Were There Large States in the Coastal Regions of Southeast Africa before the Rise of the Zulu Kingdom?

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Periodical article

Title:	Were There Large States in the Coastal Regions of Southeast Africa before the Rise of the Zulu Kingdom?
Author:	Etherington, Norman
Year:	2004
Periodical:	History in Africa
Volume:	31
Pages:	157-183
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	traditional polities Zulu polity History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128523
Abstract:	The common factor linking black pride, Africa and prowess in war is the Zulu kingdom, a southeast African State that first attained international fame in the 1820s under the conqueror Shaka. His genius is credited with innovations that reshaped the history of his region. Over fifty years of research one assumption has gone unquestioned: the Zulu kingdom was not just a new State, it was a new kind of State - one of several that arose at about the same time. This paper challenges that assumption, arguing that there is little if any evidence to support it. On the contrary, there are good reasons to suspect that States similar in structure predated those kingdoms. The paper traces the process by which scholarly research and debates constructed the picture of Zulu originality, illuminating linkages between the colonizers' favoured versions of the past and the projects of 'scientific' history in the mid-20th century. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]