Zululand

Zululand, historic region, eastern South Africa, comprising the north-eastern portion of what is now KwaZulu-Natal Province. Zululand is the traditional homeland of the Zulu people.

During the first quarter of the 19th century the Zulu, ruled by the warlike chieftain Shaka, dominated southern Africa almost from the River Zambezi in the north to Cape Colony in the south. Shaka was succeeded in 1828 by his half-brother Dingane, who was in turn unseated by his brother Mpande. The Zulu clashed with the Boers, during the Great Trek period. Later, Mpande's son and successor, Cetshwayo, who ruled over a large portion of the Transvaal as well, clashed with the British, who were seeking to widen their interests in the area. On December 11, 1878, they presented Cetshwayo with an ultimatum which the Zulu leader ignored; war followed. A British force totalling more than 1,200 men was almost annihilated at Isandhlwana on January 22, 1879, but on July 4, of the same year, the British won a decisive battle at Ulundi. The Zulu admitted defeat and gave up the struggle. That was, for all practical purposes, the end of independence for the Zulu nation. By 1888 all Zululand had been annexed by the British, and in 1897 it became a part of the colony of Natal. The imposition of a poll tax in 1905 precipitated a revolt that was crushed the following year. In the 1970s pockets of the historical Zululand became the black homeland of KwaZulu. In 1994, at the time of the country's first multiracial elections, KwaZulu and Natal Province merged to form the province of KwaZulu-Natal.