Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Shaka

A huge statue of Shaka Zulu (upper portion), as released by image creator Ristesson History
Place: Camden Market, London, England, United Kingdom. Photo by Jacob Truedson Demitz for Ristesson History – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Shaka

Shaka Zulu is the most famous African ruler to ever walk South African soil. Popular stereotypes imposed on the modern-day Zulu people continue to be influenced by facts and myths about Shaka.

We all know that Shaka remodeled the assegai, turning a long, throwing weapon into a much more effective, short stabbing one. 

1. Shaka Zulu was featured in history studies for his innovations and his military successes

Huge statue of Shaka Zulu (upper portion), as released by image creator Ristesson History
Place: Camden Market, London, England, United Kingdom. Photo by Jacob Truedson Demitz for Ristesson History – Wikimedia Commons

While many students of history put Shaka Zulu on a pedestal for his innovations and his military successes, for many in South Africa the arrival of his army only represented a disaster.

 Indeed, it represented a tragedy for many living outside of South Africa too.

2. Shaka was an illegitimate child

Camden Lock Place. Shaka Zulu Restaurant Bar Club – statues. Photo by ell brown – Wikimedia Commons

It’s believed the founder of the Zulu clan was conceived through what started as ukuhlobonga, a sexual act without actual penetration, allowed to unmarried couples, during which Senzangakhona and Nandi got carried away.

As a consequence, of his illegitimacy, Shaka was raised in his mother’s settlements. He was trained and served as a warrior under Dingiswayo, chief of the Mthethwa clan.

3. His given name at birth was Sgidi, not Shaka

Camden Market – Camden Lock Place – Shaka Zulu Restaurant Bar Club statue – Wikimedia Commons

Senzangakhona, his father, never called his son Shaka. He named him Sgidi and the child resented being called Shaka. The name he would eventually become known by was a reference to his illegitimacy.

 Nandi’s clan at first refused to believe she could be pregnant, as she was not married, and instead thought her pregnancy symptoms to be the result of a disease known as utshaka.

4. Curiosity was what drove him

 Shaka Zulu Restaurant Bar Club – statue. Photo by ell brown – Wikimedia Commons

Shaka was a curious person. He wanted to know how things worked, whatever the cost.

Besides the infamous event in which Shaka sliced a live pregnant woman’s belly open to see how the unborn baby occupied that space, historians claim he once ordered a man’s eyes to be taken out so that he could observe how the man would adapt to his new circumstances.

He also planned to send one of his most loyal men, Sotobe, overseas to England to learn more about the British invaders and their weaponry. But Sotobe only made it as far as the Cape Colony and returned after Shaka’s death.

5. Shaka was fond of traveling

Shaka mark for Wikipedia15. Photo by Outstandy – Wikimedia Commons

Shaka was fond of traveling. It is reported that he sat very little indoors and traveled the country by foot. Many places known today in KwaZulu-Natal were named according to Shaka’s first interactions with them, for example, he found the water of Amanzimtoti sweet or tasty.

He survived an assassination attack at the place now known as KwaDukuza (dukuza is isiZulu for ‘lightly stabbing’), and many people from his tribe were grabbed (in isiZulu ukuphanga) by crocodiles at the place known as Mpangeni.

6. Spartan was his approach to the people

Shaka Zulu incisione ottocentesca. Photo unattributed – Wikimedia Commons

His capital kraal was called KwaBulawayo, which means where they are killed. People deemed unfit to live were brought to KwaBulawayo to be killed off.

These included short men, deemed useless as they would not be able to see approaching enemy impi (warriors) from afar; troops who had wounds in their backs after a battle, as this meant they’d been running away; and anyone who went against his will.

7. Shaka grew the Zulu clan through warfare

London – Camden Lock Market Shaka Zulu. Chalk Farm Road Shaka Zulu restaurant. Photo by Fred Romero from Paris, France – Wikimedia Commons

Shaka sought to change things that did not make sense to him. He was a single-minded dictator who killed thousands of people, some of them his own, for the sake of unifying the Zulu tribes.

He used warfare to achieve his political agenda and to instill fear and respect for his rule. Tribes like the Mkhize, Sithole, and Luthuli were won over through patronage and reward rather than war and intimidation, and the chiefs of tribes who surrendered to him were made Izinduna commanders in his tribe.

Unifying the people of Zululand took him about 10 years, during which time Shaka exponentially expanded the Zulu clan.

8. He had respect for a select few

Shaka Zulu. This media shows a South African Protected Site with SAHRA file reference NEW. Photo by Mwgielink – Wikimedia Commons

Few men were allowed to challenge Shaka’s decisions. One of them was Ngqengelele kaMvuyana, a Buthelezi who had arrived as a stranger to Mthaniya’s place but was later adopted and gradually earned Shaka’s respect.

 Another was Shaka’s protégé, Zulu kaNogandaya, who had almost equal rights to Shaka. Zulu kaNogandaya could do as he pleased with Shaka’s support and was one of few people who ate with Shaka. (No one else had the courage or rank to do so.)

9. Shaka had an anti-marriage stance

From left to right: Clemens Gubernath, Curator; Big Freedia; Mrs. Kimberly Emerson; Chief Shaka Zulu, Staatssekretär Tim Renner; Glen David Andrews; Daniel Hammer, and Scott Hutcheson. Photo by usbotschaftberlin – Wikimedia Commons

Shaka prevented his troops, even old men, from marrying, as he believed that marital affairs would weaken the men’s combat skills. He would claim that he was saving them from the evils present in a marriage.

10. He was killed by a servant

Shaka Zulu. This media shows a South African Protected Site with SAHRA file reference NEW. Photo by Mwgielink – Wikimedia Commons

Although it is popularly believed Shaka was killed by his half-brothers, oral testimony in the James Stuart archive suggests Shaka was killed by, or at the direction of, Mbopha, a servant who sought to avenge his mother’s death at Shaka’s hands.

At the time of his death, Shaka ruled over 250,000 people. White adventurers met Shaka only in the last four years of his life.