Mfecane - history.

« they were broken up around 1822 by the Mpondo, under Faku. In 1819 the Zulu defeated the Ndwandwe and took over their former territory.

The Ndwandwe were forced north across the Phongolo River.

A group of Ndwandwe refugees,led by Soshangane, fled into what is now southern Mozambique, where they overran the local Tsonga people and became known as the Gaza.

Soshangane went on to createthe Gaza Empire, which stretched along the coast from Delagoa Bay to the lower Zambezi.

In 1826 other Ndwandwe groups attempted to strike back against the Zulu, butwere finally destroyed.

Many Ndwandwe refugees, led by Zwangendaba and Nxaba, fled towards Gaza.

In 1831 they clashed with Soshangane, who forced them northacross the Zambezi.

There they overran the Rozwi Empire, in what is now Zimbabwe.

These Ndwandwe people, who became known as the Jere or the Ngoni, subsequentlyspread out into present-day Zambia, Malawi, and finally Tanzania, where Zwangendaba founded the Ngoni Kingdom. C Ngwane-Hlubi Wars and Clashes in the Interior During the 1820s the Zulu expanded southward, defeating the Chunu again and forcing them as far south as the Mzimkhulu River.

The Ngwane, under Matiwane, weredriven westward over the Drakensberg Mountains to the Mohokare (Caledon) River area.

There they came into conflict with the Hlubi and the Tlokwa, and from 1821 to1824 these groups warred fiercely.

In 1825 the Ngwane defeated the Hlubi once and for all, but in 1827 they were attacked by the Zulu and driven south towards Britain’sCape Colony.

Colonial forces and local African allies finally scattered the Ngwane in August 1828. These wars and migrations wreaked havoc on peoples of the interior of what is now South Africa.

The situation was complicated further by the arrival of the Griqua people,who were being driven north from the Cape Colony by the expansion of white settlement.

Equipped with firearms and horses, the Griqua displaced a number of Tswanachiefdoms on the southern fringes of the Kalahari Desert, including the Tlharo and the Tlhaping.

The Rolong community was also forced north into the region, where itclashed with the Taung near the Molopo River.

The Taung had been driven northwest from the Mohokare River area by the wars of the Hlubi and Ngwane in the early 1820s. The Kololo, a Sotho people, entered the same region in the early 1820s after being driven from their homeland south of the Vaal River by the Ngwane-Hlubi wars.

In 1823the Kololo clashed with the Griqua and turned north into the Kalahari Desert.

They eventually crossed the Zambezi and finally settled in what is now western Zambia afteroverthrowing the powerful Lozi Kingdom in 1840. D Founding of the Sotho Nation The Ngwane-Hlubi wars also drove loosely organized Sotho communities north into the fertile, mountainous lands between the Orange and Mohokare rivers.

There, around1824, a village leader and shrewd diplomat named Moshoeshoe founded the Sotho nation ( see Lesotho).

Strong fighting skills and mountainous terrain helped the Sotho fend off successive attacks by the Ngwane, Korana, and Ndebele.

Sekonyela of the Tlokwa also succeeded in forming a stable chiefdom north of Mohokare River, but it waseventually conquered by Moshoeshoe in 1853. E Refugee Peoples The Qwabe broke away from the Zulu in 1829 and fled south to between the Mzimkhulu and Mzimvubu rivers.

There they were attacked and scattered by the Mpondochiefdom, which had managed to remain intact despite a number of Zulu raids and waves of refugees.

Various groups of refugees forged new chiefdoms in the regionsqueezed between Zulu and Mpondo, notably the Bhaca.

Many refugee groups without cattle settled among the Xhosa chiefdoms on the borders of the Cape Colony, andserved as dependents.

These people became known as the Mfengu, and many eventually migrated into the Cape Colony to serve as peasant landowners and artisans incolonial society. F Founding of the Ndebele Chiefdom In 1822 Mzilikazi, leader of the Khumalo people, fell out with Shaka, the Zulu king, and fled to the northwest.

He built up a following from among the indigenous Sotho andPedi and from refugees from the Zulu wars, like the Ndwandwe.

This group became known as the Ndebele.

In 1827 Mzilikazi moved southwest to the Magaliesbergmountain range and created a new chiefdom.

The Ndebele destroyed the Taung in 1829.

In 1832, to avoid Zulu, Griqua, and Korana attacks, Mzilikazi moved farther west,to the Marico River, where he displaced several Tswana chiefdoms.

The Ndebele raided successfully in all directions, particularly against the Tswana and Rolong.

Starting in1836, however, the Ndebele clashed with groups of Voortrekkers , white Afrikaners emigrating from the Cape Colony with the intention of settling in the interior.

The Ndebele were no military match for the Voortrekkers, who were equipped with firearms and wagons, and after a decisive defeat in 1837 the Ndebele migrated north acrossthe Limpopo River.

There they established a new kingdom at Bulawayo, in what later became southern Zimbabwe. G Resilience of the Pedi In the 1820s the Pedi, a northern Sotho group living mainly in the region now known as Limpopo Province (in far northeastern South Africa), came under attack from boththe Ndwandwe and the Ndebele.

However, under Sekwati, the Pedi weathered the siege and reasserted themselves as the dominant local power. IV END OF THE MFECANE In most areas, the situation stabilized by the 1840s, when newly formed chiefdoms had became large and powerful enough to defy their neighbors with success.

It isimpossible to calculate the number of people who were forced to move or were killed during the mfecane, but there is no doubt as to the extent of the devastation and thedegree of suffering endured.

By the 1830s unremitting Zulu and Ndebele raids had depopulated some regions to such an extent that Voortrekkers entering the area believedthat they were discovering previously uninhabited lands on which they could settle at will.

In this way, the mfecane helped stimulate the advance of white settlers into theinterior.

However, strong new states such as the Sotho, Zulu, or Swazi kingdoms were often able to deflect or contain the white advance.

Paradoxically, therefore, whilehelping bring about white dominion over southern Africa, the mfecane also created the African kingdoms that outlived it. Contributed By:John LabandMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

All rights reserved.. »