The Zulus and Matabele : warrior nations

This highly readable and informative volume records the dramatic histories of southern Africa�s two most renowned warrior nations, related tribes that dominated much of the region for most of the 19th century. T he lively and authoritative text recounts the lives and times of such colourful figures as Shaka and Mzilikazi, the founders of the Zulu and Matabele (Ndebele) kingdoms. It also discusses events such as the epic Great Trek, which pitted migrant Boers against the Zulus and Matabele, most notably at the ferocious Battle of Blood River. Subsequent chapters also contain well-informed accounts of battles of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879� such as Isandlwana, Rorke�s Drift and Khambula�and of the conquest and settlement of Zimbabwe in the 1890s by the forces of Cecil Rhodes. The text concludes by outlining Matabele involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1960s and 70s, and the events that led to the end of apartheid in South Africa. The rise and fall of the Zulus and Matabele was dramatic and bloody. This account begins with the characters who spurred the people to greatness and nationhood, continues with the wars and battles which afflicted them and ends with an assessment of their role in the history of Southern Africa.