The Zulu culture is a civilization because it is a progressive and structured society. They progressed by their growing knowledge and continually developing society. The Zulu structured their society through many aspects, such as their social organization, government, military, economy, and belief systems and rituals.
The Zulu society was a group of Bantu-speaking people, living near the Tugela River (Gluckman 820). The Zulu consisted of many tribes, each under the political leadership of an independent chief (Carstens 382). They traditionally lived in beehive-shaped huts grouped in a kraal, with cattle in the center. A kraal is a circular compound (Zulu). The Zulu's lifestyles contributed to their culture, beliefs, and ways of life.
The chief of the Zulu (Gluckman 820), Shaka, formed the Zuluempire (Zulu 940). Before Shaka formed the empire, the Zulu were a number of clans which were a basic unit of social organization. The clans were each comprised of several patrilineal households, each household with rights to its own herds and fields and under the domestic authority of the seniorman. The genealogical senior man of each clan is its chief, and also traditionally its judge in peace and its leader in war. Induna (headman) continued to have charge of sections of the clan. When the nation was formed, many chiefs were royal kinsmen installed to replace dissident clan heads or were married to women of the royal clan (Zulu 940-41). The Zulu may be viewed as patriarchal because paternal authority was so strong. Never the less, the social organization of the Zulu's added to the strength of their structured society.
The government system of the Zulu consisted of branches. The branches in the government provided a separation of power and checks and balances. The king was the head of the government. He relied on confidential advisers, and sub chiefs and chiefs formed a council to advise him on judicial and administrative matters.
