Debates in History essays

Debates in History essays Debates in History: Short Academic Review of a book/chapter. ...the power of the image of Shaka lies not, as most previous commentators have suggested, in its openness to manipulation, to invention, and to imaginative reworkings. Rather it is to be found in, ... the historical limits and constraints attached to Shakan historiography...and to the possible depictions of Shaka. In this essay I intend to discuss chapter 2, of Terrific Majesty by Carolyn Hamilton. Throughout history Shaka has been portrayed in many different guises, from a despot and villain, to a hero and military genius. This chapter covers various historical accounts of Shaka, and how interpretations of him as a person differ, according to the perception and the motivation, of the author. I shall be comparing the resources utilised in the book, with those that I am already familiar with, for example Fynn and Isaacs, and with the evidence found in the Praise poems, of the relevant period. The first issue presented by the book is the information supplied by Henry Francis Fynn, who in 1822, was among the first people to encounter and document Shaka and the Zulu tribe. He and Francis Farewell travelled across land from the Cape to meet with Shaka in 1824, for trading purposes. At this time Shaka was depicted as being open to the idea of a British settlement and showed no signs of hostility. To the surprise of the trading party, the Zulus were well ordered and courteous under Shakas ruler ship. On reading an extract from Fynns diary, it is clear that trade which had began with the Zulu nation, under the tyranny of Dingiswayo, continued at a more rapid pace during Shakas rule. In the first year of his chieftainship he opened a trade with Delagoa Bay, by sending 100 oxen and a quantity of elephants tusks to exchange for beads and blankets... the trade thus opened by Dingiswayo was afterwards carried on, on an extensi...