Shaka Zulu

ND – MPE: 0.4

White cites estimates of 1 and 2 million victims of Shaka Zulu’s reign from 1816 to 1828. But he underlines that these estimates are very old and highly controversial. There seems to be little evidence to support them. It is also unclear, how many of these victims were soldiers or civilians. John Laband is an expert on the history of the Zulu monarchy. In his book: “Eight Zulu Kings” he convincingly shows that it probably was not possible for the Zulu kingdom under Shaka’s brutal rule to kill a million innocent people. The principal weapon of the Zulu warriors was the spear. They almost certainly lacked manpower and logistics to kill 1 to 2 million people.

Plausible estimates for the number of civilians killed by Shaka’s regime range from 0.1 to 1.2 million. I choose 0.4 million victims as the most plausible estimate.