The Ndwandwe Under Zwide
Mfecane?
- Recently it has been found that the Ndwandwe under King Zwide were largely responsible for the Mfecane, rather than King Shaka and the Zulu's
- They were more powerful at the time and had huge military success. They were constantly warring with neighbouring groups. They also were a bigger empire than the Zulu's, who, at that time, were only a small minority group of the Mthethwa under Dingiswayo.
- Conducted many raids North of the Tugela river. Groups forced to move into the highveld.
- Dingiswayo and Zwide were at war, largely being won by the Ndwandwe. Dingiswayo was killed and Shaka took his place.
- The Ndwandwe were eventually defeated by the Zulu's under King Shaka, forcing the remaining Ndwandwe to move North, thus contributing to the Mfecane.
Neighbour Relations:
- Fortunate to have benefited from the environmental problems.
- Experienced a lot of rainfall, thus being able to farm and produce which lead to a population increase. This population increase helped when fighting against neighbouring tribes.
- The Ndwandwe didn't have a good relationship with neighbouring groups as many of them were branches of the Mthethwa who were constantly at war with the Ndwandwe.
- Dingiswayo and Zwide were enemies and were always targeting each other.
References:
A cartoon of Zwide during the Mfecane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndwandwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwide_kaLanga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mfecane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndwandwe%E2%80%93Zulu_War
http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/political-changes-1750-1835
http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/sarb/X0033_Wright.html
Viva History Textbook
Oxford History Textbook
Who were the Ndwandwe?
- King Zwide kaLanga.
- Part of the Nguni people (referring to the group of South African people all speaking the same language)
- Among the first of the Nguni Chiefdoms.
- A very successful military force.
How did they live?
- Nguni dialects.
- Militaristic
- amaButho
- Ivory trade with the Portuguese
- Army and military ultimately lead to downfall of Zwide
Where and When did they dominate?
- 1805 - 1820 under King Zwide
- Shared modern day Zululand with Mthetwa
- Area surrounding the Pongola river, near Delagoa Bay, where they were active in the ivory trade.
- After their defeat by the Zulu's, they moved North into Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia
Area dominated by the Ndwandwe