
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shaka-Zulu-chief
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 45). (Function).
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 79).
https://www.jonathanball.co.za/product/the-zulu-kings/
#Bragg, M. (Host). (2010, April 15). The Zulu nation’s rise and fall [Audio podcast episode]. In *In our time*. BBC Radio 4.
But humiliation isn’t enough. Senzangakona has broken the strictest laws by fathering a child before reaching adulthood. The baby has to go, and he knows just who to turn to: his older sister, Mnkabayi.
#Golan, D. (1990). The Life Story of King Shaka and Gender Tensions in the Zulu State. History in Africa, 17, 95–111.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171808
When she learns of the nephew who could threaten their place in court, some oral traditions say
she visits Nandi to poison her child. Or at least, that’s what she tells Senzangakona. In reality, she warns the mother to take Shaka and flee. Maybe this heir can be a future ally.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi comments that this account of Mkabayi’s actions derives primarily from later oral traditions rather than contemporary sources. Some oral traditions portray Mkabayi kaJama as a protector of Shaka and Nandi, while others depict her differently. Consequently, this episode should be presented as one interpretation within the oral tradition rather than as an established historical fact.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 46).
At first, Nandi and baby Shaka stay nearby with distant relatives. But they’re a liability, so they have to jump from chiefdom to chiefdom.
As Shaka grows, he becomes angry. He isn’t afraid to beat the bullies who shove his hand in a beehive and call him a “little nothing in hiding”. His mother is worried, but soon this rage will pay off.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (pp. 68-69).
https://www.jonathanball.co.za/product/the-zulu-kings/
#EBSCO. (2026). Shaka. Davis, Ronald W.
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/shaka
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
4 DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
King Dingiswayo, leader of the formidable Mthethwa kingdom isn’t so different from Shaka. When Dingiswayso was young, his father suspected he was after his throne, so he drove him away. After wandering with his mother for years, he raised his army until he was powerful enough to return and claim the kingship his father had fought so hard to deny him.
#Golan, D. (1990). The Life Story of King Shaka and Gender Tensions in the Zulu State. History in Africa, 17, 95–111.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171808
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (pp. 25-26).
His soldiers have conquered some thirty chiefdoms and extended his influence from the Black Mfolozi River to the banks of the Mhlatuze down south. The Zulu, too, have now become allies of his kingdom.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi comments that the Zulu chiefdom retained its political identity during Dingiswayo's leadership. Rather than being absorbed into the Mthethwa Kingdom, Shaka himself developed politically and militarily under Dingiswayo's patronage while the Zulu remained one of several allied chiefdoms within the broader Mthethwa sphere of influence.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 31).
#Encyclopedia Britannica Editors (2024, February 27). Dingiswayo. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dingiswayo
#EBSCO. (2026). Shaka. Davis, Ronald W.
When Shaka comes to the Mthethwa in 1802, Dingiswayo immediately likes him. He is strong, brave and naturally commands the battlefield. The king believes Shaka might even have it in him to follow in his footsteps one day, so he places him under the care of his general, puts a blade in his hand, and sends him out to war.
#South African History Online. (2011, February 17). Shaka Zulu. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/people/shaka-zulu
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (pp. 42-43).
For several years, Shaka, now in his early twenties, fights fiercely for his king. Most soldiers drive their rivals off by hurling spears until they flee. But Shaka prefers to chase and stab them to death in close-quarters battle. Many tales of Shaka’s thirst for blood came from colonial sources – from accounts of European traders or later historians piecing together his story. And it's clear his early victories didn’t just depend on violence, but on his strategic leadership.
Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Still, it seems that even Dingiswayo, his own mentor, became uneasy with his methods. Dingiswayo is not in favor of brutalizing the innocent, but he is currently waging a tough war against rival groups and can’t get rid of one of his best soldiers.
So Shaka remains in his ranks, and his reputation spreads.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 61).
When messengers inform Shaka’s father, still the leader of the Zulu, about the prowess of his long-lost son, he can barely believe it. So he travels to the Mthethwa to meet warrior Shaka for himself.
This will be Senzangakona's last mistake.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 43).
5 FAMILY REUNION
As the Zulu chief steps into Dingiswayo’s hut, the King points to his soldiers and asks: “Do you see the beast of your people among these cattle?”
Senzangakona recognizes Shaka, but he can’t meet his gaze.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 66).
The young warrior has long dreamed of making his father pay and claiming his reign. But he’s playing a delicate political game; his fingerprints can’t be on the murder weapon.
So when night falls, according to oral tradition, he climbs onto his father’s hut, carrying a poison prepared by occult doctors.
Under a full moon, Shaka lets the liquid drip through the straw roof onto his father below.
The next morning, Shaka’s father departs feeling ill. Not long after, he falls to his knees and never gets back up.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 44).
When Shaka hears the news, he can’t hide his delight. Revenge is complete, and the path is clear to march home with Dingiswayo’s army and secure his place as king of the Zulu.
His first order of business: executing his half brother who had been loyal to his father. But he spares his aunt who kept him alive all those years ago.
The reign of King Shaka has begun.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi comments that political purges did occur following Shaka's accession to the throne. However, the historical evidence suggests that his principal rival was his half-brother Sigujana kaSenzangakhona, whom Shaka removed from power with the assistance of his maternal brother Ngwadi. The claim that all loyal relatives were immediately executed exaggerates the available historical evidence.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 45-46).
https://www.jonathanball.co.za/product/the-zulu-kings/
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shaka-Zulu-chief
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (pp. 48-49).
6 NEW ORDER
With Shaka as a leader of the Zulu, the days of casual fighting with neighboring chiefdoms are over.
Joining a fighting regiment now becomes part of coming of age. At the top of Shaka’s new hierarchy are aristocrats from the Zulu heartland. Their sons join the most esteemed regiments, which send pillaged goods back to Zulu elites. And at home, women’s duties are stricter than before, and it’s now their job alone to sow the crops that feed their households.
Their new king has also invented a special short-stabbing spear: with it you’d slam enemy shields out of the way, then drive the spear into their bellies and rip through the flesh as hard as you can.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 83).
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 55).
After each campaign, the king meets with his commanders and reviews each soldier. Those who killed an enemy are awarded an iziqu necklace and are seen as heroes. Those who don’t fight with zeal are ridiculed and shunned.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 56).
When Shaka learns that King Dingiswayo was killed in battle, he realises that he alone has what it takes to continue the dead king’s expansionist campaign.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 90).
For leaders of the independent chiefdoms south of the Thukela River, this is a nightmare.
While Dingiswayo was a fearsome king, those under his rule were mostly left alone as long as they paid their tribute. If Shaka conquers them, occupation won’t be as easy.
#Deflem, M. (1999). Warfare, Political Leadership, and State Formation: The Case of the Zulu Kingdom, 1808-1879. Ethnology, 38(4), 371–391.
And he seems to become more unstable each year.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (pp. 81-82).
Yet, only when his mother dies do the Zulu learn how far he can go. Grieving becomes mandatory. Those who aren’t shedding tears day and night might be killed. Even cows are slaughtered so that their calves can grieve alongside Shaka.
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Some recollections even say the survivors are forbidden to plant any crops for a year, forcing many to hide their bowel movements to avoid provoking Shaka’s wrath if he finds out they’ve had solid food.
His subjects have had enough. But who can topple the Zulu ruler?
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 133).
7 AN INVINCIBLE BEAST
Chiefdoms across Southern Africa have long since formed a confederacy to defeat Shaka. But the Zulu King has reorganized his armies to oppose them.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 101).
During battles, the strongest soldiers serve as “the chest,” facing the enemy head-on.
The “horns” are assigned to encircle their victims, while the “loins” stay behind as backup.
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Shaka’s fighters can cover 40 kilometers in a single day, seizing cattle and massacring fleeing civilians.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi comments that although distances of 80 kilometers per day may have been achieved under exceptional circumstances during forced marches, they were unlikely to have been routine. Historians estimate that Zulu regiments normally covered approximately 30 to 50 kilometres per day.
#EBSCO. (2026). Shaka. Davis, Ronald W.
Many are captured but they’re not enslaved: Shaka incorporates them into Zulu society and the military, just as Dingiswayo did with him.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 60).
Through his campaigns, Shaka manages to expand his influence over countless chiefdoms. Amid the chaos spreading across the region, places vanish overnight as people flee West toward the Orange River, while others seek refuge in the northern mountains. Some accounts say that eventually, the dispersal will cause people to resettle as far as Tanzania, more than 3,000 kilometers from Zulu land.
In personal communication, Mphumeleli Ngidi cautions against conflating later migrations of Nguni-speaking groups, particularly the Ngoni, with the immediate consequences of Shaka's campaigns. While some Ngoni communities eventually settled in East Africa, they should not be described simply as refugees fleeing directly from Shaka's armies. Regional upheaval resulted from numerous interacting factors including competition between African states, drought, ivory and slave trading, Portuguese commercial expansion in Mozambique, internal political struggles, and later colonial interpretations, not solely Shaka's expansion.
#Deflem, M. (1999). Warfare, Political Leadership, and State Formation: The Case of the Zulu Kingdom, 1808-1879. Ethnology, 38(4), 371–391.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3773913
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shaka-Zulu-chief
#Encyclopedia Britannica Editors. (2015, November 19). Mfecane. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Mfecane
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 103).
But there’s another side to this story: not all the upheaval of this period can be tied to Shaka’s campaigns. Catastrophic drought, wars in other chiefdoms, the influx of European firearms, and the slave trade all play a role in driving people from their land. The Zulu Kingdom isn’t always the aggressor. Sometimes, it gives refuge to people fleeing other crises.
The Zulu territory, which was once one of many small kingdoms on Africa's southeastern coast, has grown to over 20,000 square kilometers.
Now, the only force strong enough to stop the Zulu… is the Zulu themselves.
#Bragg, M. (Host). (2010, April 15). The Zulu nation’s rise and fall [Audio podcast episode]. In *In our time*. BBC Radio 4.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rykqd
#Frampton, B. (2019, January 22). Why is Wales used as a unit of measurement? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46737277
8 DOWNFALL
By 1828, Shaka is having dreams in which he is murdered and replaced. Is this his ancestors' spirits warning him?
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 180).
He has shattered one of his biggest rivals by defeating the Ndwandwe chiefdom, so it’s unlikely their generals will come for him.
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Perhaps then it is the Europeans coming from the Cape he should be looking out for. But he knows how to keep them in check through clever manipulation.
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 155).
Could it be his brothers?
They claim Shaka has harmed the Zulu Kingdom; in reality, they just want to save their own heads before he turns against them. When soldiers leave for yet another campaign, the siblings visit the King at his royal enclosure in the capital city. Shaka can tell there’s something wrong, but before his bodyguards can stop them, his brothers ready their spears and stab him.
#Laband, John. The Assassination of King Shaka: Zulu History's Dramatic Moment (p. 172-173, 184).
https://www.jonathanball.co.za/product/the-zulu-kings/
#Eldredge, Elizabeth A.. The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (p. 270).
#Morris, D.R. (2026, March 31). Shaka. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Unfortunately for the Zulu people, Shaka’s execution doesn’t lead to an era of peace.
After over ten years of violent rule, and with Shaka gone, a power struggle ignites. Aspiring kings try to secure the throne by trading land with European settlers.
#Encyclopedia Britannica. (2026, January 1). Dingane.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dingane
Meanwhile, British colonizers continue to encircle their realm. After decades of imperial expansion, internal political conflict and confederation policy, they are eventually conquered in the Anglo-Zulu War – half a century after Shaka’s death.
The once sovereign land is divided into thirteen smaller chiefdoms led by British-appointed rulers, marking the end of one of the greatest kingdoms that Southern Africa has ever seen.
#Bragg, M. (Host). (2010, April 15). The Zulu nation’s rise and fall [Audio podcast episode]. In *In our time*. BBC Radio 4.
When Shaka took his father’s throne, he never envisioned that this would be the end of everything he helped to build. All his life, Shaka had fought to keep rivals away, but in doing so, he also made a deep cut into his own chiefdom.
But who was Shaka really? Many accounts about him come from early European traders and have been embellished. This goes not only for descriptions of his cruelty but also the credit he gets for every military innovation of the time. With oral histories and modern research, the story of Shaka’s life becomes a lot more complex.
But he still remains a controversial figure. Increasingly, historians see him as a successful statebuilder and diplomat as well as a conqueror. There are many ways to tell his story, and the closer we look, the harder it is to reduce him to any single one of them.
#Davenport, T. R. H. (1979). The fragmentation of Zululand, 1879–1918. Reality, 11(5), 11–13. https://sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files2/resep79.8.pdf