Basutoland was a colony that is now present-day Lesotho, the country in which Thomas Mofolo was born in 1876.  From 1884 to 1966, Basutoland was a British colony, and therefore, Mofolo was educated by Evangelical Christian Missionaries, which provides context to his work.  Many of his earlier pieces were influenced by Christian beliefs, but his novel, Chaka, is not, which may explain why it took a significant amount of time before the work was widely published (Thomas Mofolo). 

Annexed to the Cape Colony in 1871, Basutoland became involved in a series of wars in their fight for independence.  Basutoland was returned to the Crown in 1884 and gained independence from the UK in 1966 and became the Kingdom of Lesotho (About Lesotho).

Mofolo was undoubtedly familiar with the history of South Africa and wrote about one of the most well-known Zulu chiefs.  Understanding the history of the region with which Mofolo was familiar provides context for the novel.  Chaka’s...

Mthethwa is a small, historical village and is located south of the Mfolozi River in the northeastern part of the present-day province of KwaZulu-Natal, located in South Africa (“Mthethwa”). This village had many leaders, the most notable being that of Dingiswayo; under his rule, Mthethwa became prominent during the first twenty years of the 19^th century (“Mthethwa”). This occurred by accruing even smaller villages into their power of rule, and this led to more opportunities for the people of this land (“Mthethwa”). Some of these things were the trading of ivory, slaves, and cattle with the Portuguese (“Mthethwa”). Under Diginswayo, this village had strong connections with Shaka’s Zulu tribe, and Mthethwa came to become a part of the empire over the course of time (“Mthethwa”).

This village finds relevance with Thomas Mofolo’s work titled Chaka, An Historical Romance. It does because the figure of Digniswayo is mentioned quite heavily regarding his...

The Zulu Kingdom in South Africa was known for military innovations that mostly happened during the reign of Shaka. The assegai, the age-grade regimental system and encirclement tactics helped to make Zulu powerful. “The assegai is a throwing spear and is a narrow, lead shaped blade and long, slender tapering shaft” (Assegai).  “The age grade groupings used by the Zulu were guarding the camp, to cattle herding, to certain rituals and ceremonies” (Zulu Kingdom). “The encirclement Attack Strategy is when your army attacks a competitor on several fronts at the same time to disrupt them and take market share” (Encirclement Attack Strategy Guide). All these tactics are still being sued today by the Zulu people and have set up standards for other armies in the world today. The economy of the Zulu people was depended upon cattle and a considerable amount of agriculture. However, the resources most abundant in the Zulu kingdom were gold, salt, ivory, nuts cloth,...