(1787-1828) Zulu warrior
chief who created the
Zulu empire. Chaka was a military
genius known for his brutality. Chaka ruled the
Zulu with an
iron hand from the very beginning, ordering
death as a punishment for the slightest opposition. Reorganizing the
Zulu army, he transformed the small
Zulu tribe of about 1,500, into a huge nation with an army numbering some 40,000. In the years from 1816 to 1827, he led the
Zulu armies in many victories as he continued his strategy of
expansion with
war. In 1827,
following his
mother's
death, Chaka became more violent than ever, killing 7,000
Zulus including all pregnant women, who were slain with their husbands. No crops were
planted, and
milk, a staple in the
Zulu diet, was forbidden.
Obsessed by his
mother's
death, he pushed his armies to extreme limits until finally, in 1828, a small
group of his
close associates, including two of his half-brothers, murdered him and ended his
reign of
terror.