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71-672: Ngwane refers to a tribe that is part of the Nguni people . It may also refer to: Between 1818 and 1828, Shaka's wars contributed to a series of forced migrations known as the Mfecane, Difaqane, Lifaqane, or Fetcani. During this period, groups of refugees fleeing Shaka's assaults—such as the Hlubi and Ngwane clans were followed later by the Mantatees and the Matabele under Mzilikazi and crossed

142-578: A chieftain often depended on how well he could hold his clan together. From about 1800, the rise of the Zulu clan of the Nguni, and the consequent Mfecane that accompanied the expansion of the Zulus under Shaka helped to drive a process of alliance and consolidation among many of the smaller clans. For example, the kingdom of Eswatini was formed in the early nineteenth century by different Nguni groups allying with

213-568: A finding that undermines Cobbing's thesis that Shaka's early military activities were a response to slave raids . Moreover, Eldredge argues that the Griqua and other groups (rather than European missionaries as asserted by Cobbing) were primarily responsible for the slave raids coming from the Cape. Eldredge also asserts that Cobbing downplays the importance of the ivory trade in Delagoa Bay, and

284-533: A mix of these two religions, usually not separately. The following peoples are considered Nguni: Ngoni people by ethnicity are found in Malawi (under Paramount Chief Mbelwa and Maseko Paramouncy), Zambia (under Paramount Chief Mpezeni), Mozambique and Tanzania (under Chief Zulu Gama) . In Malawi and Zambia, they speak a mixture of the languages of the people they conquered, such as Chewa , Nsenga and Tumbuka . Mfecane The Mfecane , also known by

355-520: A period of social breakdown and recombination. Further bolstered in number by escaped slaves, bandits, and people of all ethnicities from the Cape Colony , some of these peoples would eventually become the Korana . Their power increased as trade with and raids upon colonists provided guns and horses, and by the 1780s they began raiding northwards against Tswana polities. From the 1780s to the turn of

426-600: A warrior king whose conquest took place in the early nineteenth century, and the Xhosa Kingdom , existed for 11 generations before the start of the Frontier Wars in 1779. Overall, the Nguni cultural group is made up of the eMbo, Lala , Ntungwa, Hlubi , Xhosa , Mthethwa Paramountcy , Ngidi , Ndwandwe , Zulu , Ngoni , Swati and Ndebele ethnic groups. In Zimbabwe, the Ndebele people live primarily in

497-426: Is significant in that it saw the formation of new states, institutions, and ethnic identities in southeastern Africa. The Mfecane's historiography itself is also historically significant, with different versions having been employed to serve a range of political purposes since its inception as a historical concept. The concept first emerged in the 1830s and blamed the disruption on the actions of King Shaka , who

568-665: The Lozi people . The next force was the Mzilikazi and the Matebele who moved across Tswana territory in 1837. Both of these invading forces continued to travel north across Tswana territory without establishing any sort of state. In addition to these major kingdoms, a number of smaller groups also moved north into Tswana territory, where they met with defeat and ultimately vanished from history. Among those involved in these invasions were European adventurers such as Nathaniel Isaacs (who

639-735: The Magaliesberg mountains, where he subjugated the Bahurutshe , Bakwena , and Bakgatla and regularly raided the Bangwaketse and southern Batswana peoples. A multi-ethnic force under the Kora leader Jan Bloem sought to profit from the Ndebele's wealth with a mid-1828 raid, which proved only a partial success as his Kora and Griqua parties were destroyed before they could escape. By 1830, the Ndebele had extended their political influence over

710-843: The Mzimkhulu River . This in turn contributed to the rise of the Mpondo Kingdom. The 1810s saw the continued expansion of the Ndwandwe and Mthethwa Paramountcies, as well as the Portuguese Delagoa Bay slave trade. The Ndwandwe Paramountcy would come to blows with the Mthethwa in the late 1810s, ultimately defeating and slaying their leader Dingiswayo kaJobe . The Mthethwa promptly collapsed as its client polities reasserted independence. The Ndwandwe king Zwide kaLanga went on to war with one of these breakaways,

781-590: The Ndwandwe Paramountcy and Mthethwa Paramountcy respectfully. On the borders of their spheres of influence, the amaHlubi of the upper Mzinyathi , the abakwaDlamini north of the Phongolo, and the abakwaQwabe of the lower Thukela. The latter's rise displaced elements of the abakwaCele and amaThuli further south. The amaThuli managed to secure a sizable chiefdom between the lower Mngeni and Mkhomazi Rivers, which displaced local groups across

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852-575: The Pedi Kingdom and certainly dominating the region between the Olifants and Phongolo Rivers. Msane, Zwangendaba, and the followers of Nxaba, for their part, were displaced farther north. The Gaza Kingdom expanded to the northeast, heavily raiding small Tsonga polities. Slave trading expanded at Delagoa Bay, and the Portuguese worked to expand their regional sphere of influence. In 1826,

923-530: The Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing," "scattering," "forced dispersal," or "forced migration"), was a historical period of heightened military conflict and migration associated with state formation and expansion in Southern Africa . The exact range of dates that comprise the Mfecane varies between sources. At its broadest, the period lasted from the late eighteenth century to

994-553: The Vaal and Orange River. There, they absorbed some of their San and Korana neighbors as clients . The Griqua, like other ethnic groups, were not politically unified and differed in their livelihood strategies, which ranged from raiding to agriculture to controlling trade between Batswana and the Cape Colony. By the turn of the century amaXhosa groups also began arriving in the middle Orange River region, fleeing instability along

1065-862: The Venda Kingdom to the north, the Maroteng, amaNdzundza , and Balodebu to the northeast, the Bangwaketse to the far west, and Matiwane's nation in the Caledon Valley. Sebetwane and Moletsane's nations, for their part, were outright put to flight. Between 1827 and 1828 Matiwane's amaNgwane launched a failed attack on Moshoeshoe and, after suffering a major raid (likely perpetrated by the Ndebele), relocated to abaThembu territory in 1828, where they were destroyed by British, Boer, amaGcaleka , amaMpondo , and abaThembu forces. Though Matiwane

1136-480: The amaZulu of Shaka kaSenzangakhona . Their raids and counterraids proved costly and indecisive, contributing to the breakup of the Ndandwe Paramountcy. Groups broke away under Soshangane and Zwangendaba who settled their followers in the Delagoa Bay region, while Msane did the same in what is now eastern Eswatini . King Zwide, now in a position of weakness, evacuated to his territories north of

1207-505: The 1780s. There was significant population growth in the region which lead to more competition for resources. There was an increasing amount of trade with the Cape colony and the Portuguese; this had the consequence of separate chiefdoms becoming more eager to conquer land for themselves in order to control trade routes. Dutch settlers from the Cape Colony encroaching upon the Khoikhoi and San into regions where Tswana people live resulted in

1278-650: The 1820s to the 1830s was driven in large part by slave and cattle raiding by Griqua , Basters , and other Khoekhoe -European groups armed and mounted by European settlers, who benefitted from trading their plunder. The increasing economic pull of the international slave trade also incentivized greater warfare and disruption between polities close to international ports such as Delagoa Bay . The Mfecane began in eastern Southern Africa with increasing competition and political consolidation as chiefdoms vied for control over trade routes and grazing land. Delagoa Bay and its international port saw increasing regional conflict in

1349-610: The 1820s, Shoshangane's Gaza Kingdom and Shaka's Zulu kingdom had established themselves alongside the remains of the Ndwandwe Paramountcy as the major players in the Northeast of Southern Africa. After relocating once again to the Nkomati River region, Zwide successfully raided and recruited his way back to power. By the time of his death in 1825 the Ndwandwe had muscled into the interior, possibly sundering

1420-532: The Cape , saw the emergence of Nguni speakers around the same time. Some groups split off and settled along the way, while others kept going. Thus, the following settlement pattern formed: the southern Ndebele in the north, the Swazi in the northeast, the Xhosa in the south, and the Zulu towards the east. Because these peoples had a common origin, their languages and cultures show marked similarities. Partial ancestors of

1491-648: The Dlamini clan against the threat of external attack. Today, the kingdom encompasses many different clans that speak a Nguni language called Swati and are loyal to the king of Eswatini, who is also the head of the Dlamini clan. "Dlamini" is a very common clan name among all documented Nguni languages (including Swati and Phuthi), associated with AbaMbo cultural identity. Ngunis may be Christians ( Catholics or Protestants ), practitioners of African traditional religions or members of forms of Christianity modified with traditional African values . They also follow

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1562-691: The Drakensberg to the west, devastating other chiefdoms in their path. Nguni people The Xhosa were pastoralist from late iron age Bantu and proto-Bantu agro-pastoralists and established sub-federations under AmaXhosa kingdom, which are (AbaThembu, AmaMpondo, and AmaMpondomise) in the 5th century AD.The recent homeland of the Xhosa people is marked by lands in the Eastern Cape from the Gamtoos River up to Umzimkhulu near Natal, which confined and restricted their pastoral ancestors from

1633-826: The Hlubi and stole their cattle, leaving them destitute. The remnants of the Hlubi, under their chief Matiwane fled into what is now the Free State and attacked the Batlokwa in the Harrismith Vrede area. This displaced the Batlokwa under Mmanthatisi , and she and her people spread conflict further into the central interior. Moshoeshoe and his Bakwena sought the protection of Shaka and sent him tribute in return. When Matiwane settled at Mabolela, near present-day Clocolan , Moshoeshoe complained to Shaka that this prevented him from sending his tribute, whereupon an impi

1704-459: The Maroteng clan, also came into conflict with the amaNdzundza Ndebele, Masemola, Magakala, Bamphahlele, and Balobedu polities. Meanwhile, the region of the modern north and central Free State was increasingly coming under the control of the Bataung . In the late 1790s, expansion by the Cape Colony to the lower Orange River region displaced the mixed-race Griqua peoples to the confluence of

1775-634: The Matebele left a trail of destruction in their wake. From 1837 to 1838, the arrival of Boer settlers and the subsequent battles of Vegtkop and Mosega, drove the Matebele north of the Limpopo. They settled in the area now known as Matabeleland , in present-day southern Zimbabwe . Mzilikazi set up his new capital in Bulawayo . The AmaNdebele drove the MaShona of the region northward and forced them to pay tribute. This caused resentment that has continued to

1846-550: The Mfecane fled to the lands of the Xhosa people. Some of them such as the amaNgwane were driven back by force and defeated. Those who were accepted were obliged to be tributary to the Xhosas and lived under their protection. They were assimilated into the Xhosa cultural way of life, becoming part of the Xhosa people. After years of oppression by the Xhosas, they later formed an alliance with the Cape Colony . Southern Tswana populations had experienced an increase in conflict as early as

1917-608: The Ndwandewe allowed Sekwati to rebuild the sundered Pedi Kingdom around a fortified hilltop base near the Steelpoort River . From this stronghold, he soon gathered a large following by offering protection to groups of refugees. In 1827, Shoshangane relocated the Gaza Kingdom from the lower Nkomati to the lower Limpopo River area. Gaza defeated a Zulu army in 1828 and developed economic and political ties with

1988-515: The Ndwandwe army, fled north with Soshangane after his defeat in 1819. Zwangendaba's followers were henceforth called Ngoni . Continuing north of the Zambezi River , they formed a state in the region between lakes Malawi and Tanganyika . Maseko , who led another part of the Ngoni people, founded another state to the east of Zwangendaba's kingdom. To the east, refugee clans and tribes from

2059-491: The Nguni eventually met and merged with San hunters, which accounts for the use of click consonants in the languages of the Nguni. Many tribes and clans in KwaZulu-Natal are said to have been forcibly united under Shaka Zulu. Shaka Zulu's political organization was efficient in integrating conquered tribes, partly through the age regiments, where men from different villages bonded with each other. Many versions in

2130-659: The Nguni people migrated from west of the geographic centre of Africa towards modern-day South Africa 7000 years ago (5000 BC). Nguni ancestors had migrated within South Africa to KwaZulu-Natal by the 1st century AD and were also present in the Transvaal region at the same time. These partially nomadic ancestors of the modern Nguni people brought with them sheep, cattle, goats, and horticultural crops, many of which had never been used in South Africa at that time. Other provinces in present-day South Africa, such as

2201-577: The Northern Transvaal. In 1833, Soshangane invaded various Portuguese settlements, and was initially successful. But a combination of internal disputes and war against the Swazi caused the downfall of the Gaza kingdom. The Ngwane people lived in present-day Eswatini (Swaziland), where they had settled in the southwest. They warred periodically with the Ndwandwe. Zwangendaba , a commander of

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2272-745: The Phongolo to rebuild. Shaka took advantage of the power vacuum to expand the Zulu state to the Mkhuze River . The 1810s also saw the expansion of British colonial rule in southeastern southern Africa, with Xhosa polities displaced northwards by the Fourth and Fifth Xhosa Wars . Meanwhile, between the Mzimkhulu and Mzimvubu Rivers, some polities fleeing the upheavals further north joined Faku kaNgqungqushe 's Mpondo Kingdom, while most others instead vied for dominance just outside of its reach. By

2343-545: The Portuguese governor. In an attempt to solidify their control over inland trade, the Portuguese launched a failed attack on the Gaza Kingdom in 1834, leaving Gaza dominant over Delagoa Bay and the territories to its north. By the late 1830s, the Kingdom's sphere of influence reached as far as the Zambezi River . In 1836, the Swazi Kingdom weathered a joint attack by Zulu forces and British adventurers. Sometime in

2414-593: The Portuguese. In May of 1828, Shaka launched a successful cattle raid against the Bomvana and the Mpondo Kingdom, following up with another raid north of Delagoa Bay before the first expeditionary force had returned home. Sensing political weakness, his brothers Dingane and Mhlangana assassinated him in September. Dingane subsequently purged Mhlangana and other political rivals and established himself as

2485-555: The Zulu Kingdom. 1828 saw a further advance of colonial power as a combined British-Boer force marched far beyond the colonial borders and destroyed Matiwane 's amaNgwane at Mbholompo. Benefitting from the fall of the Ndwandwe and Shaka, Sobhuza's Swazi Kingdom expanded from the core of modern Eswatini to the Sabie River by the early 1830s. In an 1833 trade dispute, Zulu forces briefly captured Delagoa Bay and executed

2556-631: The Zulu king, but also the Boers , and the Griqua and Tswana . Defeats in several clashes convinced Mzilikazi to move north towards Swaziland. Going north and then inland westward along the watershed between the Vaal and the Limpopo rivers, Mzilikazi and his followers, the AmaNdebele, (called Matebele in English) established a Ndebele state northwest of the city of Pretoria . During this period,

2627-579: The Zulu-centric explanation for the Mfecane is not reliable. By the early 2000s, a new historical consensus had emerged, recognizing the Mfecane to be not simply a series of events resulting from the founding of the Zulu Kingdom but rather a multitude of factors caused before and after Shaka Zulu came into power. The debate and controversy within Southern African historiography over the Mfecane has been compared to similar debates about

2698-438: The ability of average people to meet their needs. Though far less susceptible to famine, leaders faced threats to their power as (taxable) agricultural production dropped and ivory became scarcer due to overhunting. Faced with the challenges of fighting famine and maintaining wealth flows, leaders were incentivized to turn to raiding and conquest. Conquest protected conquering peoples against famine by providing immediate access to

2769-415: The brutality of the Mfecane to justify European colonialism. Cobbing's hypothesis generated an immense volume of polemics among historians; the discussions were termed the "Cobbing Controversy". While historians had already embarked upon new approaches to the study of the Mfecane in the 1970s and 1980s, Cobbing's paper was the first major source that overtly defied the hegemonic "Zulu-centric" explanation at

2840-466: The century, the southern Tswana chiefdoms underwent fragmentations and consolidations as raids and counter-raids proliferated. The powerful Bahurutshe Chiefdom of the upper Marico River region had their control of the lucrative trade with the Cape Colony eroded by the Bangwaketse to the northwest, the Batlhaping to the southwest, and the emerging Pedi Kingdom to the east. The latter, helmed by

2911-487: The conquered peoples' livestock and grain stores and, in the long term, by securing arable land and the people (particularly women) to farm it at greater intensities than before. Here another self-reinforcing cycle set in as famine and warfare promoted insecurity and militarism, which promoted political centralization and more warfare as strong leaders expanded their authority by offering a desperately-needed escape from famine to loyal followers. A second stage of turmoil from

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2982-620: The current day in modern Zimbabwe. At the Battle of Mhlatuze River in 1818, the Ndwandwe were defeated by a Zulu force under the direct command of Shaka. Soshangane , one of Zwide's generals, fled to Mozambique with the remainder of the Ndwandwe. There, they established the Gaza kingdom . They oppressed the Tsonga people living there, some of whom fled over the Lebombo Mountains into

3053-519: The defeat of Zwide and his Ndwandwes by Shaka, two of his commanders, Soshangane and Zwengendaba, fled with their followers northward, engaging in conflict as they went. Soshangane eventually founded the Shangane nation in Mozambique and Zwengendaba moved all the way to what is now Tanzania . Mzilikazi in his flight from Shaka, depopulated the eastern highveld and northern Free State, killing

3124-518: The early 19th century, during a politically tumultuous era that included the Mfecane and Great Trek . In South Africa, the historic Nguni kingdoms of the Ndebele, Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu are in the present-day provinces of the Western Cape , Eastern Cape , Gauteng , KwaZulu-Natal , Limpopo and Mpumalanga . The most notable of these kingdoms are the Zulu Kingdom, which was ruled by Shaka ,

3195-413: The eastern Cape Colony frontier. There they absorbed Korana, San, and others and engaged in extensive raiding along the Orange and lower Vaal rivers. This proved particularly damaging to the trade activities of their Batlhaping victims. By the 1810s, Boer expansion brought increasing destabilization to the middle Orange River region, not least in that it increased the flow of firearms. The Caledon Valley

3266-668: The effects of international trade, environmental instability, and European colonization. State formation and expansion had already been intensifying in Southeastern African as of at least the late 1700s, but these processes were greatly accelerated after the international ivory trade opened. The trade allowed leaders to amass unprecedented amounts of wealth, which they could then use to cultivate greater political power. Wealth and power became mutually reinforcing, as wealth enabled leaders to develop state instruments of control and expropriation, which they used to extract further wealth through taxation and military action. The consequence of this cycle

3337-455: The expansion of the Ndwandwe Paramountcy under Sikhunyana began to threaten the Zulu Kingdom's borders. In response, Shaka marched his army (and allied British traders) to the Izindololwane Hills and put Sikhunyana to flight. Their victory was so total that the Ndwandwe state collapsed shortly thereafter, with some constituent polities fleeing south or joining the Zulu, the Gaza Kingdom, or Mzilikazi 's Matabele/Ndebele Kingdom. The collapse of

3408-417: The extent to which African groups and leaders sought to establish more centralised and complex state formations to control ivory routes and the wealth associated with the trade. She suggests these pressures created internal movements, as well as reactions against European activity, that drove the state formations and concomitant violence and displacement. She still agreed with Cobbing's overall sentiment in that

3479-484: The formation of the Korana who started to launch raids on other communities by the 1780s. The fact that many of them had access to firearms and horses likely exacerbated the devastation caused by their raiders. Xhosa who were escaping the already violent region of the Eastern Cape often launched their own raids as well. All of these events led to making the region progressively more unstable. Missionary interference, internal politics, and raids by Dutch settlers also impacted

3550-399: The historiography of southern Africa state that during the South African upheaval known as Mfecane , the Nguni people spread across a large part of southern Africa, absorbing, conquering, or displacing many other peoples. However, the notion of the mfecane or difaqane has been disputed by some scholars, notably Julian Cobbing. The Mfecane was initiated by Zwide and his Ndwandwes. They attacked

3621-435: The kingdom of Lesotho . The Tswana were pillaged by two large invading forces set on the move by the Mfecane. Sebitwane gathered the Kololo ethnic groups near modern Lesotho and wandered north across what is now Botswana , plundering and killing many of the Tswana people in the way. They also took large numbers of captives north with them, finally settling north of the Zambezi River in Barotseland , where they conquered

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3692-418: The late 1830s the Swazi launched a raid against the Pedi Kingdom, which repelled them. The Mfecane began in the interior regions of Central Southern Africa in the late 18th century with the displacement of Khoekhoe and San peoples by slave and cattle raiders from the expanding Dutch Cape Colony . Arriving in the middle and lower Orange River regions, they competed with local Batwsana peoples, beginning

3763-543: The leadership of Moshoeshoe . Separately, facing violence and starvation, Sebetwane 's BaFokeng , Tsooane's MaPhuting, and Nkarahanye's BaHlakoana fled their homes. The three joined forces in 1823 to take the BaThlaping town of Dithakong , whose access to water kept it rich in grain and cattle despite the overall drought. The BaThlaping repelled the invasion on 24 June with the aid of a mounted force of Griqua, inflicting heavy casualties and killing Tsooane and Nkarahanye. In 1825, Mpangazita's followers dispersed after he

3834-498: The men and capturing the women to form his Matabele nation. Initially, he settled near what is now Pretoria, then moved to Mosega, near present-day Zeerust , but after his defeat by the Voortrekkers he moved to present-day Zimbabwe where he founded his capital, Bulawayo. Within the Nguni nations, the clan, based on male ancestry, formed the highest social unit . Each clan was led by a chieftain. Influential men tried to achieve independence by creating their own clan. The power of

3905-414: The mid-nineteenth century, but scholars often focus on an intensive period from the 1810s to the 1840s. Traditional estimates for the death toll range from 1 million to 2 million; however, these numbers are controversial, and some recent scholars revise the mortality figure significantly downward and attribute the root causes to complex political, economic, and environmental developments. The Mfecane

3976-415: The mid-to-late 1700s. The local Tembe and Mabhudu-Tembe competed for control, absorbing or expelling some of their neighboring polities. The abakwaDlamini , who would later form the Swazi Kingdom , were one such group put to flight by the conflict. The mid-to-late 1700s also saw the rise of the Nxumalo and Nyambose chiefdoms between the Phongolo and Thukela rivers, which would eventually become

4047-451: The new Zulu king. These chaotic events prompted the secession of a segment of the subject abakwaQwabe nation, though they were dispersed in late 1829 by a Mpondo attack south of the Mzimkhulu. By the late 1820s the power struggles between the Mzimkhulu and Mzimvubu Rivers had produced two victors: the Mpondo Kingdom and the Bhaca Chiefdom. Several weaker polities again relocated, with some moving north, others moving south, and yet others to

4118-403: The province of Matabeleland . Most of what is believed about ancient Nguni history comes from oral history and legends. Traditionally, their partial ancestors are said to have migrated to Africa's Great Lakes region from the north. According to linguistic evidence and historians (including John H. Robertson, Rebecca Bradley, T. Russell, Fabio Silva, and James Steele), some of the ancestors of

4189-469: The region. By the start of the 19th century, the most powerful Tswana chiefdom, the Bahurutse, were increasingly being challenged by the Bangwaketse. Moshoeshoe I gathered the mountain clans together in an alliance against the Zulus. Fortifying the easily defended hills and expanding his reach with cavalry raids, he fought against his enemies with some success, despite not adopting the Zulu tactics, as many clans had done. The territory of Moshoeshoe I became

4260-421: The rest of the Cape by an expanding and setting of the VOC Cape Colony frontier. This closed frontier was set in the late 1700s. The Xhosa often called the "Red Blanket People," are Bantu people living in south-east South Africa and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central-southern parts of the country. Both the Ndebele of Zimbabwe and the Ngoni migrated northward out of South Africa in

4331-460: The roots of the conflicts lay in the labour needs of Portuguese slave traders operating out of Delagoa Bay, Mozambique and European settlers in the Cape Colony . The resulting pressures led to forced displacement , famine, and war in the interior, allowing waves of Afrikaner settlers to colonize large swaths of the region. Cobbing's views were echoed by historian Dan Wylie, who argued that colonial-era white writers such as Isaacs had exaggerated

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4402-412: The time. This was followed by fierce discourse in the early 1990s prompted by Cobbing's hypothesis. Many agree that Cobbing's analysis offered several key breakthroughs and insights into the nature of early Zulu society. The historian Elizabeth Eldredge challenged Cobbing's thesis on the grounds that there is scant evidence of the resumption of the Portuguese slave trade out of Delagoa Bay before 1823,

4473-405: The western Tswana polities. Mzilikazi suffered another major raid from the Griqua leader Berend Berends in 1831, but again managed to decimate the loot-laden attackers. In 1832 it was the Zulu Kingdom's turn to raid the Ndebele, but for the most part they were successfully repelled. Mzilikazi relocated after the Zulu attack, settling in the Bahurutshe's upper Marico territory. The Bahurutshe response

4544-409: Was alleged to have waged near-genocidal wars that depopulated the land and sparked a chain reaction of violence as fleeing groups sought to conquer new lands. Since the latter half of the 20th century, this interpretation has fallen out of favor among scholars due to a lack of historical evidence. The Mfecane resulted from the complex interplay of pre-existing trends of political centralization with

4615-444: Was an increasing political and wealth disparity within and between polities, particularly in concern to productive land and food stores. Political centralization became problematic in the early 1800s when deep drought (aggravated by the atmospheric effects of volcanic eruptions in 1809 and 1815) struck Southeastern Africa. Whereas previous droughts hadn't caused serious famine, the unequal distribution of land and food stores lessened

4686-522: Was cast off, Moshoeshoe's forces successfully raided the abaThembu in 1829, greatly enriching his kingdom and allowing it to recruit large numbers of followers from returning refugees. To the south of Moshoeshoe's territory, small San polities eked out independent livelihoods, while others joined Morosi 's Phuthi polity to raid abaThembu, Cape Colonists, and others. Notably, San groups developed new styles of rock art during this period of change. Also between 1827 and 1828, Mzilikazi's Ndebele relocated to

4757-461: Was divided, with some submitting to Ndebele rule and others relocating to Bathlaping and Griqua territory. In 1834 Jan Bloem launched a second raid against the Ndebele, which ended similarly to his first attack. Mzilikazi responded by maintaining the southern reaches of his domain as an unpopulated buffer zone. Around 1821, the Zulu general Mzilikazi of the Khumalo clan defied Shaka, and set up his own kingdom. He quickly made many enemies: not only

4828-423: Was killed in a war against Matiwane 's amaNgwane . The amaNgwane proceeded to control much of the Caledon River environs, raiding and displacing Sotho and Tswana neighbors. The mid-1820s saw Sebetwane dominate the upper Molopo region and Moletsane's Bataung people heavily raid the Vaal River. The eastern interior, however, was coming under the domination of Mzilikazi's Ndebele Kingdom. His forces raided

4899-458: Was later accused of slave trading). In 1988, Rhodes University professor Julian Cobbing advanced a different hypothesis on the rise of the Zulu state; he contended the accounts of the Mfecane were a self-serving, constructed product of apartheid -era politicians and historians. According to Cobbing, apartheid-era historians had mischaracterised the Mfecane as a period of internally induced Black-on-Black destruction. Instead, Cobbing argued that

4970-539: Was now sustaining raids by Boer, Griqua, and Korana parties. By the early 1820s the instability spread north of the Orange River. In 1822 AmaHlubi under the command of Mpangazita crossed the Drakensberg mountains and attacked Queen MmaNthatisi's Batlôkwa people . Put to flight, MmaNthatisi's followers survived off of pillage before resettling west of the Caledon River in 1824. The Sotho polities of this area sometimes held conflictual relations with these Batlôkwa newcomers, and they began coalescing in 1824 under

5041-444: Was sent to drive Matiwane from this area. Matiwane fled south and raided one of the Xhosa kingdoms, which got his whole tribe annihilated by Paramount Hintsa , at the Battle Of Mbholompo. Mmanthatisi and her Batlokwa settled near what is now Ficksburg and were followed by her son, Sekonyela, as chief of the Batlokwa. It was he who had stolen Zulu cattle that Piet Retief in his dealings with Dingane, Shaka's successor, retrieved. After

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