ABSTRACT
Shaka, the founder of the Zulu nation, created a centralized and militaristic state that fostered a long-lasting sense of national pride among South African Zulus, though his military conquests caused a disruptive migration of peoples that has affected the populations of southern and central Africa to the present. Shaka's successful conquests fostered a sense of national identity able to withstand the white supremacist governments of the twentieth century and survive to the present. With a charismatic yet troubled personality, Shaka was a powerful and feared ruler. When his mother died in 1827, a bereaved Shaka declared a period of mourning that included massacres and prohibitions on sexual activity and planting for the next harvest. Because of Shaka's military success, Zulus and neighboring tribes retained a sense of national identity. This ethnic pride contributed to resistance among Zulus to conquest and domination by Europeans.
