a6 AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS
came into conflict. In this struggle Shaka, head of the Zulu tribe, was victorious; by his personal character and military strategy, he made himself, in ten years, master of what is now Zululand and Natal,1 and his troops were campaigning far beyond his boundaries. He organized a nation out of all the tribes he had subjected. His chief interest was in the army and he made whole-time warriors of his men; he developed the idea of regiments formed of men of the same age, and quartered them, for most of the year, in large barracks built in different parts of his country. They trained there for war, herded the king's cattle and worked his fields. The men were forbidden to marry till the king gave them permission, as a regiment, to marry into a certain age-regiment of girls. Shaka's rule was tyrannous and he fought a war every year; therefore, when in 1828 he was assassinated by his brother, Dingane, the people gladly accepted Dingane as king.
During Shaka's life English traders settled at Port Natal on friendly terms with the Zulu. Later the Boers entered Natal, defeated the Zulu in 1838, and confined them north of the Tugela River. Dingane's rule was also tyrannous and his people began to turn from him to his brother, Mpande. Dingane plotted to kill Mpande, who fled with his followers to the Boers in Natal; from there he attacked and routed Dingane and became king. The Zulu now entered on a period of comparative peace, for Mpande only occasionally raided the Swazi and Tembe (Thonga); to south and west were European states and the strongly entrenched Basuto. However, during his reign two <^f his sons fought for his heirship; Cetshwayo was victorious and he became king when Mpande died in 1872.
In 1880 the British defeated the Zulu, deposed Cetshwayo and divided the nation into thirteen kingdoms. Three years later they tried to reinstate Cetshwayo; for various reasons civil war broke out between the Usuthu (the Royal) section of the nation and tribes ruled, under the King, by the Mandlakazi Zulu house, which was united to the royal house in Mpande's grandfather. The king died but his son, Dinuzulu, with Boer help defeated the rebels who fled to the British. In 1887 the British established a magistracy in
1 An area of some 80,000 square miles, occupied, according to Bryant's estimate, by about 100,000 people. I think this figure is too low. It may be noted that tribes fleeing from Shaka established the Matabele, Shangana, and Nguni nations.