The use of various types of the assegai was widespread all over Africa, and it was the most common weapon used before the introduction of firearms. This article explores the history of Zulu military innovations within their local context in south-east Africa, and the overlooked role of firearms in Zulu warfare.
Popular history of Africa before the colonial era often divides the continent’s military systems into two broad categories - the relatively modern armies along the Atlantic coast which used firearms, versus the 'traditional' armies in the interior that fought with arrows and spears. And it was the latter in particular, whose chivalrous soldiers armed with antiquated weapons, are imagined to have quickly succumbed to colonial invasion.
Like all simplified narratives, the popular division between traditional and modern military systems is more apparent than real.
The Zulu kingdom emerged in the early 19th century, growing from a minor chiefdom in Mthethwa confederation, to become the most powerful state in south-east Africa. Expanding through conquest, diplomacy and patronage, the kingdom subsumed several smaller states over a large territory measuring about 156,000 sqkm.
The Zulu state owed much of its expansion to its formidable army during the reign of King Shaka (1812-1828), the kingdom's first independent ruler. The Zulu military developed during Shaka's reign utilized a distinctive form of organization, fighting formations and weapons, that were popularized in later literature about colonial warfare in Africa.
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Chief among these was the regiment system, and the short-spears known as assegai that were utilized in the famous cow-horn formation of close-combat fighting.
The short spear often associated with king Shaka was itself a relatively ancient weapon among the polities of south-east Africa. The earliest descriptions of armies in the region from the mid 16th century include mentions of warriors armed with wooden pikes "and some assegais [spears] with iron points.”
One account from 1799 mentions that the armies in Delagoa bay region were "armed with a small spear" which they "throw with great exactness thirty or forty yards". The account also describes their armies' war dress, their large shields and their form of organization with guard units for the King. These were all popularized in later accounts of the Zulu army but were doubtlessly part of the broader military systems of the region.
Map of southern Africa in the early 19th century showing the Zulu kingdom.
Development and Innovation of the Zulu Military System
According to the Zulu traditions recorded in the late 19th century, Shaka trained his warriors to advance rapidly in tight formations and engage hand-to-hand, battering the enemy with larger war-shields, then skewering their foes with the short spear. Shaka's favorite attack formation was an encircling movement known as the impondo zankomo (beast's horns), in which the the isifuba, or chest, advanced towards the enemy’s front, while two flanking parties, called izimpondo, or horns, surrounded either side.
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There were many types of assegais in 19th century Zululand, including the isijula, the larger iklwa and unhlekwane, the izinhlendhla (barbed assegais), and the unhlekwana (broad-bladed assegai) among others.
Assegais were manufactured by a number of specialized smiths, who enjoyed a position of some status, and were made on the orders of, and delivered to, the king, who would distribute them as he saw fit. The assegai transcended its narrow military applications as it epitomized political power and social unity of the state. It also played an important part in wedding and doctoring ceremonies, as well as in hunting. It acquired an outsized position in Zulu warfare and concepts of honor that emphasized close combat battle.
Shaka of the Zulu popularized the use of the shorter stabbing spear with a 610 mm (24 in) shaft and a larger, broader blade 300 mm (12 in) long in warfare, which was traditionally used primarily as a hunting spear. This weapon is otherwise known as the iklwa or ixwa, after the sound that was heard as it was withdrawn from the victim's wound. The traditional spear was not abandoned, but was thrown from range at enemy formations before closing in for close quarters battle with the iklwa. This tactical combination originated during Shaka's military reforms.
The Zulu army originally formed during the reign of Shaka's predecessor, Senzangakhona (d. 1812), was an age-based regimental force that developed out of pre-existing region-based forces called amaButho. These regiments were instructed to build a regional barracks (Ikhanda) where they would undergo training. The barracks served as a locus for royal authority as temporary residences of the King and a means to centralize power.
Shaka greatly expanded this regimental system, enrolling about 15 regiments, with the estimated size of his army being around 14,000 in the early 19th century, which he sent on campaigns/expeditions (impi) across the region.
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The exact size of the regiment, the location of their barracks and the number of regiments varied under sucessive rulers. When a new regiment was formed, the king appointed officers, or izinduna to command it.
The Zulu had been exposed to firearms early during kingdom's creation in the 1820s. Shaka was keenly intrested in the guns carried by the first European visitors to his court and acquired musketry contigents to bolster his army. He also sent Zulu spies to the cape colony and intended to send envoys to England inorder to learn how to manufacture guns locally.
While firearms acquired by the Zulu during Dingane’s reign were not extensively used in battle before the war between the Boers and the Zulu between 1837-1840, they quickly became part of the diverse array of weaponry used by his army. The Zulu had innovated their fighting since Shaka’s day, bringing back the javelin (isiJula) for throwing at longer distances, as well as knobkerries (a type of mace or club).
The Spartans of Africa? The reality of the Zulu army
The Zulu developed an extensive vocabulary reflecting their familiarity with the new technology, with atleast 10 different words for types of firearm, each with its own history and origin, as well as a description of its use. These included a five-foot long gun called the ibala, a large barreled gun known as the imbobiyana, a double barreled shotgun known as the umakalana which was reserved for the elite, two other shotguns known as isinqwana and ifili (the first of which was used in close range fighting), and the "elephant gun" known as the idhelebe which unlike the rest of the other guns was acquired from the Boers rather than the Portuguese. Other guns include the iginanda, umhlabakude, igodhla, and isiBamu.
The bulk of firearms in the kingdom arrived from the British colony of Natal and the Portuguese station at Delagoa Bay, especially during the reign of Cetshwayo (r. 1872-1879/1884). The king utilized the services of a European trader named John Dunn whose agents transshipped the weapons from the Cape and Natal to Delagoa Bay and into Zululand.
Portuguese accounts indicate that between 1875 and 1877, 20,000 guns, including 500 breech-loaders, and 10,000 barrels of gunpowder were imported annually, the greater proportion of which went to the Zulu kingdom. Another account from 1878 mentions the arrival of 400 Zulu traders at Delagoa who purchased 2,000 breech loaders.
Zulu smiths learned how to make gunpowder under the supervision of the king's armorer, Somopho kaZikhala with one cache containing about 1,100 lb of gunpowder in 178 barrels.
Firearms and Assegais in the Zulu Victory over the British
By the time of the Anglo-Zulu war in 1878, the majority of Zulu fighters were equipped with firearms, although they were unevenly distributed, with some of the military elites purchasing the best guns while the rest of the army had older models or hardly any.
From the Zulu army's perspective however, the kingdom was at its strongest despite some of the constraints. The British estimated King Cetshwayo’s army at a maximum strength of 34 regiments of which 7 weren't active service, thus giving an estimate of 41,900, although this was likely an over-stated. The force gathered at the start of the Anglo-Zulu War, which probably numbered about 25,000 men, was the largest concentration of troops in Zulu history. With about as many guns as the Asante army (in Ghana) when they faced off with the British in 1874.
One dispatch in November 1878 noted that the “introduction of firearms” wrought “great changes, both in movements and dress”, upon the “ordinary customs of the Zulu army”. Another dispatch by a British officer in January 1879 observed that Zulu armies “are neither more bloodthirsty in disposition nor more powerful in frame than...
