Essay On Zulu Power

Decent Essays
James Madison once said “Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions” ( ). Power itself is something that everybody attempts to attain because it brings about wealth, prestige, respect and so much more. But power itself is something that can be difficult to attain and once it is attained it can be used in such a way that will become abusive in destructive. Many ways power is gained is through the conquest of new land: with new lands comes material wealth, more control and respect from followers. This is true for the ancient kingdoms of Africa; many kingdoms gained wealth and prestige by taking over neighboring states in order to expand …show more content…
In this paper, I will first explain how the emergence of a strong leader like Chaka helped the Zulu nation grown in power through the use of a strong military. Then I will further demonstrate how the fall of the leader Chaka and interference of European powers with advanced technology lead to the downfall of the nation.
The Zulu where once people that lived in small farming communities: they grew crops and managed cattle in order to make a living: they were located in modern day KwaZulu-Natal in Southern Africa. They had access to trade routes with some European powers, and this allowed them to flourish, but they suffered some conflict with nearby ethnic groups that also wanted sole access to trading routes on the coast. This lead to the emergence of “Chaka: the king and soldier of the Zulu nation” who emphasized “unity” which allowed for the creation of a strong, dominant state. Chaka was both a feared and respected leader because of his military policy: he created a massive army in “young men
…show more content…
In “1824 a group of British traders landed in a small lagoon in southern Africa,” and they soon created a trading: soon after they contacted the Zulu kingdom (Kingdoms.of.Africa - The.Zulu.Kingdom). During their contact, the British portrayed the leader of the Zulu people as a savage animal, which ended up giving him a negative reputation among the European world. After Chaka’s assassination, his brothers seized the throne but they lacked the military strategy that their brother portrayed: they soon ran into conflict with Boor settlers that came from Dutch and German descendents. These settlers left cape cod in search of new land, and they found that within Zulu territory. While the new ruler Dingon did agree to give them land, the Boer settlers behaved in a certain manner that offended the new ruler. Because of this, Dingon killed all 70 of the farmers and attacked their settlement. But, the Boor farmers had advanced weaponry and created a fortified wall that the Zulu warriors could not penetrate with their military tactics. As a result, over 3,000 Zulus were killed, turning the river red from all the blood (Kingdoms.of.Africa - The.Zulu.Kingdom). This is just one example of how the Zulu’s military strategy and strength had diminished when having to confront European settlers that had much more

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