Cetshwayo
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Cetshwayo kaMpande | |
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King of the House of Zulu | |
Father | Mpande |
Mother | Ngqumbazi |
Cetshwayo kaMpande (/kɛtʃˈwaɪ.oʊ/; Zulu pronunciation: [ᵏǀétʃwajo kámpande]; c. 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king[a] of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1884 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchwayo. Cetshwayo consistently opposed the war and sought fruitlessly to make peace with the British and was defeated and exiled following the Zulu defeat in the war. He was later allowed to return to Zululand, where he died in 1884.
Early life
Cetshwayo was a son of Zulu king Mpande[1] and Queen Ngqumbazi, half-nephew of Zulu king Shaka and grandson of Senzangakhona. In 1856 he defeated and killed in battle his younger brother Mbuyazi, Mpande's favourite, at the Battle of Ndondakusuka. Almost all Mbuyazi's followers were massacred in the aftermath of the battle, including five of Cetshwayo's own brothers.[2] Following this he became the ruler of the Zulu people in everything but name. He did not ascend to the throne, however, as his father was still alive. Stories from that time regarding his huge size vary, saying he stood at least between 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) and 6 ft 8 in (203 cm) in height and weighed close to 25 stone (350 lb; 160 kg).
His other brother, Umthonga, was still a potential rival. Cetshwayo also kept an eye on his father's new wives and children for potential rivals, ordering the death of his favourite wife Nomantshali and her children in 1861. Though two sons escaped, the youngest was murdered in front of the king.[3] After these events Umthonga fled to the Boers' side of the border and Cetshwayo had to make deals with the Boers to get him back. In 1865, Umthonga again fled across the border, apparently making Cetshwayo believe that Umthonga would organize help from the Boers against him, the same way his father had overthrown his predecessor, Dingane.
Furthermore, he had a rival half-brother, named uHamu kaNzibe who betrayed the Zulu cause on numerous occasions.[4]
Reign
Mpande died in 1872. His death was concealed at first, to ensure a smooth transition; Cetshwayo was installed as king on 1 September 1873. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who annexed the Transvaal to the Cape Colony,[5] crowned Cetshwayo in a shoddy, wet affair that was allegedly more of a farce than anything else. Shepstone eventually turned on the Zulus, as he felt he was undermined by Cetshwayo's skillful negotiations for land area and compromised by encroaching Boers, as well as the fact that the Boundary Commission established to examine the ownership of the land in question had dared to rule in favour of the Zulus.[5] The report was subsequently buried.
After his coronation, as was customary, Cetshwayo established a new capital for the nation and called it Ulundi (the high place). He expanded his army and readopted many methods of Shaka. He also equipped his impis with muskets, though evidence of their use is limited. He banished European missionaries from his land and may have incited other native African peoples to rebel against Boers in the Transvaal.
Anglo-Zulu War
In 1878, Sir
The British then returned to Zululand with a far larger and better armed force, finally capturing the Zulu capital at the Battle of Ulundi, in which the British, having learned their lesson from their defeat at Isandlwana, set up a hollow square on the open plain, armed with cannons and Gatling guns. The battle lasted approximately 45 minutes before the British ordered their cavalry to charge the Zulus, which routed them. After Ulundi was taken and burnt on 4 July, Cetshwayo was deposed and exiled, first to Cape Town, and then to London. He returned to Zululand in 1883.
From 1881, his cause had been taken up by, among others, Lady Florence Dixie, correspondent of The Morning Post, who wrote articles and books in his support. This, along with his gentle and dignified manner, gave rise to public sympathy and the sentiment that he had been ill-used and shoddily treated by Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford.
Later life
By 1882 differences between two Zulu factions—pro-Cetshwayo uSuthus and three rival chiefs led by
Cetshwayo's most prominent role in South African
In popular culture
Cetshwayo figures in three adventure novels by H. Rider Haggard: The Witch's Head (1885), Black Heart and White Heart (1900) and Finished (1917), and in his non-fiction book Cetywayo and His White Neighbours (1882). He is mentioned in John Buchan's novel Prester John. In the short story A Municipal Report in Strictly Business by O. Henry (1910) the face of a key character is compared to that of "King Cettiwayo".
A character in the opera Leo, the Royal Cadet by Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann and George Frederick Cameron was named in his honour in 1889.
In the 1964 film Zulu, he was played by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, his own maternal great-grandson and the future leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
In the 1979 film Zulu Dawn, he was played by Simon Sabela .
In the 1986 miniseries
There is a brief allusion made to Cetshwayo in the novel
Legacy
In 2016, the King Cetshwayo District Municipality was named after him.
References
Notes
- ^ The title iSilo samaBandla was used for the king by the Zulu people.
Citations
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 776–777.
- ^ Haggard, Henry Rider (1882). Cetywayo and His White Neighbours: Or, Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal. AMS Press.
- ISBN 978-0-7126-6105-8.
- ^ John Laband, Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars, p. 194[ISBN missing]
- ^ ISBN 978-1-58648-473-6.
- ^ Macdonald, William (1933). The Romance of the Golden Rand: Being the Romantic Story of the Life and Work of the Pioneers of the Witwatersrand – the World's Greatest Goldfields. Cassell, limited.
- ^ "Biography of Cetshwayo kaMpande, the last king of an independent Zulu nation". africanhistory.about.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2006. Retrieved 17 December 2006.
- ^ "Cetshwayo, ka Mpande, King of the Zulus (c.1832–1884)". English Heritage. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
- ^ Coetzee, J. M. (1990). Age of Iron. Secker & Warburg.
Further reading
- Carolyn Hamilton, Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical invention, Harvard University Press, 1998.
- Ian Knight, By The Orders Of The Great White Queen: An Anthology of Campaigning in Zululand, Greenhill Books, 1992.
- Ken Gillings, Discovering the Battlefields of the Anglo-Zulu War, 2014.