The Zulu are a Bantu ethnic group native to South Africa, composing 22% (12 million people) of the modern country's population. The Zulu originated as a minor Bantu clan in 1574, and Shaka transformed the Zulu into the powerful Zulu Kingdom through the unification of a confederation of tribes. Shaka created the Zulu impi standing army through conscription and provided his warriors with new weaponry, regimentation, and encirclement battle tactics. The Zulu warred with the Afrikaner Voortrekkers during the 1830s and the British in 1879 while the Zulu humiliated the British Empire at the 22 January 1879 Battle of Isandlwana, they were defeated at the Battle of Rorke's Drift that same day and were decisively defeated at the July 1879 Battle of Ulundi. The British divided the Zulu Kingdom into 13 sub-kingdoms, and their leader Cetshwayo died of a heart attack in 1884, weakening his people. In 1897, Zululand was fully absorbed into the British Natal Colony. Under apartheid, the homeland of KwaZulu-Natal was created for the Zulu people, and Cetshwayo's descendant Mangosuthu Buthelezi emerged as a powerful political leader during the 1970s and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party to peacefully protest against white supremacism. Today, the Zulu mostly adhere to evangelical Christianity while also retaining their pre-Christian belief system of ancestor worship and synthesizing their belief in a creator God with the Christian narrative.
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