Chaka seems to have first come into contact with Europeans in 1824, when he was visited by F. G. Farewell And a few com panions. To them he made a grant of the district of Port Natal. Chaka, who was cured of a wound by the skill of one of Farewell's companions, showed himself friendly to Europeans. He wished to send an embassy to England, but the Cape Government turned back his envoy. Again Chaka sent chiefs to Cape Town, but be fore their arrival he had been murdered (Sept. 23, 1828) at a kraal on the Umvote, about 5o miles from Port Natal. Chaka was a victim to a conspiracy by his half-brothers Dingaan and Umthlan gana, while a short time afterwards Dingaan murdered Umth langana and made himself king.
Bloodstained as had been Chaka's rule, that of Dingaan appears to have exceeded it in wanton cruelty. In 1835 Dingaan permitted the British settlers at Port Natal to establish missionary stations in the country in return for a promise made by the settlers not to harbour fugitives from his dominions. In 1836 American mission aries were also allowed to open stations; in Nov. 1837 Dingaan received Pieter Retief, the leader of the first party of Boer immi grants to enter Natal. The story of Retief's mission, the massacre of the Boer leader and the fighting which followed is told in the article NATAL. In the result Dingaan's army was totally defeated on Dec. 16, 1838 ("Dingaan's Day"), by a Boer force under Andries Pretorius. A year later he was overthrown, the Boers in Natal (Jan. 1840) supporting his brother Mpande (usually called Panda) in rebellion against him. Dingaan passed into Swaziland in advance of his retreating forces, and was there mur dered, while Panda was crowned king of Zululand by the Boers.
Panda and Cetewayo.—When in 1843 the British succeeded the Boers as masters of Natal they entered into a treaty with Panda, who gave up to the British the country between the upper Tugela and the Buffalo rivers, and also the district of St. Lucia bay (which, however, was not then occupied). Less war-like than Chaka and Dingaan, Panda remained throughout at peace with the Government of Natal. Bishop Schreuder, a Norwegian missionary long resident in Zululand, gave Sir Bartle Frere the following estimate of the three brothers who successively reigned over the Zulu :—"Chaka was a really great man, cruel and unscrupulous, but with many great qualities. Dingaan was simply a beast on two legs. Panda was a weaker and less able man, but kindly and really grateful, a very rare quality among Zulus. He used to kill some times, but never wantonly or continuously." In 1856 war broke out between two of Panda's sons, Cetewayo and Umbulazi, who were rival claimants for the succession. A battle was f ought be
tween them on the banks of the Tugela in Dec. 1856, in which Umbulazi and many of his followers were slain. The Govern ment of Natal in 1861 obtained the formal nomination of a suc cessor to Panda ; and Cetewayo was appointed. Panda died in Oct. 1872 and Cetewayo succeeded in 1873.
Border disputes with the Transvaal Boers were fairly frequent during Panda's reign. The Boers had obtained from Panda in 1854 a cession of the Utrecht district ; in 1860 they tried to get from the king a road to the sea at St. Lucia bay. In 1861 a quarrel arose between Cetewayo and another of his brothers, Umtonga (who had been originally designated by Panda as his successor). Umtonga fled to Utrecht ; Cetewayo offered the Boers a strip of land if they would surrender his brother. This they did on condi tion that Umtonga's life was spared. The Boers got their strip of land and beaconed it off in 1864. When, however, in 1865 Um tonga fled to Natal, Cetewayo declared that he had lost his part of the bargain, for he feared that Umtonga might be used to sup plant him. He thereupon caused the boundary beacons to be re moved and put forward a claim to certain lands north of the Pon gola, ceded by the Swazi to the Lyndenburg Boers in 1855, on the ground that the Swazi were the vassals of the Zulu and had no right to part with any of their territory.
Cetewayo's Rule.—Such was the position when by his father's death Cetewayo (q.v.) became absolute ruler of the Zulu. As far as possible he revived the military methods of his uncle' Chaka. His rule over his own people was tyrannous. By Bishop Schreuder he was described as "an able man, but for cold, selfish pride, cruelty and untruthfulness worse than any of his predecessors." The tension between Cetewayo and the Transvaal over border dis putes continued and when in 1877 Great Britain annexed the Transvaal the disputes were transferred to the new owners of the country. A commission appointed by the lieutenant-governor of Natal reported in July 1878, and found almost entirely in favour of the Zulu on the boundary disputes. Sir Bartle Frere, then high commissioner, thought the award "one-sided and unfair to the Boers" (Martineau, Life of Frere, ii. xix.). Frere, moreover, was convinced that it was necessary in the interests of South Africa that the power of Cetewayo be curtailed. In furtherance of this general plan a British resident was to be accepted. These demands were made to Zulu deputies on Dec. r 1, 1878, a definite reply being required by the 3rst of that month.