The Legendary, King Shaka Zulu

Senzangakhona, is chief of a small clan known as the Zulu. Shaka is born near present-day Melmoth sometime in the mid-1780’s. His mother, Nandi, is a member of the eLangeni tribe and his father is Senzangakhona. Shaka’s parents’ marriage fails and Nandi is forced to take refuge amongst the Mthethwa clan.  In 1816, Senzangakhona dies and Shaka is named Chief of the Zulu. Shake immediately imposes a ramrod discipline over his troops and develops innovative battle strategies.

The Legendary, King Shaka Zulu

Pride of place in the collection goes to the mobile wooden chair made for the ailing King Mpande by the first Norwegian missionary in Zululand, Bishop Hans Schreuder. In the 1850’s King Mpande had great difficulty in walking due to his obesity caused probably by the disease now known as dropsy.

Welcome to Zululand Historical Museum, take a trip to the 1850s

Pride of place in the collection goes to the mobile wooden chair made for the ailing King Mpande by the first Norwegian missionary in Zululand, Bishop Hans Schreuder. In the 1850’s King Mpande had great difficulty in walking due to his obesity caused probably by the disease now known as dropsy.

Norwegian missionaries In the mid-19th Century.

Eshowe’s modern history begins with the arrival of Norwegian missionaries In the mid-19th Century. In 1854 Rev Hans Schreuder of the Norwegian Lutheran Church was granted permission by King Mpande to start a mission station at Ntumeni. Seven years later, a second Norgwegian, Rev Ommund Oftebro, established a mission at kwaMondl (situated in the present King Dlnuzulu suburb).

The White Chief of Zululand John Dunn

No other person embodied the turbulent times in which they lived more than John Dunn, the legendary hunter, trader and white chief of Zululand whose activities spanned three crucial decades in the history of Zululand. Dunn was born of Scottish parents in 1824 and grew up in the rough and ready spirit of early Port Natal (now Durban) but at the age of 18, he moved with his young bride Catherine into the unexplored territory north of Durban. Against the disapproval of his wife, Dunn married his first Zulu wife in 1861. Over the next few decades, he ended up taking 48 Zulu wives.

The Battles of Nyezane and Gingindlovu

The first battle of the Anglo Zulu War was fought near the Nyezane river on 22 January 1879. Here the British managed to avoid the defeat which the Central Column faced at Isandlwana on the same day. They were able to advance onward to Eshowe where they converted the Norwegian mission station KwaMondi – which had been abandoned in anticipation of war – into a fort and depot but they were soon surrounded by Zulu warriors and besieged for 10 weeks.