The Bantu peoples now dominate South Africa. There were two major language groups, the Sotho, including the Tswana, Pedi and Basotho peoples, and the Nguni, including the Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa peoples. The Sotho peoples lived mostly in the interior on the high veld, the grasslands of South Africa, while the Nguni lived on the lowlands closer to the coast. Few San communities, the first people to settle South Africa, still existed, and these had been pushed into the harsh Kalahari desert. Most had been absorbed by the Khoi people. But the Khoi themselves are now under pressure from European expansion in the south and Bantu expansion from the north.

There was some cultural mixing with the Bantu, as both Sotho and Nguni languages have the "click" sounds typical of the Khoi.

Dutch farmers expand north and east from Cape Town after the 1680s. The Dutch East India Company, which ran Cape Town as a resupply base for their ships on the long voyages to the spice islands in southeast Asia, was not interested in expansion in Africa. These settlers, called trekboers ("nomad-farmers"), lived under no government control, much like the Portuguese bandeitantes of Brazil or the American frontiersmen like Daniel Boone. The trekboers lived in small villages or isolated farms, raising large herds of cattle--in this way their way of life had many similarities with the Bantu peoples of South Africa.

Khoi clans not assimilated by the Bantu are conquered by the trekboers by the 1760s. A Khoi rebellion from 1799 to 1803 fails. After eliminating the Khoi, the Dutch settlers come into conflict with Xhosa and Basotho along the Orange River. The first of nine wars against the Xhosa breaks out in 1779. The firearms used by the Europeans gives them an advantage in battle against the spear-armed Bantu.

Around 1800, Dingiswayo is king of the Mthethwa, a Nguni-speaking clan living south of the Limpopo River. He launches attacks against neighbouring Nguni and Sotho villages. One of his most successful generals is the head of the small Zulu clan, Shaka. A typical Bantu battle at this time would see both sides line up and then throw spears at each other from a distance. Few people would be killed and this kind of fighting limited bloodshed. The Mthethwa, however, used a shorter spear, designed more for stabbing than throwing. Their tactic was to wait for their opponents to toss their spears. The Mthethwa would then charge and fight hand-to-hand, taking their enemies by complete surprise.

Shaka rebelled after the death of Dingiswayo in 1818, and further developed the new fighting methods. The Zulu army or impi was divided into permanent regiments, each led by officers picked by Shaka, not by the traditional village leaders as was usual. All the leaders, therefore, owed allegiance only to Shaka. The Zulu warriors were highly trained and disciplined. There were made to run barefoot to toughen their feet and could run two days at a time with hardly any rest. The Zulus fought wars of conquest, not just battles. The standard formation was called the bull. The main part of the army formed the centre or "head", while a force on each side were called the "horns". A force was kept in reserve, the "body". It was the job of the head to distract the enemy army while the two horns moved around to encircle it. The reserve was ready to help out if any of these three forces got into trouble. The Zulu prove unbeatable and Shaka soon rules a huge empire east of the Drakensberg Mountains between the Tugela and Pongola Rivers.