King Shaka Zulu initially established his first capital, Gibixhegu, in the eMakhosini Valley along the banks of the Mhodi River. Following the defeat of the Ndwandwe in 1819, he relocated his royal settlement to a new site between the uMhlathuze and uMlalazi Rivers — in the area between present-day Eshowe and Empangeni. This new ikhanda, or royal military homestead, was where European traders and colonists first encountered Shaka in 1824.

In subsequent years, the settlement came to be known as KwaBulawayo — a name noted by Nathaniel Isaacs in his diary on 15 July 1826.