| Umgungundlovu
The royal kraal - Umgungundlovu (the place of the Great Elephant) - was built on a gently sloping hillside bounded on two sides by two streams. The kraal was surrounded by a palisade fence over two miles in circumference and contained nearly 1500 huts, each capable of holding 20 warriors.
The king's hut was far bigger than the rest and located at the highest point of the kraal in an area known as the isigodlo - the area where he and his ninety wives lived.
Dingane at this time was in his forties and gaining some weight. He was still however capable of joining his warriors in dances and very light on his feet. He was also artistic and spent much time decorating his wives and even composing songs. Having several rotten front teeth, he would put his hand over his mouth to hide them when talking.
Dingane becomes a Tyrant
Having killed his half brother Shaka some nine years previously, he had come to the throne to end the bloodshed that had characterized Shaka's reign of terror. Soon, however, he became paranoid and killed large numbers of his own subjects, either by sending out his top indunas (generals) to lay waste to some vassal chief who had offended him or by execution for such trifles as a comment or a cough or for some imagined slight
Those killed at Umgungundlovu were not executed in the kraal but dragged by the king's execution squad to a nearby hill and either beaten to death with stones or knobkerries or impaled. Go here for a layout of Dingane's kraal.
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