South Africa Literature and Language

A significant amount of myth surrounds the life of the Zulu leader Shaka Zulu, as he is recognized as one of the more popular leaders in African history and is widely known for his conquests in southern Africa. It is difficult to assess when Shaka Zulu was born, but scholars believe he was born sometime between 1781 and 1787. It is also difficult to characterize his upbringing, due to the lack of sources, and therefore historians have difficulty ascertaining whether Shaka was mistreated by his father, Senzangakona, or whether his mother, Nandi, and Senzangakona had a stable relationship, but it can be ascertained that Shaka was conceived out of wedlock.

What is known by historians is that Shaka, as a young warrior, was under the guidance of Dingiswayo, a chief of the Mthethwa, who was instrumental to Shaka's rise to power. Dingiswayo assisted Shaka in ousting his brothers for control of the Zulu in 1812.

After Shaka came to power, he created a number of alliances with neighboring tribes in order to check the growing power of the Ndwandwe. Aside from these alliances, Shaka also adopted a number of military reforms in order to strengthen the martial power of the Zulus. It is open to debate whether Shaka himself devised these military changes, whether other Africans assisted in these designs, or whether he was influenced by the success of European models. It is known that the changes he initiated helped him to defeat the Ndwandwe. Some of the reforms that he adopted included the exchange of the assegai for a short spear used to stab opponents, ordering his soldiers to fight without sandals in order to increase mobility, and using the "Buffalo Horns" formation, which primarily consisted of the right and left flanks surrounding the bulk of the opponent's army, while the center was used as the main thrust against the enemy.

Shaka was eager to learn about European culture, and he was fascinated by Christianity. He was also interested in learning how to read and write. He had an intermediary named Jakot who traveled between the Zulu and the Europeans to provide Shaka with information regarding the foreigners. From the news that he received, Shaka was able to make comparisons on various aspects of European and Zulu societies. The information he acquired regarding the power of Britain troubled Shaka, as he became concerned that the British might initiate a war against him and the Zulu. This concern may have prompted Shaka to send a diplomatic mission to King George in 1828, which proved relatively fruitless.

European perceptions of Shaka Zulu are complex and difficult to ascertain. This is particularly true when examining the writings of James Saunders King, who wrote articles for the South African Commercial Advertiser concerning the characteristics of Shaka Zulu. The article that was published by King on July 11, 1826, noted the hospitality that the Zulu leader extended towards others, but another article published the following week noted Shaka's tyrannical nature.

Shaka fought a number of wars to gain supremacy in southern Africa, battling the Ndwandwe tribe a number of times. Shaka was forced to contend with the Ndwandwe, under the leadership of Zwide, in a number of battles, including the Battle of Gqokli Hill in 1818, where Shaka defeated a numerically superior Ndwandwe force, and another engagement on the Mhlatuze River. After the latter battle, the Zulu were able to demolish Zwide's kraal, forcing Zwide to flee from Shaka's grasp, but Zwide did not long survive the destruction of his army, and he was later killed. Despite the fact that Shaka defeated the Ndwandwe tribe, he was forced to confront them again in 1826 when Zwide's son, Sikhunyane, rose to power and became a threat to Shaka. Shaka quickly dealt with this threat, attacking the Ndwandwe encampment that was situated in the vicinity of the Intombi River and slaughtering a significant number of Ndwandwe warriors. Following this victory, Shaka took possession of 60,000 Ndwandwe cattle and killed the Ndwandwe women and children in the vicinity, ending the Ndwandwe threat to his rule.

Following Shaka's victory over the Ndwandwe, an event occurred that contributed to the downfall of the Zulu leader: His mother died. Nandi's death in 1827 greatly affected Shaka Zulu, as illustrated by the terms of mourning that he initiated following her death. He stipulated that milk was not to be extracted from cows for drinking, nor were the Zulu permitted to grow crops, threatening the Zulu with starvation. He also stipulated that women who were discovered to be with child within one year of Nandi's death were to be executed along with their husbands.

Nandi's death resulted in the deaths of many of the Zulu, as Shaka executed people for not following his terms of mourning or for not attending to him at the time of his mother's death. Even after he ended the terms for the period of mourning, the continuation of this erratic behavior continued in 1828. His unpredi

"African" is not a language. Africa is a continent that contains 54 countries and more than 2100 completely different languages. Some estimates place the number of languages at around 3000.

If you have any quesitons about African languages, you will have to specify the language.

The most prominent languages spoken in Africa are:

Afrikaans

Amharic

Arabic

English

French

Fula

Hausa

Igbo

Oroma

Somali

Swahili

Yoruba

Zulu

In Afrikaans, Elephant is Olifant. However, this is just one of the 11 official languages of South Africa.

Thobela

Zulu time and Greenwich Mean Time are the exact same thing, as is typical of the military, it coined its own term. Since Greenwich is the site of the "zero meridian," they called GMT "Zero Time" or simply "Z- Time." In the phonetic alphabet that the flyers of the time used to make themselves understood on their radios, "Z" became "Zebra." When the alphabet was changed, the call sign became "Zulu."

Clarification: They are not *exactly* the same thing. Zulu time does not shift with daylight savings time. It is a constant time that the military uses and in fact coined a term for. They did not just call GMT by a new name, they created a new standard time.

"African" is not a language. Africa is a continent that contains 54 countries and more than 2100 completely different languages. Some estimates place the number of languages at around 3000.

If you have any questions about African languages, you will have to specify the language.

The most prominent languages spoken in Africa are:

Afrikaans
Amharic
Arabic
English
French
Fula
Hausa
Igbo
Oroma
Somali
Swahili
Yoruba
Zulu

"African" is not a language. Africa is a continent that contains 54 countries and more than 2100 completely different languages. Some estimates place the number of languages at around 3000.

If you have any quesitons about African languages, you will have to specify the language.

The most prominent languages spoken in Africa are:

Afrikaans

Amharic

Arabic

English

French

Fula

Hausa

Igbo

Oroma

Somali

Swahili

Yoruba

Zulu

It is difficult to translate, however the nearest I can offer is...Sininqueneleka Unyaka Omtsha. This means 'we wish you a happy new year'

In Zulu, as near as I gan get when said to one person is...ngikufisela unyaka omusha omuhle

Sawubona is pronounced sah-wu-ɓo-nah

Zulu Time - or Greenwich Mean Time is just an agreed standard that all other time zones relate to. So rather than a submarine commander having to worry about what time it is in Pearl Harbor and what time in Washington DC - Zulu time as the world standard is used to avoid confusion.

It is used for the Rand, which is South Africa's monetary unit.

prosperity in zulu is ukuphumelela. well if I am teaching you I was going to make a sentences to make it more clear ukuphumelela in terms of what.

Beautiful

Attractive to look at: -babazeka (or) -bukeka [v.]

Very good or pleasant: -hle [adj.]

What I think you have is what is known as a "Trade Gun" namely a short barreled (20 inch) cheaply made flintlock smooth bore made for the 19th century Africa trade. Many of these were made in Portugal and Spain and are inferior weapons at best. They were sold through outlets in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam by Arabic traders and that is how both the Zulus and Gikyu acquired them. They should not be fired under any circumstances as most have Damascus barrels and will burst with the smallest charge of powder. Their chief value lies as a curio of the African colonial period and as such would be worth perhaps 250 US as a momento of that era.

South Africa has 11 official languages, so it depends which language you are looking for.

If you mean Afrikaans then it is "ek is lief vir jou"

Ibhola

tamia means a girl who is complicated at the heart but beautiful in everyway possible .

Nsele is honey badger in the Zulu language. It is cultural belief that if a Nsele comes into your life, a miracle has occurred.

'ikhofi' is Coffee in Zulu. Here is a web address if you need anything else translated in Zulu: http://isizulu.net/

The Boers and Britain

"African" is not a language. There are several hundred languages and dialects in Africa, all of them are different.

Incidentally, for all those banking or dealing with ABSA accounts, if you didn't already know the universal ABSA branch codes south Africa '632005' applies to all their branches. So you just need that and the correct account ABSA branch codes south Africa to carry out a valid transaction