CETSHWAYO

Born around 1826 near Eshowe, in Zululand, Cetshwayo was the last of the great Zulu warrior-kings.  Inspired by the feats of his famous uncle, Shaka, he developed a powerful military machine of some 40,000 well-trained soldiers and restored the glory of the Zulu Empire that had fallen upon rather lean times during the reign of Mpande, his more peaceful father. Cetshwayo disapproved of the manner in which Mpande was catering to the wishes of the Europeans, whom he himself distrusted.  He seized the throne in 1857 but was not acknowledged by the British as king of the Zulus until after Mpande’s death in 1873.  He refused to follow the dictates of either the Boers or the British and was ultimately defeated by the latter at the battle of Ulundi.  A few months before, however, Cetshwayo had earned everlasting fame by destroying an entire British regiment in a surprise attack at lsandhlwana on 22 January 1879.  This was one of the very few occasions on which an African army, using African weapons, had triumphed over a European force.  After being deprived of his chieftaincy by the British, Cetshwayo pleaded his case with great force and dignity before an imperial court in London and was restored as ruler of Zululand in 1883.   But several of the new local chiefs refused to accept him as their overlord and he died of a heart attack (some say a broken heart) on 8 February 1884.   Cetshwayo remains a national hero to modern Zulus, who guarded his grave deep in Nkanda Forest for many years.