In its layout, Mgungundlovu was oval in shape and consisted of between 1 400 and 1 700 traditional grass huts. These stood in rows six to eight deep, enclosing a huge open area known as the large cattle kraal or parade ground where the king inspected his army and cattle and officiated during rituals and festivals.

A strong palisade of stout timbers protected the sweep of huts on the outside, though the inner palisade was not as robust and would have consisted in part of reeds or thatching grass.

Directly opposite the main entrance about 600m away on the higher slope was the isigodlo - the highly protected Royal Enclosure.
Here King Dingane kept about 500 women, divided into two groups.

About 100 women formed the black isigodlo and they consisted of the women in the Royal Family - step-mothers, favoured maids-of-honour and concubines. If the king had any wives, they too would have lived in the black isigodlo.

All the gates to the isigodlo were shut tight at night, and the king was the only male to sleep within its precincts. King Dingane's Great Hut where he held audience stood in this area and was unusually large and lofty with 10 pillars to support it.
The Great Hut could accommodate as many as 50 people and was a supreme example of the hut-builder's art. The king also had a smaller, more private 'bachelor' hut where he normally ate and slept.

It had one pillar, decorated by maids-of-honour who entwined it from top to bottom with intricate patterns of red and white beads.

The maids-of-honour wore nothing except a few strings of opaque red and amber beads and wristlets of pure white beads. When they left the isigodlo to bathe in the stream, they were always accompanied by armed men.

Anyone who met them on the path had to move aside quickly and fall face down in the grass lest he should look at them and be killed for his temerity.

Similarly, people summoned into the isigodlo, including servants, kept their eyes carefully averted.

    An artist's impression of the interior of Dingane's Great Hut with the King relaxing while his maids-of-honour sing for him.

In recent years, parts of the massive royal enclosure and military barracks which housed about 7 000 people, have been reconstructed.

Archaeological excavations have uncovered the charcoal remains of the enclosure's outer palisade and have also revealed many of the dwellings' original mud-and-dung floors which had been baked hard by the fire.
One of the uncovered floors has a diameter of about 10m and was surrounded by the charred remains of 22 structural posts.

The sheer size of the structure - thought to be the biggest ever built in traditional Zulu style - as well as the remains of a unique butterfly-shaped hearth (much like the one mentioned by early visitors to Mgungundlovu) indicate that this was, indeed, the king's residence.

After trekking into Natal, the Boer leader Piet Retief and a group of 70 followers - known as Voortrekkers - met with King Dingane in 1838 in their bid to settle and farm away from British colonial control in the Cape Colony.

After signing an agreement granting the Voortrekkers land concessions in Zululand, King Dingane invited the group to lay down their weapons and celebrate the occassion at his royal residence, Mgungundlovu.

During the dancing the king ordered his soldiers to kill Retief and his party.
They were dragged to kwaMatiwane, the Hill of Execution, where they were clubbed to death.