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Southern Africa 2005  CE

What is happening in Southern Africa in 2005CE

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What is happening in Southern Africa in 1215CE

Groups of Bantu farmers had reached south Africa by about 500 CE. There they encountered the southern frontier of tropical farming. As a result, at this date Khoisan hunter-gatherer groups, the original inhabitants of southern Africa, still inhabit much of the region. Some Khoisan have adopted cattle herding after contact with their Bantu neighbours.

Cattle herding has risen in importance on the open grasslands in the northern part of southern Africa. Cattle are not only an important source of food, but can be traded for iron, grain and other goods. Cattle herds are a major search of wealth and social status, and a mark of power. Wealthy cattle owners are the elite of society in this region.

In parts of these northern grasslands, societies based on hilltop settlements have developed (in what archaeologists call the ‘Toutswe tradition’). It is likely that these are the centres of extensive chiefdoms. Further south, the rainfall is greater and settlements more numerous, though smaller.

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1453CE

The Toutswe hilltop sites on the dry northern grasslands have now been abandoned – a development which seems to be linked to a period of drought, and perhaps to overgrazing by cattle herds.

The Bantu societies are developing more organized political structures based on chiefdoms. In the drier areas in the north and on the less fertile higher ground, populations are more scattered; here, the chiefdoms are extensive, but loosely organized. In the rainier areas of the south and valley areas they are more compact and more tightly structured.

The Khoisan hunter-gatherer peoples still inhabit much of southern Africa; some, however, are being absorbed into Bantu societies. The “clicks” which make the Khoisan language so distinctive find their way into Nguni and Sotho languages, especially in the more southern areas.

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1648CE

The past two centuries have been a time of population growth in southern Africa. Over much of the region, chiefdoms have become more organized and powerful. This has resulted in them expanding strongly into less populated areas. In the more settled regions, competition for land has been growing, leading to increasing conflicts between chiefdoms. In some of these, the practice of initiating young men and women into age-set regiments is developing. These regiments are at the disposal of the chief, which gives him more authority over his people. The regiments are used as labour on the chief’s land, and the male regiments are also used in warfare.

Chiefdoms organised in this way have an edge over those which are not. Unsurprisingly, therefore, this practice is spreading.

In the east, the Nguni frontier has moved further down into the southernmost areas of South Africa. The branch of the Nguni in the forefront of this movement are the Xhosa. In the zone bordering Khoisan groups, which here specialise as sheep and cattle herders, Xhosa and Khoisan are mingling to form new Khoi/Xhosa chiefdoms.

 

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1789CE

In the mid-17th century the course of southern African history is dramatically changed when the first European settlement is founded, near the southernmost tip of Africa.

The Dutch colony at the Cape

In 1652 the Dutch East India Company established a small settlement at Table Bay, just up the coast from the Cape of Good Hope. This was an ideal location for sailing ships to replenish their supplies on the long voyage between Europe and Asia. At first, the settlers grew the vegetables and fruit, but traded with the local Khoisan for meat, in exchange for such items as iron, copper, tobacco and beads. Very soon, however, the quantity of meat acquired locally in this way proved insufficient, so the settlers started raiding the Khoisan for cattle. This of course provoked conflict with the Khoisan, which is more or less the permanent situation between them.

Expansion

Meanwhile the settlement has been rapidly expanding, with immigration promoted by the Dutch East India Company. Surrounding areas, highly suited to European-style farming, have been taken from the Khoisan. The land is worked by slave labour, mostly brought in from Madagascar, Mozambique and Indonesia.

The European settlers, a mixture of Dutch, French and other Europeans, are known as ‘Boers’ (farmers). In the early 1700s ‘Trekboers’ became active. These were Boers who trecked into the interior to make a living from pastoralism and hunting. They parcelled out new landholdings amongst themselves regardless of the local Khoisan populations already present, and stocked these with cattle and sheep gained by trade or raiding. Their guns and horses gave them a significant advantage over the Khoisan, who were in any case being nearly wiped out out by smallpox, to which they had no immunity.

Nevertheless, the Khoisan prevented effective Trekboer settlement in many areas, especially to the north. The Trekboers made more progress to the west, and had reached the western frontier of Xhosa territory by the late 1760s.

The Xhosa frontier

The Xhosa have been much more formidable foes than the Khoisan. Population density is far higher amongst the Xhosa than the Khoisan, and their chiefdoms are much larger and better organized for war. In 1779 the first Cape-Xhosa war began, the opening round in a contest which would last for nearly a century. By the date of this map, the Boers have managed to make no progress at all in pushing the Xhosa back.

Growing conflict amongst the Chiefdoms

The competition between chiefdoms (noted for the previous map) has increased over the course of the 18th century. In the Tswana and Sotha areas, the Tswana chiefdoms in particular have expanded and subdivided, and between them have pushed out the borders of Tswana territory.

A similar process has been going on in Nguni territory. The population here has also been growing, with more land being brought under cultivation and cattle multiplying. Also, the desire to control a new trade in ivory has heightened competition between the chiefdoms.

Like the Sotho and Tswana, the Nguni chiefdoms have adopted age-set regiments. As competition has increased, these regiments’ role as military formations has grown more significant.

The northern Nguni chiefdoms in particular have been struggling with each other. By the date of this map only three of the most powerful Nguni chiefdoms have survived the conflicts: Ngwane, Ndwande and Mthethwa. Each of these is composed of a number off sub-chiefdoms which have been absorbed (often by force) into them.

One of the sub-chiefdoms within Mthethwa is that of the Zulu, about whom we will soon be hearing more.

 

Dig Deeper

European World Empires

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1837CE

The Zulu Expansion and the Mfecane

In the Nguni territory, a long period of good rainfall came to a sudden end at the end of the 18th century, to be succeeded by prolonged drought. Suddenly the control of scarce resources such as water and land became a matter of sheer survival for the inhabitants of all the chiefdoms.

The tensions between the chiefdoms exploded into deadly warfare from 1817. By the end of this, all the chiefdoms had gone, replaced by a single state – the Zulu kingdom. 

Shaka

The architect of the Zulu kingdom was a great war leader called Shaka. He had improved on the Nguni system of age-set regiments by replacing their main weapon, the throwing spear, with the short stabbing spear. He had also imposed on his soldiers the fierce discipline and training that was necessary to enable them to get up to their opponents and kill them at close quarters. In effect, Shaka turned his regiments into shock troops, spreading terror amongst their enemies.

By these means, Shaka was able to transform the status of the Zulu chiefdom from being a minor component of a larger state to being a kingdom which covered the whole northern Nguni territory. Indeed, the area came to be called Zululand. This reflects the fact that Shaka had incorporated defeated opponents into his army and these were now coming to think of themselves as Zulus.

But not all Shaka’s enemies waited to be incorporated. A huge migration (called the Mfecane in African history) was set in train as groups sought to escape the Zulu conquests. Masses of people migrated north and west, disrupting societies over a wide area of southern Africa, as far north as Zimbabwe and Tanzania. As the turmoil settled down, several new kingdoms had been established: the Swazi and Lesotho kingdoms within the borders of modern-day South Africa, the Gaza kingdom in Mozambique, the Ndebele kingdom in southwest Zimbabwe, and Botswana.

Shaka was assassinated in 1828. The Zulu kingdom continued to expand under his successors, albeit not at the same pace. 

Cape Colony

British forces took Cape Colony from the Dutch in 1795, and again (after giving it back) in 1806 (after which the British retained control). 

The British stationed a small but well-equipped army in the colony, and were soon deploying it against the Xhosa. Thus, after decades of stalemate, the frontiers of the colony expanded deep into Xhosa territory. This area of land was cleared of its Xhosa population and allotted to White settlers. In the 1830s the British forces drove the Xhosa back still further, but the government then decided to hand the newly conquered territory back to the Xhosa, as they felt the new territory would be too expensive to defend.

This return of territory to the Xhosa was a blow to the Boertrekers who had been looking forward to more land to settle. As a result, many of them decided to join the stream of Boers who by this time were already heading north.

Internal changes in Cape Colony

Their motivation was to establish a new life beyond the reach of the British government, which they had come to deeply resent. This was because of what they saw as interference in their way of life.

By the time of the British takeover of the colony, a population of Dutch-speaking Khoisan, a labouring class of freed slaves and mixed race had grown up (later known as ‘Cape Coloured’). These worked for the white settlers, their labour supplemented by regular shipments of captives from West Africa and other places. These shipments came to an abrupt stop after the abolition of the Slave Trade by the British government in 1807.  

Responding to pressure from the (mainly Boer) white settlers, the British government enacted the “Hottentot codes” in 1809, the effect of which was to keep the coloured poor in a subservient position within the colony (though at the same time giving them legal protections against abuse by their employers).

The Christian missionaries in the colony later lobbied the British government for change, and in 1828 ‘Ordnance 50’ was issued. This gave free coloured people the right to move around the colony at will, choosing their own employers or setting up as independent farmers. The Boers saw this as intolerable interference on their rights to treat their labourers exactly as they pleased, and a further blow came when in 1834 slavery was abolished throughout the British empire.

The Great Trek

The Trekboers in particular have deeply resented these changes, as well as the British government’s return of the eastern territories back to the Xhosa. Thousands have decided to journey north, beyond the borders of Cape Colony.

These migrants are hungry for new land to settle, and find that many areas have been depopulated by the Mfecane (see above). They are able to settle this land with little resistance from local peoples. When they do encounter opposition, they are able to take advantage of the hostilities between different tribes and form alliances with whichever ones offer the best terms. For example, in 1837 the Ndebele are driven out of territory they have occupied after abandoning their homeland in the face of Zulu attacks (they then migrate north into what is now Zimbabwe and establish a kingdom there). The Boers are then able to claim the vacated land for themselves.

By 1837 the Boer Voortrekkers (pioneers) have organised themselves into communities, which are evolving into two states, the Orange Free State and the Traansvaal Republic.

 

Dig Deeper

European World Empires

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1871CE

The two migrations that affected South Africa in the 1820s and 30s – the Mfcane and the Great Trek (see notes for the 1837 map) – ran their course in the following years. Things settled down in the region, though not without dramatic incidents. In 1839 a small group of Boers entered what is now Natal., neighbouring the borders of Zululand. The Zulus were determined to push them back, and massacred many of the newcomers. The other Boers rallied, however, and were able to resist further attacks. Then, in 1838, a tiny Boer force decisively defeated a much larger Zulu army sent against it, in an action called the Battle of Blood River (because the nearby river was said to have run red with the blood of Zulu warriors who had been killed).

The next year a Zulu army was defeated when it attacked the Swazi kingdom. These setbacks set off a power struggle within the Zulu kingdom. A group of Boers aided the side which came out victorious from the conflict, and were given a large tract of land to settle. This group then declared themselves the Republic of Natalia. However, the British annexed the area in 1845.

The British formally recognised the two Boer Republics as independent states in the early 1850s.

Boers in Orange Free State expanded their borders at the expense of the neighbouring Sotho. The Sotho king, Moshoeshoe, found his kingdom threatened with extinction at the hands of these Boers, and asked for British protection. As a result, the Protectorate of Basutoland was formed, in 1868. This saved his kingdom from extinction, though its territory had been reduced to the highland areas.

By this date, missionaries have ventured deep into the interior of southern Africa, to work amongst the people there. Along with Christianity, they spread European practices in education, clothing, technologies and a host of other things.

In 1867, diamonds are discovered in Kimberley. This will help lead to yet another transformation within southern Africa.

 

Dig Deeper

European World Empires

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1914CE

Awaiting text

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1960CE

Awaiting text

What is happening in Southern Africa in 2005CE

Awaiting text

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1215CE

Groups of Bantu farmers had reached south Africa by about 500 CE. There they encountered the southern frontier of tropical farming. As a result, at this date Khoisan hunter-gatherer groups, the original inhabitants of southern Africa, still inhabit much of the region. Some Khoisan have adopted cattle herding after contact with their Bantu neighbours.

Cattle herding has risen in importance on the open grasslands in the northern part of southern Africa. Cattle are not only an important source of food, but can be traded for iron, grain and other goods. Cattle herds are a major search of wealth and social status, and a mark of power. Wealthy cattle owners are the elite of society in this region.

In parts of these northern grasslands, societies based on hilltop settlements have developed (in what archaeologists call the ‘Toutswe tradition’). It is likely that these are the centres of extensive chiefdoms. Further south, the rainfall is greater and settlements more numerous, though smaller.

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1453CE

The Toutswe hilltop sites on the dry northern grasslands have now been abandoned – a development which seems to be linked to a period of drought, and perhaps to overgrazing by cattle herds.

The Bantu societies are developing more organized political structures based on chiefdoms. In the drier areas in the north and on the less fertile higher ground, populations are more scattered; here, the chiefdoms are extensive, but loosely organized. In the rainier areas of the south and valley areas they are more compact and more tightly structured.

The Khoisan hunter-gatherer peoples still inhabit much of southern Africa; some, however, are being absorbed into Bantu societies. The “clicks” which make the Khoisan language so distinctive find their way into Nguni and Sotho languages, especially in the more southern areas.

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1648CE

The past two centuries have been a time of population growth in southern Africa. Over much of the region, chiefdoms have become more organized and powerful. This has resulted in them expanding strongly into less populated areas. In the more settled regions, competition for land has been growing, leading to increasing conflicts between chiefdoms. In some of these, the practice of initiating young men and women into age-set regiments is developing. These regiments are at the disposal of the chief, which gives him more authority over his people. The regiments are used as labour on the chief’s land, and the male regiments are also used in warfare.

Chiefdoms organised in this way have an edge over those which are not. Unsurprisingly, therefore, this practice is spreading.

In the east, the Nguni frontier has moved further down into the southernmost areas of South Africa. The branch of the Nguni in the forefront of this movement are the Xhosa. In the zone bordering Khoisan groups, which here specialise as sheep and cattle herders, Xhosa and Khoisan are mingling to form new Khoi/Xhosa chiefdoms.

 

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1789CE

In the mid-17th century the course of southern African history is dramatically changed when the first European settlement is founded, near the southernmost tip of Africa.

The Dutch colony at the Cape

In 1652 the Dutch East India Company established a small settlement at Table Bay, just up the coast from the Cape of Good Hope. This was an ideal location for sailing ships to replenish their supplies on the long voyage between Europe and Asia. At first, the settlers grew the vegetables and fruit, but traded with the local Khoisan for meat, in exchange for such items as iron, copper, tobacco and beads. Very soon, however, the quantity of meat acquired locally in this way proved insufficient, so the settlers started raiding the Khoisan for cattle. This of course provoked conflict with the Khoisan, which is more or less the permanent situation between them.

Expansion

Meanwhile the settlement has been rapidly expanding, with immigration promoted by the Dutch East India Company. Surrounding areas, highly suited to European-style farming, have been taken from the Khoisan. The land is worked by slave labour, mostly brought in from Madagascar, Mozambique and Indonesia.

The European settlers, a mixture of Dutch, French and other Europeans, are known as ‘Boers’ (farmers). In the early 1700s ‘Trekboers’ became active. These were Boers who trecked into the interior to make a living from pastoralism and hunting. They parcelled out new landholdings amongst themselves regardless of the local Khoisan populations already present, and stocked these with cattle and sheep gained by trade or raiding. Their guns and horses gave them a significant advantage over the Khoisan, who were in any case being nearly wiped out out by smallpox, to which they had no immunity.

Nevertheless, the Khoisan prevented effective Trekboer settlement in many areas, especially to the north. The Trekboers made more progress to the west, and had reached the western frontier of Xhosa territory by the late 1760s.

The Xhosa frontier

The Xhosa have been much more formidable foes than the Khoisan. Population density is far higher amongst the Xhosa than the Khoisan, and their chiefdoms are much larger and better organized for war. In 1779 the first Cape-Xhosa war began, the opening round in a contest which would last for nearly a century. By the date of this map, the Boers have managed to make no progress at all in pushing the Xhosa back.

Growing conflict amongst the Chiefdoms

The competition between chiefdoms (noted for the previous map) has increased over the course of the 18th century. In the Tswana and Sotha areas, the Tswana chiefdoms in particular have expanded and subdivided, and between them have pushed out the borders of Tswana territory.

A similar process has been going on in Nguni territory. The population here has also been growing, with more land being brought under cultivation and cattle multiplying. Also, the desire to control a new trade in ivory has heightened competition between the chiefdoms.

Like the Sotho and Tswana, the Nguni chiefdoms have adopted age-set regiments. As competition has increased, these regiments’ role as military formations has grown more significant.

The northern Nguni chiefdoms in particular have been struggling with each other. By the date of this map only three of the most powerful Nguni chiefdoms have survived the conflicts: Ngwane, Ndwande and Mthethwa. Each of these is composed of a number off sub-chiefdoms which have been absorbed (often by force) into them.

One of the sub-chiefdoms within Mthethwa is that of the Zulu, about whom we will soon be hearing more.

 

Dig Deeper

European World Empires

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1837CE

The Zulu Expansion and the Mfecane

In the Nguni territory, a long period of good rainfall came to a sudden end at the end of the 18th century, to be succeeded by prolonged drought. Suddenly the control of scarce resources such as water and land became a matter of sheer survival for the inhabitants of all the chiefdoms.

The tensions between the chiefdoms exploded into deadly warfare from 1817. By the end of this, all the chiefdoms had gone, replaced by a single state – the Zulu kingdom. 

Shaka

The architect of the Zulu kingdom was a great war leader called Shaka. He had improved on the Nguni system of age-set regiments by replacing their main weapon, the throwing spear, with the short stabbing spear. He had also imposed on his soldiers the fierce discipline and training that was necessary to enable them to get up to their opponents and kill them at close quarters. In effect, Shaka turned his regiments into shock troops, spreading terror amongst their enemies.

By these means, Shaka was able to transform the status of the Zulu chiefdom from being a minor component of a larger state to being a kingdom which covered the whole northern Nguni territory. Indeed, the area came to be called Zululand. This reflects the fact that Shaka had incorporated defeated opponents into his army and these were now coming to think of themselves as Zulus.

But not all Shaka’s enemies waited to be incorporated. A huge migration (called the Mfecane in African history) was set in train as groups sought to escape the Zulu conquests. Masses of people migrated north and west, disrupting societies over a wide area of southern Africa, as far north as Zimbabwe and Tanzania. As the turmoil settled down, several new kingdoms had been established: the Swazi and Lesotho kingdoms within the borders of modern-day South Africa, the Gaza kingdom in Mozambique, the Ndebele kingdom in southwest Zimbabwe, and Botswana.

Shaka was assassinated in 1828. The Zulu kingdom continued to expand under his successors, albeit not at the same pace. 

Cape Colony

British forces took Cape Colony from the Dutch in 1795, and again (after giving it back) in 1806 (after which the British retained control). 

The British stationed a small but well-equipped army in the colony, and were soon deploying it against the Xhosa. Thus, after decades of stalemate, the frontiers of the colony expanded deep into Xhosa territory. This area of land was cleared of its Xhosa population and allotted to White settlers. In the 1830s the British forces drove the Xhosa back still further, but the government then decided to hand the newly conquered territory back to the Xhosa, as they felt the new territory would be too expensive to defend.

This return of territory to the Xhosa was a blow to the Boertrekers who had been looking forward to more land to settle. As a result, many of them decided to join the stream of Boers who by this time were already heading north.

Internal changes in Cape Colony

Their motivation was to establish a new life beyond the reach of the British government, which they had come to deeply resent. This was because of what they saw as interference in their way of life.

By the time of the British takeover of the colony, a population of Dutch-speaking Khoisan, a labouring class of freed slaves and mixed race had grown up (later known as ‘Cape Coloured’). These worked for the white settlers, their labour supplemented by regular shipments of captives from West Africa and other places. These shipments came to an abrupt stop after the abolition of the Slave Trade by the British government in 1807.  

Responding to pressure from the (mainly Boer) white settlers, the British government enacted the “Hottentot codes” in 1809, the effect of which was to keep the coloured poor in a subservient position within the colony (though at the same time giving them legal protections against abuse by their employers).

The Christian missionaries in the colony later lobbied the British government for change, and in 1828 ‘Ordnance 50’ was issued. This gave free coloured people the right to move around the colony at will, choosing their own employers or setting up as independent farmers. The Boers saw this as intolerable interference on their rights to treat their labourers exactly as they pleased, and a further blow came when in 1834 slavery was abolished throughout the British empire.

The Great Trek

The Trekboers in particular have deeply resented these changes, as well as the British government’s return of the eastern territories back to the Xhosa. Thousands have decided to journey north, beyond the borders of Cape Colony.

These migrants are hungry for new land to settle, and find that many areas have been depopulated by the Mfecane (see above). They are able to settle this land with little resistance from local peoples. When they do encounter opposition, they are able to take advantage of the hostilities between different tribes and form alliances with whichever ones offer the best terms. For example, in 1837 the Ndebele are driven out of territory they have occupied after abandoning their homeland in the face of Zulu attacks (they then migrate north into what is now Zimbabwe and establish a kingdom there). The Boers are then able to claim the vacated land for themselves.

By 1837 the Boer Voortrekkers (pioneers) have organised themselves into communities, which are evolving into two states, the Orange Free State and the Traansvaal Republic.

 

Dig Deeper

European World Empires

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1871CE

The two migrations that affected South Africa in the 1820s and 30s – the Mfcane and the Great Trek (see notes for the 1837 map) – ran their course in the following years. Things settled down in the region, though not without dramatic incidents. In 1839 a small group of Boers entered what is now Natal., neighbouring the borders of Zululand. The Zulus were determined to push them back, and massacred many of the newcomers. The other Boers rallied, however, and were able to resist further attacks. Then, in 1838, a tiny Boer force decisively defeated a much larger Zulu army sent against it, in an action called the Battle of Blood River (because the nearby river was said to have run red with the blood of Zulu warriors who had been killed).

The next year a Zulu army was defeated when it attacked the Swazi kingdom. These setbacks set off a power struggle within the Zulu kingdom. A group of Boers aided the side which came out victorious from the conflict, and were given a large tract of land to settle. This group then declared themselves the Republic of Natalia. However, the British annexed the area in 1845.

The British formally recognised the two Boer Republics as independent states in the early 1850s.

Boers in Orange Free State expanded their borders at the expense of the neighbouring Sotho. The Sotho king, Moshoeshoe, found his kingdom threatened with extinction at the hands of these Boers, and asked for British protection. As a result, the Protectorate of Basutoland was formed, in 1868. This saved his kingdom from extinction, though its territory had been reduced to the highland areas.

By this date, missionaries have ventured deep into the interior of southern Africa, to work amongst the people there. Along with Christianity, they spread European practices in education, clothing, technologies and a host of other things.

In 1867, diamonds are discovered in Kimberley. This will help lead to yet another transformation within southern Africa.

 

Dig Deeper

European World Empires

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1914CE

Awaiting text

What is happening in Southern Africa in 1960CE

Awaiting text

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