Mfecane

Mfecane

I

INTRODUCTION

Mfecane, period of upheaval in southern Africa in the early decades of the 19th century, characterized by widespread warfare between chiefdoms centered in what is now eastern South Africa, and the subsequent mass migrations of numerous other chiefdoms. The term mfecane comes from a Nguni word that means “the crushing.” It is also known as difaqane, the Southern Sotho equivalent. The mfecane reshaped the political and cultural map of southern Africa, as new kingdoms and chiefdoms were formed while others were engulfed or shattered.

II

CAUSES OF THE MFECANE

For years, historians generally believed that the mfecane was caused by the emergence of the aggressive Zulu kingdom. Recently, however, some historians have contended that the emphasis on Zulu expansion has obscured the role that European colonialism may have played in triggering the violence. While the causes of the mfecane are still being debated, most historians agree that the expansion of some chiefdoms in southeastern Africa and the centralization of others brought emerging states into conflict.

One reason for the conflict may have been intensifying competition for land. Maize was introduced to the region by the early 18th century, and as it became a plentiful staple, population density grew. By the end of the century, overfarming and overgrazing had depleted the amount of usable land. Local chiefdoms, whose economies were based on cattle, were forced to extend and defend their control over year-round grazing lands in order to survive.

Another reason for the conflict may have been the destabilizing effect the global trade in slave and ivory had on the region. Colonists from Britain’s Cape Colony, to the southwest, had conducted raids into the region to acquire labor since the 17th century. In the same period, Portuguese traders based at ports on the southeastern coast of Africa fed an increasing demand for slave labor on South American plantations and hunted extensively for ivory for the international market. In response to these incursions, local chiefdoms sought to establish control over the lucrative trade routes and, possibly, to organize defenses against slave raids. This led to military expansion and the development of new social and political structures.

A key aspect of this process was the development of the amabutho system. In this system, all the young men of a chiefdom were grouped into regiments (amabutho) according to their age. The amabutho served multiple purposes. They were used to perform labor, police the chiefdom’s subjects, and defend the chiefdom against outside enemies. For their service, the amabutho required reward, particularly in the form of cattle, and this could best be gained by raiding neighboring peoples. Additional cattle required wider grazing lands, so raids inevitably turned into wars of territorial conquest. In the early years of the 19th century, conflicts over cattle and land were sharpened by a major drought.

III

WARS, MIGRATIONS, AND NEW STATES

The course of the mfecane is a complicated one, with clashes leading to migrations, migrations leading to the rise of new states, and the rise of new states leading to further clashes and migrations. The central clashes of the mfecane, those that caused the initial migrations, took place in an area that would later be known as Zululand, in what is now eastern South Africa. This area is roughly bounded by the Thukela (Tugela) River to the southwest, the Phongolo (Pongola) River to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast.

A

Initial Clashes

At the start of the 19th century the region was divided into numerous small chiefdoms, the most powerful being the Ndwandwe and Mthethwa. Starting in the late 1810s, conflict between these two chiefdoms began to dislodge their lesser neighbors, such as the Ngwane. The Ngwane people fled, splitting into two groups. One group, led by Sobhuza, moved into the mountains north of the Phongolo River and began building up a large state that would eventually become the Swazi kingdom (see Swaziland). The other Ngwane group, led by Matiwane, fled to the west, to the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains. There they defeated the Hlubi chiefdom, scattering them in several directions. Near the Indian Ocean coast, the Qwabe consolidated their territory in defense, pushing out the Thuli and Cele. These chiefdoms were forced southward across the Thukela River into what later became Natal.

B

Zulu Wars

In 1817 the Ndwandwe, under Zwide, defeated and broke up the Mthethwa, led by Dingiswayo. Their victory brought them into direct conflict with the small but militarily powerful Zulu chiefdom under Shaka. In the course of the struggle, the Zulu consolidated their position by incorporating some lesser chiefdoms, notably the Qwabe, or forcing others, such as the Bhele, Chunu, and Tembu, to flee south. The Tembu, led by Ngoza, moved destructively through Natal as far as the Mthamvuna River, where 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 create the 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, but were finally destroyed. Many Ndwandwe refugees, led by Zwangendaba and Nxaba, fled towards Gaza. In 1831 they clashed with Soshangane, who forced them north across 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, subsequently spread 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, were driven 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 to 1824 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’s Cape 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 Tswana chiefdoms 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 it clashed 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 1823 the 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 after overthrowing 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, around 1824, 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 was eventually 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 Mpondo chiefdom, 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 region squeezed between Zulu and Mpondo, notably the Bhaca. Many refugee groups without cattle settled among the Xhosa chiefdoms on the borders of the Cape Colony, and served as dependents. These people became known as the Mfengu, and many eventually migrated into the Cape Colony to serve as peasant landowners and artisans in colonial 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 and Pedi and from refugees from the Zulu wars, like the Ndwandwe. This group became known as the Ndebele. In 1827 Mzilikazi moved southwest to the Magaliesberg mountain 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 in 1836, 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 across the 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 both the 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 is impossible 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 the degree of suffering endured. By the 1830s unremitting Zulu and Ndebele raids had depopulated some regions to such an extent that Voortrekkers entering the area believed that 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 the interior. However, strong new states such as the Sotho, Zulu, or Swazi kingdoms were often able to deflect or contain the white advance. Paradoxically, therefore, while helping bring about white dominion over southern Africa, the mfecane also created the African kingdoms that outlived it.