Mfecane

Mfecane (Zulu name, also known as the Difaqane or Lifaqane in Sesotho), is an African expression which means something like "the crushing" or "scattering". It describes a period of widespread chaos and warfare among indigenous tribes in southern Africa during the period between 1815 and about 1840.

As chief Shaka created a 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 beginning of the Mfecane, which spread from there. The movement of peoples caused them to try to dominate those in new territories, leading to widespread warfare; consolidation of other groups, such as the Matabele, the Mfengu and the Makololo; and the creation of states such as the modern Lesotho.

Causes

Theories vary as to the ultimate causes of this catastrophic, bloody warfare and migration of many different tribes in the area. Populations had increased greatly in Zululand. The Portuguese introduction of maize (corn) in Mozambique from the Americas enabled the production of more food than did grains from native grasses, but at the cost of greater water usage. The agricultural surpluses allowed Shaka to raise a standing army of Zulus. By the end of the 1700s, much of the arable land was occupied. Declining rainfall, and a ten-year drought in the early 1800s meant that a battle for land and water resources began in earnest among the peoples of the area.

Other possible causes were the ulus' adoption of new tactics and weapons during this period. Instead of using throwing spears, the Zulus started to use broad-bladed, stabbing spears known as iklwa, which could be used very efficiently in close combat. The Zulus also instituted a form of conscription, where every man had to serve the king as soldier in special age regiments, known in English as impis. Many of the Nguni peoples adopted the same practice, putting most of their men under arms and expanding the scale of warfare.

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 Tsonga controlling the trade routes to Delagoa Bay (now Maputo). This alliance encroached on the existing routes used by the Ndwandwe alliance, who occupied the region in the north, near the Pongola River. Battles between Dingiswayo and Chief Zwide of the Ndwandwe probably mark the start of what became the Mfecane.

After Zwide beat the Mthethwa, he had Dingiswayo killed. 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. The Battle of Gqokli Hill marked the start of Shaka's conquest of the Ndwandwe.

The Zulu absorbed only the women and young men of a clan or village. They killed the elderly and men of fighting age; the lucky ones escaped. Escapees quickly learned the tactics of the Zulus, and in turn descended upon more distant clans unfamiliar with the new order.

Consequences for the Nguni tribes

In 1821-ish 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 westwards along the watershed between the Vaal and the Limpopo River, Mzilikazi and his followers, the AmaNdebele, (called Matabele in English) established an Ndebele state northwest of the city of Pretoria.

During this period, the Matabele left a trail of destruction and devastation in their wake.^[1] From 1837-38, the Matabele were driven north of the Limpopo by the arrival of Boer settlers. They settled in the area now known as Matabeleland, in present-day southern Zimbabwe. Mzilikazi set up his new capital in Bulawayo.^[2] The AmaNdebele forced the AmaShona of the region northwards and forced them to pay tribute, causing tribal resentment that has continued to rankle in modern Zimbabwe.

Shoshangane, one of Zwide's generals, fled to Mozambique with the remainder of the Ndwandwe after their defeat by Shaka at the Battle of Mhlatuze River in 1818. There they established the Gaza kingdom. They oppressed the Tsonga living there, some of whom fled over the Lebombo Mountains into the Northern Transvaal. In 1833 Shoshangane invaded various Portuguese settlements, and was initially successful. A combination of internal disputes and war against the Swazi, however, led to the downfall of the Gaza kingdom. ^[2]

The Ngwane people lived in present-day Swaziland, settled in the southwest, and warred periodically with the Ndwandwe. Ngwane chief Sobhuza led his people to higher elevations around 1820 to escape Zulu attacks. In this period the Ngwane became known as the Swazi; Sobhuza established the Swazi kingdom in what is now central Swaziland.

Zwangendaba of the Jele or Gumbi clan, 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 Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. Maseko led another part of the Ngoni people and founded another state to the east of Zwangendaba's kingdom. ^[2]

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

Consequences for the Sotho-Tswana peoples

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 other clans had done. The territory of Moshoeshoe I became the kingdom of Lesotho.^[2]

Sebitwane gathered the Kololo tribe somewhere near modern Lesotho and wandered north across what is now Botswana, plundering and killing many of the Tswana people in the way. The Kololo finally settled north of the Zambezi river in Barotseland, where they conquered the Lozi people. ^[3]

The Tswana were pillaged by two large invasion forces set on the move by the Mfecane. The first of these were the Kololo, who reached what is now Botswana in 1826. The second was the passage of Mzilikazi across Tswana territory in 1837. Neither of these invasion forces established a state within Tswana territory, and both continued north instead. ^[3]

Controversies

In 1988, Rhodes University professor Julian Cobbing advanced a controversial new hypothesis on the rise of the Zulu state, which contended the Mfecane to be a self-serving, constructed product of apartheid politicians and historians. According to Cobbing, the Mfecane has been mischaracterized by apartheid historians as a period of internally induced black-on-black destruction. Instead, Cobbing argued that the roots of the conflicts could be found in the actions of European slave traders.

Cobbing's hypothesis (now known by many historians as the "Cobbing Controversy") remains controversial. Many agree that Cobbing's analysis offered several key breakthroughs and insights into the nature of early Zulu society. Some critics assert that revisionist theories such as Cobbing's placed too much weight on environmental factors and ignored the key roles played by dynamic human agents such as the Zulu king Shaka. Historian Elizabeth Eldredge challenged Cobbing's thesis on the grounds that the European slave trade was not dominant enough at the time of the Mfecane to have been significant, while acknowledging that placing the fault entirely on the Zulus was a result of heavily biased analysis.

A balanced view of the massive upheaval of the Mfecane would have to point to Zulu expansion as a major factor. Aggressive Zulu military activities sparked a tremendous ferment of change. Other factors must be added into the mix, including population pressures; corn crops from Europe; and white encroachment and expansion in the general area, including slaving and Portuguese activities in Mozambique.

References

Further reading

J.D. Omer-Cooper, The Zulu Aftermath, outstanding example of the traditional view.

Norman Etherington, The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa, 1815-1854, offers a convincing refutation of the idea of Mfecane