Ndwandwe

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The Ndwandwe (also: Nxumalo ) were a group of the Nguni who lived in northeastern South Africa . After the conquest by the Zulu ruler Shaka , some subgroups migrated north, while others became part of the Zulu people.

history

The Ndwandwe lived around today's city of Nongoma at the beginning of the 19th century . Together with the Mthethwa , who lived further south , they were an important power factor in today's Zululand . After a campaign against the Amangwane , the Mfecane began around 1816 , during which numerous ethnic groups were expelled from their ancestral areas. Under the rule of King Zwide kaLanga , the Ndwandwe defeated the Mthethwa under their leader Dingiswayo , who was killed in the process. The power vacuum was filled by Shaka and his then still small Zulu group.

For his subsequent fight against the Ndwandwe, Shaka collected the remains of the Mthethwa and other tribes and was able to assert himself against the Ndwandwe warriors in the "Battle of Gqokli Hill" in 1818. The numerically far superior Ndwandwe were under the command of Zwide's son Nomahlanjana; 7,500 of their soldiers were killed while Shaka lost 2,000 soldiers. In 1819 Zwide undertook a campaign against the Zulu. Shaka had the Ndwandwe march into his area and responded with guerrilla tactics. Due to a lack of material, the Ndwandwe finally had to return home in early 1820. When they crossed the Mhlatuze River, the army was split up and defeated in the "Battle of the Mhlatuze River". Soldiers from Shaka's army advanced to Zwide and sang victory songs. Zwide approached them and was killed.

The defeat led to the dissolution of the Ndwandwe nation, because Zwide's sons led individual groups of the Ndwandwe northwards. One of these groups, under Soshongane, formed the Gaza empire in the south of what is now Mozambique , while another branch, under duress, settled as waNgoni in what is now Malawi . Other Ndwandwe groups settled in what is now Swaziland and Zambia .

Others

The Ndwandwe also play a role with the Swazi. Several Ndlovukati (queen mother) of the Swazi king, Sobhuza II , were called Ndwandwe. Phila Portia Ndwandwe was a resistance fighter against apartheid in South Africa. She was a commander in the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe . In 1988 she was kidnapped by South African police officers from Swaziland and murdered in South Africa. It was only through the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the culprits became known to the public.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Overview of the history of the Ngwangwe (English), accessed on February 15, 2014
  2. ↑ Nukwase Ndwandwe at dacb.org ( Memento from March 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  3. ↑ report at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on February 15, 2014