Shaka (English spelling)

Japanese: シャカ（英語表記）Shaka

Born: circa 1787.
[Died] September 22, 1828.
Zulu chief (reigned 1816-28). Established the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa. Known for organizing a powerful army and beginning to unify neighboring tribes, Shaka ravaged the entire country. Born to Zulu chief Senzangakhona and Nandi, daughter of the former chief of the nearby Langeni tribe, Shaka was banished with his mother and lived with the Mthetwa tribe. At the age of 23, he was recruited as a warrior by Emperor Dingiswayo of the Mthetwa Empire, where he demonstrated his talent as a soldier. When his father Senzangakhona died in 1816, Dingiswayo appointed Shaka as King of the Zulus. Shaka reformed the army, first changing weapons from traditional throwing javelins to short spears with sharp tips and adopting a method of close-range combat. He then introduced a troop organization based on age groups. Shaka fought until he had annihilated his enemies, and added the surviving tribesmen to his own army. By 1823, the southern part of the Zulu Kingdom had become a wasteland of burnt villages, and the survivors fled in fear, even as far away as the Cape Colony. Shaka's invasion was the indirect cause of the Mfekane conflict that broke out in the inland plateau in the early 1820s. As a result of the fierce battles fought by tribes fleeing the Zulus and seeking a place to settle, the inland tribal society was destroyed and two million people lost their lives. This left no one to stop the Great Trek by the Boers in the 1830s, which ultimately led to the expansion of white power. After the death of his mother Nandi in 1827, Shaka became mentally unstable and was murdered by his two half-brothers in September 1828.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1787頃.
[没]1828.9.22.
ズールー族の首長（在位 1816～28）。南アフリカにズールー王国を打ち立てた。強力な軍隊を組織して近隣部族の統合に着手し，南アフリカ全域を荒廃させたことで知られる。ズールー族の首長センザンガコナと，近隣に住むランゲニ族の元族長の娘ナンディの間に生まれたが，母とともに追放され，ムテトワ族のもとで暮らした。23歳のとき，ムテトワ帝国の皇帝ディンギスワヨにより戦士に加えられ，軍人としての才能を発揮。1816年に父センザンガコナが世を去ると，ディンギスワヨはシャカをズールー国王の座につけた。シャカは軍を改革し，まず武装を従来の投げ槍から鋭い穂先のついた短い槍に変えて，近距離で戦闘する方式をとった。次いで年齢集団別の部隊編制を導入した。シャカは敵を殲滅するまで戦い，生き残った部族民を自軍に加えた。1823年には，ズールー王国南方は焼け落ちた集落が連なる荒れ野と化し，生き延びた者は恐れをなして遠くケープ植民地まで離散した。シャカの侵略は，1820年代初めに内陸高原部で起こった争乱「ムフェカネ」の間接的な原因となった。ズールー族から逃れ定住地を求める諸部族が死闘を繰り広げた結果，内陸の部族社会は破壊され，200万人が命を落とした。これにより 1830年代のボーア人によるグレート・トレックを抑えられる者がいなくなり，結果的に白人勢力の拡大につながった。1827年に母ナンディが亡くなると，シャカは精神に異常をきたし，1828年9月，2人の異母弟によって殺害された。

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