Ndlela kaSompisi

Ndlela kaSompisi (* unknown; † 1840 ) was a chief of the Ntuli clan of the Zulu and adviser and military leader of the Zulu kings Shaka kaSenzangakhona († 1828) and Dingane kaSenzangakhona († 1840). In his function as military supreme commander in command of King Dinganes, he was involved in numerous battles that were important for the Zulu Empire , for example the Battle of the Blood River (1838), which ended with a momentous defeat of the Zulu army against the Boer Voortrekker .

Life

According to the tradition of the Zulu, Ndlela was particularly valiant in the battle on the Mhlatuze River , in which King Shaka defeated the Ndwandwe in 1819 . Shaka made Ndlela, who had married into the Zulu royal family, the chief or king ( inKosi ) of the Ntuli and made him a high military command post. When Dingane seized power, he had numerous followers of Shaka murdered, but not Ndlela, whom he made commander-in-chief of the army and one of his chief advisors ( inDuna , plural: izinDuna). On behalf of his new master, Ndlela, who was considered politically ambitious, led various campaigns in the following years, which the Zulu regiments (amaButho) led on the one hand in areas far away from their ancestral territory, but on the other hand did not bring in the hoped-for spoils of war and therefore fell short of expectations.

In his function as inDuna, Ndlela was one of those people who ultimately convinced King Dingane to resist the Voortrekkers who entered the Zululand in 1837 . Ndlela is also regarded as one of the masterminds in the murder of Pieter Retief and his men on February 6, 1838 in Dingane's residence uMgungundlovu , who had come to sign a treaty with the Zulu that would allow the Boers to settle part of the Zulu country should transfer ownership.

In the subsequent outbreak of war between the Zulus and the Voortrekkers, Ndlela commanded the Zulu army in the Battle of Veglaer in August 1838 , in which the Zulu were unable to overcome the Boers' wagon castle ( Laager ) and finally got together with the cattle they had captured withdrawn. Together with Dambuza , Ndlela also commanded the Zulu army that was defeated by the Boers on December 16, 1838 in the Battle of the Blood River , which decided the war in favor of the Boers.

In the civil war that followed soon afterwards in Zululand, Ndlela was once again the military leader of King Dinganes. But he lost the decisive battle at the Maqongqo hills against the army of Dingane's rival and half-brother Mpande kaSenzangakhona († 1872). This defeat, which now finally cost Dingane his throne, also sealed Ndlela's fate. Dingane believed in a betrayal of Ndlela - not least because the latter had always campaigned for the preservation of Shaka's bloodline and therefore protected Mpande from the childless king - and had him executed by strangulation .

progeny

Two sons of Ndlela are known, Godide kaNdlela (* around 1820, † 1883) and Mavumengwana kaNdlela (* around 1830; † 1893), who succeeded him as inKosi of the Ntuli and held important positions as military leaders and advisers to the Zulu kings Mpande and Cetspandewayo ka († 1884) took.

literature

John Laband: The A to Z of the Zulu Wars (= The A to Z Guide Series, No. 202). The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham – Toronto – Plymouth 2010, ISBN 978-0-8108-7631-6 , p. 189 (keyword: NDLELA kaSOMPISI ).

References and comments

↑ See on the battle, for which the years 1820 or 1821 are sometimes given, Stephen Taylor: Shaka's Children. A History of the Zulu People . Harper Collins Publishers, London 1994, ISBN 978-0002551441 , pp. 61-63.
↑ See Taylor (1994), pp. 121f. and 129, where it is noted that Ndlela " had not the ruthlessness required to lead men in war " and the Zulu Army " had failed conspicuously to win credit, let alone glory, under him. "
↑ See Jackie Grobler: The Retief Massacre of 6 February 1838 revisited. In: Historia 56, 2, November 2011, pp. 113–132, here mainly 124, 126 and 128.
↑ Cf. Taylor (1994), p. 151, where Ndlela is referred to as Mpandes "Guardian Angel", who according to tradition also warned the latter that the king intended to murder him, and p. 154f.

Web links

Ndlela ka Sompisi Ntuli (Info on Zululand Eco-Adventures ) ( Memento from April 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

personal data
SURNAME	Ndlela kaSompisi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ndlela kaSompisi Ntuli (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	General of the Zulu
DATE OF BIRTH	18th century or 19th century
DATE OF DEATH	1840

[1] See on the battle, for which the years 1820 or 1821 are sometimes given, Stephen Taylor: Shaka's Children. A History of the Zulu People . Harper Collins Publishers, London 1994, ISBN 978-0002551441 , pp. 61-63.

[2] See Taylor (1994), pp. 121f. and 129, where it is noted that Ndlela " had not the ruthlessness required to lead men in war " and the Zulu Army " had failed conspicuously to win credit, let alone glory, under him. "

[3] See Jackie Grobler: The Retief Massacre of 6 February 1838 revisited. In: Historia 56, 2, November 2011, pp. 113–132, here mainly 124, 126 and 128.

[4] Cf. Taylor (1994), p. 151, where Ndlela is referred to as Mpandes "Guardian Angel", who according to tradition also warned the latter that the king intended to murder him, and p. 154f.