Xhosa Wars

A painting depicting the Xhosa wars of 1851

The Xhosa Wars, also known as the Kaffir Wars or Cape Frontier Wars, were a series of nine wars between the amaXhosa people and European settlers from 1779 and 1879 in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The wars were responsible for the amaXhosa people's loss of most of their land, and the incorporation of its people.

First wars

The competition between the Boers and the amaXhosa over good grazing land was intense, and skirmishes became wars. Though the Boers had guns and therefore an advantage, they could not fully capitalize on their superior firepower. Chasing the highly mobile Xhosa meant the Boers had to leave their own homes and families undefended, so the local militia strategy was severely limited. Professional troops however were not burdened by such considerations. So, when the British entered the Cape in 1806, British troops under Harry Smith were sent to help the Boer settlers. The balance of power changed and in 1811 British and Boer operations began to clear the land of the amaXhosa people. About four thousand British colonists were stationed on the Great Fish River.

The Xhosa had been expelled from the district between the Great Fish River and the Sundays river known as the Zuurveld, which became a sort of neutral ground. For some time previous to 1811 the amaXhosa, however, had taken control of the neutral ground and committed depredations of the colonists. In order to expel them from the Zuurveld, Colonel John Graham took the field with a mixed force in 1811 with his plan to use "A proper degree of terror."[1] and in the end the amaXhosa were driven beyond the Great Fish River. On the site of Colonel Graham's headquarters arose the town which bears his name.

A difficulty between the Cape Colony government and the amaXhosa arose in 1817, the immediate cause of which was an attempt by the colonial authorities to enforce the restitution of some stolen cattle. On 22 April 1817, led by a prophet-chief named Makana, they attacked Graham’s Town, then held by a handful of white troops. Help arrived in time and the enemy were beaten back. It was then agreed that the land between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers should be neutral territory.

After first war (1779-1781, the frontier border was established between the Fish and Sundays Rivers. After the second war (1789-1793), the boundary was moved west to Sundays River. The third war (1799-1803) established the Sundays River boundary.The fourth war (1811-1812) was the first war that featured professional British soldiers who could pursue the enemy with single-minded intensity, and in the fourth Xhosa War they drove the Xhosa back to the east of the Fish River.

Raids

In the 1830s the amaXhosa began stealing Boer and English cattle. This resulted in retaliation and in the war of 1834 to 1835 sixty thousand cattle were taken by colonists.

The 5th Xhosa War, 1818-1819

The Xhosa prophet Maqana Nxele emerged at this time and promised “to turn bullets into water.” He led the Xhosa armies in several attacks, including the one on Grahamstown in 1819, and was subsequently captured and imprisoned on Robben Island

When overcrowding among the Xhosa east of the Fish River led to civil war, the British intervened and triggered the fifth Xhosa War. This time, the British pushed the Xhosa even further east, beyond the Keiskama River, and tried to populate a buffer zone with loyal Africans.

The 6th Xhosa War, 1834-1836

Catalyst for Piet Retief's manifesto and the Great Trek. In total 40 farmers (Boers) were killed and 416 farmhouses were burnt down. In addition 5700 horses, 115,000 head of cattle and 162,000 sheep were plundered by amaXhosa tribes people.

By the end of the war 7000 people of all races were left homeless. Cape governor Benjamin d'Urban took far-reaching steps to prevent similar conflict in the future. These were however not to the liking of the British minister of colonies, Lord Glenelg, who revoked all the measures and accused the Boers of being the instigators of the conflict. As a result, the Boer community lost faith in the British justice system and often took the law into their own hands when cattle rustlers were caught.

The 7th Xhosa War, 1846-1847

Known as the "War of the Axe". Tension continued to simmer between farmers and marauders. A Khoikhoi escort, manacled to an amaXhosa thief, was murdered while transporting the man to Grahamstown to be tried for stealing an axe. A party of amaXhosa attacked and killed the escort. The surrender of the murderer was refused and war was declared in March, 1846. The Ngqikas were the chief tribe engaged in the war, assisted by the Tambukies. The amaXhosa were defeated on June 7, 1846 by General Somerset on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. However, the war continued until Sandili, the chief of the Ngqika, surrendered. Other chiefs gradually followed this action, and by the beginning of 1848 the amaXhosa had been completely subdued after twenty-one months of fighting.

The 8th Xhosa War, 1851-1853

Prophet Mlanjeni apparently started this war
Danger Point was the place at Gansbaai where the HMS Birkenhead was wrecked in 1852 while on its way to convey troops to fight in this war.
Thomas Baines became South Africa’s first official war artist and recorded the Eighth Frontier War (1850-1853).

Cattle Killings, 1856-1857

In 1856 the amaXhosa listened to the advice of Nongqawuse. The sixteen-year-old prophetess told of the return of the ancestors if the amaXhosa killed all their cattle. This resulted in the near starvation of the amaXhosa and only made them weaker.[2]

The 9th Xhosa War, 1877-1879

This 9th War started after the harassing of the Fingoes by Kreli's Gcalekas and when summoned to meet Frere at King William's Town, the Gcaleka chief refused.

The last war was a feeble attempt by the amaXhosa returning from diamond fields to regain control of their land. All amaXhosa territory then became part of the Cape Colony^[1].

References

^ "Xhosa Wars". Reader's Digest Family Encyclopedia of World History. (1996). The Reader's Digest Assoiation. Retrieved on 2 August 2007.

List of wars
Irregular units of the 7th Xhosa War
Burgher Commandos of the 7th Xhosa War
HIS 311 Lecture on Southern Africa 1800-1875
Fifth Kaffir War 1818-1819
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Nxele, Xhosa prophet who predicted that Xhosa ancestors would rise from the dead and win the battle

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