Zulu people

The Zulus are an African ethnic group of more than ten million individuals who mainly inhabit the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, although they are also found in small populations in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe..

Their language originally derives from Bantu, though more recently from the Nguni subgroup. The Zulu kingdom played a significant role in the history of South Africa during the 19th century. In the 20th century, under the apartheid regime, these people were classified as second-class citizens, being discriminated against. Today it is the largest ethnic group in the country and enjoys equal rights.

Today the Zulu people number around 10 million individuals concentrated mainly in KwaZulu-Natal, a province of present-day South Africa. They are divided into different clans, one ruled by a chief. All these clans are part, in turn, of the Zulu Kingdom, under the sovereignty of a king.

History

Origins

King Shaka

According to their oral tradition, the Zulu people consider themselves descendants of a legendary chieftain of the a bantu bakua zulu (People of the Land of Zulu).

Originally a minor clan, founded around 1709 by Zulu kaMalandela. In the Zulu language, Zulu means sky, or firmament. Around the 18th century they were already trading with the Portuguese in Delagoa Bay. The first important chieftain was Senzangakona between 1787 and 1816, who integrated all the Zulu clans into a single political-administrative entity around 1807.

Considered the founder of the Zulu nation is chieftain Dingiswayo, son of Jobe, who from 1807 to 1818 was head of the Mtetwa Confederacy. He annexed numerous small tribes and unified the 30 Zulu tribes, while also dealing with the advancing English settlers from Natal. It is believed that they believed in shamanism, although there are also historical sources that indicate devotion to traditional African animism.

The Zulu Kingdom

The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes called the Zulu Empire or simply Zululand, was a monarchy in southern Africa that stretched along the Indian Ocean coast from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.

The kingdom came to dominate much of what is today KwaZulu-Natal and southern Africa, but when it came into conflict with the British Empire in the 1870s during the Anglo-Zulu War, it was defeated despite an early battle. Zulu victory in the war. The area was later absorbed into the Colony of Natal and later became part of the Union of South Africa.

Currently

King Dinizulu.

As a result of the 1907-1910 revolt, Dinizulu's successor, Solomon kaDinuzulu, was not recognized as king by the British authorities, which is why in 1923 he founded the nationalist movement Inkatha YaKwaZulu, which he led until his death on March 4, 1933, being succeeded as leader of the Zulu people by Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon (1924 - 1968).

During apartheid, the South African authorities tried to win the support of the Zulu population with the creation of the KwaZulu bantustan on February 1, 1977, even considering granting an apparent independence to the bantustan, limited by its economic dependence on the Republic South African, but were opposed by local leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who refounded the Inkatha YaKwaZulu movement, the forerunner of the future Inkatha Freedom Party political party.

The bantustan was ruled until its dissolution in 1994, in the name of the Zulu king by Mangosuthu ("Gatsha") Buthelezi, himself a member of the Zulu royal family. The current representative of the traditional Zulu monarchy is Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.