Pictured below in their festive dresses are the Zulu (amaZulu) who are a Nguni people who live mainly in South Afrika’s KwaZulu – Natal province, with smaller numbers in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. They form the largest South Afrikan ethnic population, estimated at around 9 million. They have a close cultural, ethnic-linguistic affinities with the Xhosa, Swazi, Basotho and the Matabele and their language “isiZulu”, belongs to the Bantu language stock.

In the early 19th century, Chief Shaka (c. 1787 – 1828) united various Nguni people’s through new techniques of warfare and expansive conquest, thus forming a powerful Zulu nation. The Zulu kingdom has played a significant role in forming and shaping South Afrikan history and today the Zulu are one of the major players in South Afrikan politics.