Chapter Thirty-Seven: Troubled Africa / 第三十七章：动荡的非洲

While the colonies殖民地/ˈkɒləniːz/ of Central and South America fought against Spain, a much bigger更大的/ˈbɪɡər/ war was going on somewhere else in the world世界/wɜːrld/. In this war, two million people人们/ˈpiːpəl/ died during ten十/ten/ years of fighting. But except for two Englishmen英国人/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃmən/, we might not know anything about this war or the people who died in it.

This war took place in Africa非洲/ˈæfrɪkə/. Few Europeans had trekked徒步旅行/trekt/ into the mysterious神秘的/mɪˈstɪəriəs/ center of Africa. They called this huge land土地/lænd/ the "dark continent" because when Europeans peered into Africa's history历史/ˈhɪstəri/, they felt as though they were peering into a dark room房间/ruːm/.

For thousands of years, African tribes部落/traɪbz/ had lived through feasts盛宴/fiːsts/, harvests, wars, kings, catastrophes, victories, births, weddings, deaths, and everything else that people in Europe lived through. But because African tribes did not use writing文字/ˈraɪtɪŋ/ to record their history, much of this history is lost to the West.

In 1824, two English merchants商人/ˈmɜːrtʃənts/ landed on the coast of South Africa and met hunters猎人/ˈhʌntərz/ from an African tribe. When they asked the hunters for permission许可/pərˈmɪʃən/ to build a trading post, the hunters took them to see their ruler: Shaka, King of the Zulus.

Shaka thought the two Englishmen were harmless无害的/ˈhɑːrmləs/ enough, so he granted them enough land to build their little settlement定居点/ˈsetəlmənt/. The English merchants named their trading post Durban. They were fascinated着迷的/ˈfæsɪneɪtɪd/ by the Zulu people and the Zulu language.

They discovered that the tribe was called Zulu after their word for the sky天空/skaɪ/; the Zulu believed that they were the descendants后裔/dɪˈsendənts/ of a young man who had once lived in the sky but had been sent to earth because he caused trouble麻烦/ˈtrʌbəl/ for the sky-god once too often.

Shaka's mother, a princess公主/ˈprɪnsəs/ named Nandi, had married the son of a nearby Zulu chieftain酋长/ˈtʃiːftən/. Soon, she and her new husband, Sezangakhon, were expecting期待/ɪkˈspektɪŋ/ a baby. But Sezangakhon's family muttered about his new wife. Her clan was too closely related to her husband's!

It was against the custom习俗/ˈkʌstəm/ of the Zulus for two people from related clans to marry each other. By the time her baby was born, Nandi was too unhappy不快乐的/ʌnˈhæpi/ to stay with her husband any longer. She took the little boy and went back to live with her own family.

But her family was angry愤怒的/ˈæŋɡri/ as well. They treated Nandi like a disgrace耻辱/dɪsˈɡreɪs/. The other little boys taunted嘲弄/ˈtɔːntɪd/ Shaka. As he grew, the older men criticized him and laughed at him. Finally, Nandi's family told her to take her son and leave.

In Mtetwa, Shaka grew taller and stronger. He learned to fight, and served the king of Mtetwa as a soldier士兵/ˈsoʊldʒər/. When Shaka's father Sezangakhon died, the Mtetwa king sent Shaka to go and take over his father's kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/.

Shaka, hardened by war, arrived at the Zulu village村庄/ˈvɪlɪdʒ/ where Sezangakhon had once ruled. With the power of the Mtetwa army军队/ˈɑːrmi/ behind him, Shaka seized command without opposition反对/ˌɑːpəˈzɪʃən/. Now he set out to build his own army—an army that would obey him without question.

First, Shaka changed the weapons武器/ˈwepənz/ that his father's soldiers used. The Zulu army had always fought with spears长矛/spɪrz/, which they hurled from a distance. Using throwing spears, the soldiers could only attack once; then their spears were gone, so they had to run away!

Shaka ordered them to fight with short stabbing刺击的/ˈstæbɪŋ/ spears instead, so that they would have to grapple with the enemy face to face. He sent them to walk on thorns荆棘/θɔːrnz/ with their bare feet, so that their soles would be tough enough to run over any rough land.

He gave them uniforms制服/ˈjuːnɪfɔːrmz/ to wear. He divided them into four sections and taught them to attack in the same order during each battle战斗/ˈbætəl/: the first group would attack the enemy from the front and fight up close; the second and third groups would run around both sides of the enemy and attack from the back.

When his new, disciplined有纪律的/ˈdɪsəplɪnd/ army was ready, Shaka sent them against their first target: the men from his mother's family who had thrown Nandi out. He found all of the men who had laughed at him when he was a child and killed them first!

He began his campaigns战役/kæmˈpeɪnz/ in 1818. For the next ten years, Shaka's warriors terrified the tribes throughout the south and center of Africa! The Africans called this the mfecane战乱时期/mfeˈkɑːne/, which in Zulu means "The Crushing." Today, it is sometimes called the Time of Troubles.

Villages were destroyed被摧毁/dɪˈstrɔɪd/. Tribes were shattered. The traditional structure of Africa's tribal kingdoms was no more. During the mfecane, the African tribes were like falling dominos多米诺骨牌/ˈdɑːmənoʊz/: each tribe, driven out of its land, attacked and destroyed another tribe. Two million Africans died in the mfecane.

In 1827, Shaka's mother Nandi died. Shaka had always been violent暴力的/ˈvaɪələnt/ and uncontrollable, but now he went mad. He raged through his country, killing his own subjects. He ordered that no crops庄稼/krɑːps/ be planted for a whole year, even though his people would go hungry.

He forbade anyone to drink milk牛奶/mɪlk/, because milk reminded him of a mother's love and care. His warriors put up with all of this. But then Shaka began to send them out on raid after raid, farther and farther away. At last, the warriors, exhausted精疲力竭的/ɪɡˈzɔːstɪd/ and fed up, turned against him.

Two of his own half-brothers同父异母兄弟/hæf ˈbrʌðərz/ murdered Shaka. The rule of the greatest Zulu king had ended; now his half-brother Dingane would rule in his place.

Down at the bottom of south Africa, almost a thousand miles away from the Zulu villages where Dingane reigned, lay the European settlement定居点/ˈsetəlmənt/ called Cape Colony. A hundred and fifty years before, the Dutch had built a little trading post here, so that Dutch ships heading around the African coast toward the East could stop and restock with food食物/fuːd/ and water水/ˈwɔːtər/.

As the years went on, more Dutch settlers came to Cape Colony. They were given farms农场/fɑːrmz/ behind the fort, close to the coast. They grew vegetables and pastured sheep绵羊/ʃiːp/ on the slopes of the African hills. These Dutch called themselves Boers布尔人/bʊrz/—Dutch for "farmers."

Like other European colonists, the Boers used slaves奴隶/sleɪvz/ to help run their farms. By the time that Shaka started on his conquests, there were fifteen thousand slaves in Cape Colony! The British had always wanted to own Cape Colony. After years of skirmishing with the Dutch, the British finally claimed the colony for good in 1820.

The Boers hated British rule, and they weren't fond of the English colonists who were settling down nearby. But when Britain declared slavery奴隶制/ˈsleɪvəri/ illegal in all of its islands and colonies, that was the last straw. The Dutch didn't think that they could manage without their slaves.

Between 1835 and 1843, ten thousand Boers left Cape Colony. They put their furniture, their goods, their families, and their slaves into wagons马车/ˈwæɡənz/ pulled by oxen and set off into the unknown depths of Africa, looking for another place to settle down. This journey was called the Great Trek of the Boers.

The hard-bitten Boers traveled into Africa through the wasteland left by Shaka's soldiers. When they reached Dingane's territory领土/ˈterətɔːri/, they were pleased with what they saw. This could be their new homeland! Dingane didn't want them there on the edge of his kingdom, but he was wary of their horses and guns.

A small party of them struck out toward the village where Dingane lived, hoping to make friends with the Zulu. Dingane ordered them all put to death死亡/deθ/. That was a mistake! The Boers gathered themselves together for the attack. With Mpande's help, the Boers fought several bloody battles with the Zulu. The most famous took place on the banks of the Ncome River.

Later, the Boers claimed that the blood鲜血/blʌd/ of fallen Zulu warriors turned the river red! The battle became known as the Battle of Blood River. This defeat settled Dingane's fate. He fled from the Boers and disappeared into the heart of Africa. The Boers settled down near Durban and called their new home Natal.

Four years later, the British claimed Natal from the Boers too. The Boers traveled back toward the center of the continent. When their journeys were over, they had established two more nations国家/ˈneɪʃənz/ in Africa: the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. South Africa was slowly becoming a land filled with white settlers—and their slaves.