Impi
![The impi was a military formation that transformed the face of southern Africa, on into East and central Africa. Its highest development took place under Shaka, initiator of several important organizational, weapons and tactical innovations.[1]](/uploads/202502/09/Zuluchargegutt1808.jpg)
Impi is a Zulu word for any armed body of men. However, in English it is often used to refer to a Zulu regiment, which is called an ibutho in Zulu. Its beginnings lie far back in historic tribal warfare customs, when groups of armed men called impis battled. They were systematised radically by the Zulu king Shaka, who was then only the exiled illegitimate son of king Senzangakona, but already showing much prowess as a general in the army of Mthethwa king Dingiswayo in the Mthethwa-Ndwandwe war in the early 1810s.