Mfecane facts for kids
The Mfecane (pronounced mm-feh-CAH-neh), also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane, was a time of big changes and conflicts in Southern Africa. These words mean "crushing," "scattering," or "forced migration." It was a period when many groups of people moved around and new kingdoms were formed.
This important time mostly happened from the 1810s to the 1840s. For a long time, people thought that King Shaka of the Zulus caused all the trouble. They believed his wars made everyone else flee and fight. However, more recent historians think the reasons were more complicated. They believe things like changes in the weather, growing populations, and trade also played a big part.
The Mfecane was a significant time because it led to the creation of new states and groups of people in southeastern Africa. How this history is told has also changed over time, often to fit different political ideas.
Contents
What Caused the Mfecane?
Historians have different ideas about what caused this period of widespread conflict and movement.
Population Growth and Resources
One big reason was that the number of people in areas like Zululand grew a lot. This happened after the Portuguese brought maize (corn) from the Americas in the late 1600s. Maize was a very good crop, but it needed more water. More food meant more people, and this led to bigger armies.
By the early 1800s, the Zulus had used up most of their good farming land. At the same time, there was less rain and a long drought for about ten years. This made people fight over land and water.
Trade and Inequality
Another possible cause was the increase in ivory trade with the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay. This trade made some people much richer than others within African societies. This difference in wealth made communities more vulnerable, especially when droughts hit the region.
Powerful Groups and Early Conflicts
There were three main powerful groups in the area: the Ngwane, the Ndwandwe, and the Mthethwa. They were led by kings Sobhuza, Zwide, and Dingiswayo. At this time, the Zulus were a smaller, weaker group led by Senzangakhona.
The language we now call Zulu was spoken by the Ndwandwe. The Zulus lived in a small area near Babanango. Early conflicts between these powerful groups likely started the Mfecane.
The Rise of the Zulu Kingdom
Around 1817, Chief Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa group formed an alliance with the Tsongas. The Tsongas controlled important trade routes to Delagoa Bay. This alliance affected the trade routes used by the Ndwandwe, who lived further north. Battles between Dingiswayo's forces and Chief Zwide of the Ndwandwe probably marked the beginning of the Mfecane.
Zwide defeated the Mthethwa and killed Chief Dingiswayo. Dingiswayo had been a mentor to King Shaka, giving him and his mother, Queen Nandi, a safe place to live. After Dingiswayo's death, many Mthethwa leaders joined forces with the Zulu clan, now led by Shaka.
Shaka's Zulus began to conquer and absorb smaller clans. Zwide later attacked King Shaka but was defeated at the Battle of Gqokli Hill. This battle was the start of Shaka's conquest of the Ndwandwe. The Zulu way was to take in women and young men from defeated clans. Those who escaped learned Zulu fighting methods and then used them against other groups who didn't know these new tactics.
How the Mfecane Changed Nguni Societies
Around 1821, a Zulu general named Mzilikazi of the Khumalo clan broke away from Shaka. He started his own kingdom. Mzilikazi quickly made many enemies, including the Zulu king, the Boer settlers, and the Griqua and Tswana groups. After losing some battles, Mzilikazi decided to move north.
Mzilikazi and his followers, the AmaNdebele (also called Matebele), traveled north and west. They created a Ndebele state northwest of what is now Pretoria. The Matebele caused a lot of disruption as they moved. From 1837 to 1838, the arrival of Boer settlers and new battles pushed the Matebele even further north, across the Limpopo River.
They settled in an area now called Matabeleland, in southern Zimbabwe. Mzilikazi set up his new capital in Bulawayo. The AmaNdebele pushed the MaShona people northward and made them pay tribute. This caused problems that still affect Zimbabwe today.
At the Battle of Mhlatuze River in 1818, the Ndwandwe were defeated by Shaka's Zulu forces. Soshangane, one of Zwide's generals, fled to Mozambique with the remaining Ndwandwe. There, they created the Gaza kingdom. They took control over the Tsonga living there, and some Tsonga fled into the Northern Transvaal.
In 1833, Soshangane attacked some Portuguese settlements and was successful at first. But problems within his own kingdom and wars against the Swazi led to the downfall of the Gaza kingdom.
The Ngwane people lived in present-day Eswatini (Swaziland). They often fought with the Ndwandwe.
Zwangendaba, another commander from the Ndwandwe army, fled north with Soshangane after his defeat in 1819. Zwangendaba's followers became known as the Ngoni. They continued north of the Zambezi River, forming a state between Malawi and Tanganyika. Another part of the Ngoni, led by Maseko, founded a different state to the east.
To the east, groups of people fleeing the Mfecane went to the lands of the Xhosa people. Some, like the amaNgwane, were forced back. Those who were accepted had to pay tribute to the Xhosas and live under their protection. They slowly became part of the Xhosa people. After many years, they later formed an alliance with the Cape Colony.
Impact on Sotho-Tswana Peoples
People in the southern Tswana areas had already seen more conflict since the 1780s. A growing population meant more competition for resources. Trade with the Cape Colony and the Portuguese also increased. This made different chiefdoms more eager to conquer land to control trade routes.
Dutch settlers from the Cape Colony moved into areas where Tswana people lived. This led to the formation of the Korana, who started raiding other communities by the 1780s. Many of them had guns and horses, which made their raids very destructive. Xhosa people escaping violence in the Eastern Cape also launched their own raids. All these events made the region very unstable.
Moshoeshoe I brought many mountain clans together to form an alliance against the Zulus. He made his hills easy to defend and used cavalry raids to expand his power. He fought his enemies successfully, even though he didn't use Zulu tactics like many others. The territory of Moshoeshoe I became the kingdom of Lesotho.
The Tswana people were greatly affected by two large invading forces that were set in motion by the Mfecane. Sebitwane gathered the Kololo groups near modern Lesotho and traveled north across what is now Botswana. They plundered and caused much destruction among the Tswana people. They also took many captives north with them, eventually settling north of the Zambezi River in Barotseland, where they conquered the Lozi people.
The next major force was Mzilikazi and the Matebele, who moved across Tswana territory in 1837. Both of these invading forces continued to travel north without setting up any lasting states in Tswana lands. Many smaller groups also moved north into Tswana territory, but they were defeated and disappeared from history.
