KwaZulu-Natal, a region in eastern South Africa with the Drakensberg Mountains to the west and the Indian Ocean to the east, is home to one of the most powerful kingdoms in the African continent - the Zulu. The word Zulu means "sky" or "heaven" and, according to Zulu history, it was the name of the ancestor who founded the nation at the start of the 17th century. The then newly born nation existed in relative peace until the late 1800s, when British troops invaded Zulu territory and divided the land. The Zulu never regained their independence.