Summary: With no written records from the Zulus themselves, historians and anthropologists have pieced together their history from a smattering of sources. We first learn of the Zulu as a minor tribe of the Bantu people, living in South Africa. Shaka Zulu, the man who would organize them into an empire, was born the illegitimate son of a Zulu king.

Summary: Shaka sought vengeance for Dingiswayo on Zwide and the Ndwandwe. He expanded his control over the Mtethwa and other tribes, then launched his assault on the Ndwandwe. Shaka scored two crushing victories over the course of an eighteen month war, although Zwide escaped both times.

Summary: Europe had a presence in South Africa dating back to 1652, but the colonies and the native tribes really began to clash in the 1800s. The conquest of the Netherlands by Napoleon had left the Dutch colonists in a state of limbo, with the British claiming authority over them despite their homeland being ruled by the French.

Summary: Lord Chelmsford, the British officer who commanded during the Anglo-Zulu War, vastly underestimated the power and aggression of the Zulu people. He split his army into three separate columns and left one of them stationed at Isandlwana while he searched for Zulu armies on the field.

Summary: From pronunciation issues to flag errors (but at least we did it on purpose this time!), it's important to take a moment to look back over the series and remind ourselves that no historian is perfect, and you should always question what you are told. James answers some questions that kept cropping up in the comments, from how the Zulus obtained maize (European important during the 16th century) to the effect of the slave trade on Zulu history (minimal, since most of the slave trade occurred in West Africa).