The Mthethwa Kingdom became famous under Dingiswayo, who was the son of Jobe and grandson of Kayi, a figure who may generally be regarded as the kingdom’s founder. Like the Ndwandwe, Ngwane, and later Zulu states, the Mthethwa built power through tribute collection, cattle-raiding, and armies organized into age-regiments. The kingdom also traded extensively with Delagoa Bay.

Dingiswayo reorganized age-regiments in ways that altered their military use. He terminated the circumcision rite formerly associated with the formation of age-grades, thereby removing the period of seclusion required by the rite. He also adopted the chest-and-horns formation for his army, contributing to a broader transformation of military organization in the northern Nguni region.

The Mthethwa formed an alliance with the Maputo kingdom at Delagoa Bay. During the conquest and incorporation of the Qwabe state, Dingiswayo is said to have received assistance from soldiers armed with guns from Maputo. Mthethwa tribute extended over more than thirty chiefdoms, including the small Zulu state under Senzangakhona, whose son Shaka later became a general in Dingiswayo’s army.

Mthethwa expansion was checked by Zwide and his Ndwandwe regiments. The rival armies fought several wars, and in 1818 Dingiswayo was captured and killed by Zwide. Because Mthethwa power was closely associated with Dingiswayo’s personal rule, his death created a leadership vacuum.

Shaka quickly occupied that political opening. He replaced Dingiswayo as head of the Mthethwa confederacy and effectively inherited its political structure. He then incorporated the Mthethwa ‘empire’ into the Zulu state, while allowing its traditional system of government to continue under a minor son of Dingiswayo and a regent subordinate to the Zulu monarch.