In 1843 the British annexed those parts of Zululand which lay south of the River Tugela (Buffalo river), areas which had been penetrated by Boer settlers in the late 1830s and early 1840s. In 1877 Sir Bartle Frere was sent by Lord Carnarvon, British Colonial Secretary, to be Governor of Cape Colony and to effect the confederation of British South Africa with the Boer and black states. To this end, and against Disraeli’s instructions to avoid war with the Zulu, he believed he needed to remove the potential threat to Natal from the powerful and intransigent Zulu King Cetshwayo. He therefore demanded Cetshwayo disband his army and accept British suzerainty.
Aware that agreement meant the colonial subjugation of the Zulu, …
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Zulu War". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 January 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5235, accessed 23 November 2024.]
