Dingane (ca. 1795-1840) was a Zulu king whose reign was blighted by domestic and external difficulties which culminated in fierce conflict with his white neighbors.

Dingane was a younger son of the Zulu chieftain Senzangakona. Little is known of Dingane's career until 1828, when he successfully conspired to assassinate his half brother Shaka who, after Senzangakona's death, had expanded the petty Zulu chieftainship into a powerful warrior kingdom at the expense of neighboring chiefs.

Although many welcomed Dingane's accession for the relief it offered from the fierce militarism of Shaka's reign, it is doubtful whether Dingane ever felt secure on the throne he had seized. His position was that of a usurper who owed his rise from obscurity to the achievements of the brother he had murdered. His kingdom, not yet 12 years old, was a forced creation in which national spirit had still not effectively submerged older political loyalties...