Dingane

Dingane, also spelled Dingaan, (born c. 1795—died 1840), Zulu king (1828–40) who assumed power after taking part in the murder of his half brother Shaka in 1828.

Very little is known of Zulu politics prior to 1828, but by 1827 the kingdom was rife with factional rivalries that centred on some of Shaka’s brothers and white mercenary traders. The killing of Shaka was unpopular with many Zulu, and, as the new king, Dingane initially focused on eliminating Shaka’s supporters. He established his capital at Mgungundlovu, near the White Mfolozi (Umfolozi) River. During the 1830s Dingane continued an earlier Zulu liaison with the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay; among the items traded with the Portuguese were ivory and slaves.

After 1836 Dingane was faced with invasions of white British and Boer settlers into Natal, to the south of the Zulu kingdom. In November 1837 Dingane was said to have either promised the Boer leader Piet Retief land in Natal in return for the recovery of a stolen herd of cattle or insisted that the Boers recover the stolen cattle before any agreement regarding land rights could be made. Regardless, the Boers recovered the cattle, and Retief and his party returned to Dingane’s kraal (village). Upon Dingane’s orders, Retief and his party were murdered in February 1838, which enraged the Boers. Dingane’s exact motives for the murders are not entirely clear, but presumably a desire to eliminate the Boer threat to Zulu land figured into his reasoning. After additional clashes with Boer invaders later that year, Dingane’s army was shattered by Boer firepower at the Battle of Blood (Ncome) River on Dec. 16, 1838. The next year his brother, Mpande, took thousands of Zulu south to ally with the Boers, and the allied forces of Mpande and Boer leader Andries Pretorius defeated Dingane’s army near the Pongola (Pongolo) River on Jan. 30, 1840. The Zulu king fled north into Swaziland, where he was later killed. The exact time and whereabouts of his death are uncertain.