Mfecane

Mfecane (isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: [m̩fɛˈkǀaːne][note 1]), also known by the Sesotho name Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration"[1]), was a period of widespread chaos and warfare among indigenous ethnic communities in southern Africa during the period between 1815 and about 1840.

An early painting of the first migration of the Fengu, one of the affected peoples of the Mfecane

As King Shaka created the militaristic Zulu Kingdom in the territory between the Tugela River and Pongola River, his forces caused a wave of warfare and disruption to sweep to other peoples. This was the prelude of the Mfecane, which spread from there. The movement of people caused many tribes to try to dominate those in new territories, leading to widespread warfare; consolidation of other groups, such as the Matebele, the Mfengu and the Makololo; and the creation of states such as the modern Lesotho.

Although the Mfecane caused a decrease in the population of the eastern part of South Africa, the resulting consolidation of larger settlements and political power is not, according to some sources, believed to have left the vast stretches of pastureland uncontested.[2] How many people died as a result of all the conflict is unknown but the death toll estimates cited most frequently are 1 to 2 million.[3][4][5][6][7] "In the seventy years or so after 1760, the political face of the region north of the Orange (River) and east of the Kalahari was profoundly changed," concluded Professor John Wright.[8]

Causes

Theories vary as to the causes of the catastrophic warfare and migration of many ethnic groups in the area. Populations had increased greatly in Zululand following the Portuguese introduction of maize from the Americas in the late 17th century, reaching the inland around 1750.[9] While maize was more productive than the grains from native grasses, it required more water during cultivation. The agricultural surpluses and increased population enabled Shaka to raise a standing army of Zulus. By the end of the 18th century, the Zulus occupied much of their arable land. Declining rainfall and a ten-year drought in the early 19th century set off a competition for land and water resources among the peoples of the area. Another possible cause is the increased trade of ivory with the Portuguese in the Delagoa Bay. This led to deepening inequality within African societies which led people being even more vulnerable in an region that was already being hit by multiple droughts.[10]

There were three major ethnic groups that occupied the areas now known as Nquthu, Babanango, Empangeni, Mtubatuba, Hlabisa, Nongoma, Pongola, Vryheid, Melmoth and Mahlabathini – those ethnic groups were the Ngwane, the Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa. They were respectively led by kings Sobhuza of Ngwane, Zwide, and Dingiswayo and were the most powerful ethnic groups. The language now known as Zulu was spoken by the Ndwandwes. At that time the Zulus were a very weak ethnic group under the leadership of Senzangakhona. They spoke a thsefuya language in which "l" is pronounced as "y", so that 'suka lapha', meaning 'go from here', would be expressed as 'suya yapha'. These three ethnic groups are to this day found in the same areas. The Zulus were a weak minority occupying a small piece of land in the area now known as Makhosini near Babanango. The Ikhoshlo side of Buthelezi led by Mvulane became instrumental in the defeat of Phungashe by Shaka. Mvulane's son Ngqengelele became Shaka's induna and chief advisor. Ngqengele's son, Mbangambi led his section of Buthelezis against Hhamu of Ngenetsheni.[note 2]

Oral history says that after the death of Mvulane, the younger brother of Phungashe, Mvulane's sons Khoboyela and Ngqengelele escaped being killed by Phungashe over their father Mvulane's estate and went to live with Senzangakhona and Ngqengelele. Most of the members of the Buthelezi ethnic group had left with Khoboyela and Ngqengelele. When Shaka attacked the Ngwane, Sobhuza's men were outnumbered by the combination of the Mthethwas, the Buthelezis under Ngqengelele and the Zulus. In summary, the causes of mfecane are; the need for land, population growth in Natal, Shaka's military and expansionist strategy. In addition, the profitable slave trade through Delagoa Bay (modern day Maputo Bay) is another cause.

Rise of the Zulu

In about 1817, Chief Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa group in the south near the Tugela River, entered into an alliance with the Tsongas, who controlled the trade routes to Delagoa Bay (now Maputo). This alliance encroached on the routes used by the Ndwandwe alliance, who occupied the region in the north, near the Pongola River. Battles between the allied forces of Chief Dingiswayo and of Chief Zwide, and the Ndwandwe probably mark the start of what became the Mfecane.

Zwide defeated the Mthethwa and executed Chief Dingiswayo. Dingiswayo was a mentor to King Shaka. He took him in together with his mother Queen Nandi and gave them refuge. Many of the Mthethwa leaders formed a confederation with the Zulu clan, under the leadership of Shaka. The Zulus conquered and assimilated smaller clans in the area. Zwide attacked King Shaka and was defeated at the Battle of Gqokli Hill which marked the start of Shaka's conquest of the Ndwandwe. The Zulu practice was to absorb only the women and young men of a clan or village. They killed the elderly and men of fighting age; the lucky ones escaped. Having learned Zulu tactics, the escapees in turn descended upon more distant clans unfamiliar with the new order.

Consequences for the Nguni

This map illustrates the rise of the Zulu Empire under Shaka (1816–1828) in present-day South Africa. The rise of the Zulu Empire      under Shaka forced other chiefdoms and clans to flee across a wide area of southern Africa. Clans fleeing the Zulu war zone      included the Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Ndebele, Hlubi, Ngwane, and the Mfengu. A number of clans were caught between the Zulu Empire and advancing Voortrekkers and British Empire      such as the Xhosa     .

Around 1821, the Zulu general Mzilikazi of the Khumalo clan defied Zulu king Shaka, and set up his own kingdom. He quickly made many enemies, not only with the Zulu king, but also with the Boers, 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 an Ndebele state northwest of the city of Pretoria.

During this period, the Matebele left a trail of destruction in their wake.[11] 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.[12] The AmaNdebele drove the AmaShona of the region northward and forced them to pay tribute. This caused resentment that continued to the current day in modern Zimbabwe.

At the Battle of Mhlatuze River in 1818, the Ndwandwe were defeated by the Zulu led by 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 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.[12]

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 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.[12]

To the east, refugees from the Mfecane were assimilated into the Xhosa-speaking groups in present-day Eastern Cape Province, becoming the Mfengu. Subjected to successive waves of attack by other ethnic groups, they were also pressed from the West by the British colonists.

Consequences for the Sotho-Tswana peoples

Southern Tswana populations had been experiencing in increase in conflict as early as the 1780s. There was significant population growth in the region which lead to more competition of 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 Farmers often displacing the Khoikhoi and San into regions where Tswana people live resulted in the formation of the Korana who ended up doing an enormity of raids in communities by the 1780s. The fact that many of them had access to guns and horses likely exacerbated already pernicious depredations. Xhosa people that were escaping the already violent region of the Eastern Cape often played a part in marauding as well. All of these of events lead to making the region progressively more unstable. Missionaries making interventions and politics and Dutch farmers doing some raiding of their own in a region also impact the region. By the start of the 19th century, the most powerful Tswana chiefdom, the Bahurutse, were increasingly being challenged by the Bangwaketse.[8]

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 the kingdom of Lesotho.[12]

The Tswana were pillaged by two large invasionary 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,[13] finally settling north of the Zambezi River in Barotseland, where they conquered the Lozi people.[14] 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.[14] 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.[13]

The "Cobbing Controversy"

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 politicians and historians. According to Cobbing, apartheid historians had mischaracterised the Mfecane as a period of internally induced black-on-black destruction. Instead, Cobbing argued that the roots of the conflicts could be found exclusively in the labour needs of the Portuguese slave traders operating out of Delagoa Bay, in modern-day Mozambique, and of the British colonists in the Cape. The resulting pressures led to massive displacement, famine, and war in the interior, allowing later Afrikaner settlers to seize control of most land.[15] Among those involved were European adventurers such as Nathaniel Isaacs (who was later accused of slave trading).[16]

Cobbing's hypothesis caused an immense amount of polemics among historians and the discussion about it was called the "Cobbing Controversy". While historians had already started to create new approaches to studying the Mfecane in the 1970s and 1980s, Cobbing's paper was the first major source that overtly defied the hegemonic "Zulu-centric" explanation at the time.[17] This was followed by fierce discourse in the early 1990s over Cobbing's hypothesis. Many agree that Cobbing's analysis offered several key breakthroughs and insights into the nature of early Zulu society.[18] 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, a finding that undermines Cobbing's thesis that Shaka's early military activities were a response to slave raids. Moreover, Eldredge argues that Griqua and other groups allied with British Colonists, rather Missionaries, 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 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.[10] She still agreed with Cobbing's overall sentiment in that the Zulu-centric explanation for the Mfecane is not reliable.[19] By the early 2000s, a new consensus had emerged.[17] Most historians recognize that the Mfecane wasn't just a series of events caused by the founding of the Zulu kingdom but rather a multitude of factors caused before and after Shaka Zulu came into power.[18][19][17]

References

Notes

1. In another tradition transcribed [m̩fɛˈʇaːne]. ⟨ǀ⟩ is the current IPA symbol for a dental click, not a lower-case ⟨L⟩.
2. Kamhlaza Hlathwayo who was married to Josiah of Gibisizungu, of Mbangambi of Ngengelele

Citations

1. "General South African History Timeline: 1800s". South African History Online. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
2. Eldredge, Elizabeth A. (2015). Kingdoms and Chiefdoms of Southeastern Africa: Oral Traditions and History, 1400-1830. Boydell & Brewer. p. 324. ISBN 978-1-58046-514-4.
3. Wright, John; Cobbing, Julian (12 September 1988). "The Mfecane: Beginning the inquest". Wits Institutional Repository African Studies Institute - Seminar Papers.
4. Walter, Eugene Victor (1969). Terror and Resistance: A Study of Political Violence, with Case Studies of Some African Communities. ISBN 9780195015621.
5. Charters, R. A. (Major, Royal Artillery) (1839). "Notices Of The Cape And Southern Africa, Since The Appointment, As Governor, Of Major-Gen. Sir Geo. Napier". United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine. London: Henry Colburn. 1839, Part III (September, October, November): 19–25, 171–179, 352–359, page 24.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
6. Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition
7. Hanson, Victor Davis (2001). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-307-42518-8.
8. John Wright, Turbulent Times: Political Transformations in the North and East, 1760 – 1830s, The Cambridge History of South Africa, Vol. I, Cambridge, 2010, p. 249, 212, 213, 215, 216, 217
9. Beach, David N. (1983). "The Zimbabwe Plateau and its Peoples". In Birmingham, David; Martin, Phyllis M. (eds.). History of Central Africa, volume 1. London: Longman. pp. 245–277. ISBN 978-0-582-64673-5.
10. Eldredge, Elizabeth (1995). "Sources of Conflict in Southern Africa c. 1800–1830: the 'Mfecane' Reconsidered". In Hamilton, Carolyn (ed.). The Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press. pp. 122–161. ISBN 978-1-86814-252-1.
11. Becker, Peter (1979). Path of Blood: The Rise and Conquests of Mzilikazi, Founder of the Matebele ethnic group of Southern Africa. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-004978-7.
12. Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 5
13. Segolodi, Moanaphuti (1940). "Ditso Tsa Batawana". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
14. Tlou, Thomas (1985). A History of Ngamiland, 1750 to 1906: The Formation of an African State. Macmillan Botswana. ISBN 9780333396353.
15. Cobbing, Julian (1988). "The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo". The Journal of African History. 29 (3): 487–519. doi:10.1017/s0021853700030590.
16. Herrman, Louis (December 1974). "Nathaniel Isaacs" (PDF). Natalia. Pietermartizburg: The Natal Society Foundation (4): 19–22. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
17. Wright, John (2009). The Cambridge History of South Africa, Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 211, 212. ISBN 9781139056083.
18. Etherington, Norman (2004). "A Tempest In A Teapot? Nineteenth-Century Contests For Land In South Africa's Caledon Valley And The Invention Of The Mfecane". The Journal of African History. 45 (2): 203–219. doi:10.1017/S0021853703008624. ISSN 0021-8537.
19. Eldredge, Elizabeth (2014). The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828. Cambridge University Press. p. 9.

Further reading

• J.D. Omer-Cooper, The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth-Century Revolution in Bantu Africa, Longmans, 1978: ISBN 0-582-64531-X; outstanding example of the traditional view.
• Norman Etherington, The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa, 1815–1854, Longman, 2001: ISBN 0-582-31567-0; refutes accounts of the Mfecane
• Carolyn Hamilton, The Mfecane Aftermath: Reconstructive Debates in Southern African History, Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1995: ISBN 1-86814-252-3