We are pleased to announce the launch of the StoryMap,
Picturing uMgungundlovu: iNkosi Dingane kaSenzangakhona’s capital 1829–1838.
‘Picturing uMgungundlovu’ is an account of the Zulu king Dingane’s capital, its intense existence over a period of just nine years followed by its abandonment, and its coming back into view through archaeological and digital research. Our account draws on a range of different sources including the collections of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum.
‘Picturing uMgungundlovu’ presents our efforts to piece together the story of uMgungundlovu. It builds on years of collaborative work between the Five Hundred Year Archive, the metsemegologolo project and curators in Human Sciences at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. The Five Hundred Year Archive has digitized the uMgungundlovu archive since 2014, and created a website portal to the various materials that are dispersed across several institutions (EMANDULO). The StoryMap was created under the ‘Reframing the African Past’ project directed by Stefania Merlo and Carla Klehm and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2024/2025).
The launch of ‘Picturing uMgungundlovu’ coincides with International Museum Day as an example of how museum collections can be mobilized for story telling in the digital age.
