Mfecane and State building in South Africa (Notes)
State formation in nineteenth century South Africa had tremendous consequences on how the different people defined or named themselves (identity formation).
Mfecane and state building
The processes of state formation refer to the political and military struggles that resulted in the rise of new states and the downfall of others in the period 1800 to 1870.
During the 1820s and 1830s marauding invaders attacked relatively stable communities throughout South Africa, seizing land, people and livestock.
Some communities were completely ruined, while others were weakened and scattered.
To make matters worse, famine and internal conflicts also occurred, as local groups turned on one another in their struggle for survival.
There is no denial that violence increased throughout southern, central and eastern Africa during the early decades of the nineteenth century.
However, over the last decade many questions have been raised concerning the causes of this upsurge in violence.
This part will not describe the interesting episodes of the rise of the new states, but will rather capture the debate about the nature of these events.
Mfecane (Difaqane): Myth or reality?
i. On sources: For historians who always search for the truth, the Mfecane will remain an incomplete puzzle, because many misunderstandings and very little information exist.
There are two particular reasons for this:
The written documents which do exist were mostly written by white travellers, missionaries and officials.
These people were, however, not always well informed, not always well informed about exactly what had happened, since the events took place over such a widespread area.
Therefore, the sources are not always reliable.
Other sources on the Mfecane are oral sources which are not as reliable as written and visual sources.
ii. On meaningThe origin of the term “Mfecane”, used by Walker for the first time in 1928, is unclear. Tracing its antecedents starts with Arbousset’s term, Lifakani, which he used in 1846, meaning ‘those who hew down’
Difaqane or Lifaqane may have influenced Walker in his invention of the term “Mfecane” in 1928 and so might also the Xhosa verb ‘NKu-faca’, which meant ‘to kill or to stab with a short assegai’
Some thought this word was at the root of the concept Fetcani, which referred to invaders who migrated from the Transgariep to the Transkei and were directly associated with wars in the Transgariep in the 1820’s.
There is no certainty in any of this, other than that ”Mfecane” does not appear in any Xhosa dictionaries, including Kropf’s, before 1928
The Mfecane is a tenacious and still evolving multiple theme in the historiography of the apartheid state.
Its basic propositions are integral to a white settler, ' Liberal' history which gestated for over a century before Walker coined the term 'Mfecane' in 1928.
Walker's neologism, meaning 'the crushing', has no root in any African language, but it crudely conveyed the myth of a cataclysmic period of black on black destruction in the era of Shaka (roughly 1810-30).
Walker’s construction of his Xhosa neologism, “Mfecane”, will remain a mystery until linguisto historical research into these terms has been undertaken
iii. On historiography: Was the "mfecane" a figment of historians' imagination as Julian Cobbing contends? How large a responsibility do Shaka and the Zulu people bear for the social turbulence in South central and South-east Africa in the early decades of the 19th century?
These are some of the issues explored in this collection, which is designed as a response to the radical critique of Dr Cobbing and other scholars.
The "Mfecane", suggests Julian Cobbing, must be seen as a myth lying at the root of a set of interlinked assumptions and distortions that have seriously twisted our understanding of the main historical processes of late 18th and early 19th century Southern Africa.
‘He challenged the long-standing orthodoxy that the destabilisation in the “Natal” and interior regions in the first four decades of the nineteenth century was caused by the “Mfecane”,resulting from the rise of Shaka and the Zulu state’, as Webster put it.
He exposed as a myth the idea that Shaka’s Zulu state was responsible for sub-continent wide wars, dislocation resulting in the extermination of whole chiefdoms and the appearance of cannibals.
Julian Cobbing raises questions about the nature of sources and, indeed, about the nature of historical debate itself, it is also about historiography
John B. Wright: Political changes began half a century before the Zulu kingdom emerged.
The region experienced upheaval but was not completely devastated or depopulated by the Zulu or anyone else.
The Zulu kingdom under Shakadid not have the military or political capacity to directly rule south of Thukela. The Zulu along was not the only agent to bring about the changes in the 1820’s.
In short, we can conclude in this debate that
During 1980’s some South African historians began questioning whether or not the Mfecane ever really happened claimed it could be a propaganda myth used to justify 19th century colonization
Some white colonists did try to use the Mfecane as evidence that Africans were naturally prone to irrational “tribal conflict” and that as a consequence, much of the southern African interior was vacant land in the 1830’s, just waiting for white settlement.
Mfecane (Difaqane) and State building in Southern Africa
During the early 19th a series of terrible wars took place among the northern Nguni peoples of south eastern Africa.
By the 1820s one state had emerged to dominate all others in the region. This was the Zulu kingdom.
While the factual details of this "disturbance" or "scattering" of people remain widely disputed, what is certain is that it had the consequence of dispersing people to the various Southern African countries and thus entrenching cultural inter connectivity with our region and beyond.
Mfecane defined
The Difaqane or Mfecane spread its influence over an enormous area stretching from the Cape Colony to East and Central Africa.
The period is has become known among the Nguni as Mfecane, “crushing” and among the Sotho Tswana as Difaqane or lifaqane,”the scattering”
Both terms refer to the period 1816-1840
Mfecane can be defined as the Period of widespread warfare, plundering, disturbances, destruction and migrations in Zululand and in some other parts of South Africa
This was in the High Veld Area which lies between the Drakensberg Mountains, Kalahari Desert and the Limpopo River.
This can also be defined as the wars of wondering or the disturbances which accompanied the rise of the Zulu.
Origin of the Mfecane
Economic and political developments: As we have seen earlier that the Bantus(Nguni) in Southern Africa were mixed farmers.
They hunted, herded cattle and cultivated crops. They were favoured by the favourable climate supporting pastures leading to increased number of livestock and high agricultural production.
Consequently, this led to high population growth and there were free movements of cattle seeking pastures
As population grew and herds increased in size, however, competition for the best land developed.
People needed to control and protect a wide variety of grazing as well as agricultural land
This may have been to co-operate with each other to form larger political units or kingdoms
With this improvement. Nguni states grew in size and age-regiments was introduced to promote unity within the state and chief source of large workforce or army
This organized age-regiments also were used for hunting and clearing of areas for pastureland for grazing cattle.
They also engaged in ivory trade with Europeans at Delagoa Bay. This increased wealth for chiefs participated in this trade subsequently desire to control the trade in late 18th century.
In this period, famine also struck because of prolonged drought which caused decline in food production and scarcity of pastures for animals
Competition for scarce resources became severe as people raided each other for their cattle and their meager stores of grain.
Whole communities of peoples were displaced in their flight from larger warring tribes. The winning tribes would often incorporate the losers into their tribes.
A combination of above mentioned local factors like population growth, the depletion of natural resources, and devastating drought and famine led to revolutionary changes in the political, economic, and social structure of Bantu speaking communities in southern Africa in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Thousands of people died because of ecological catastrophe and warfare; thousands more were displaced.
Large centralized states of tens of thousands of people with standing armies of up to 40,000 men and autocratic leaders emerged where before there had been only small scale political entities and no chief had had total power.
By the 1800s the northern Nguni region was dominated by three main key figures all battled for power among the African tribes in southern Africa ---Dingiswayo (leader of the Mtethwa tribe),Zwide (leader of the Ndandwe tribe) and Sobhuza(leader of Ngwane clan)
The Ndwandwe, being inland were particularly badly affected by the drought of the early 1800s.
This may partly account for the severity of their attacks against their neighbours.
Zwide used his army to destroy old chiefdoms, seize their livestock and incorporate young adults into his regiments.
In this way he built up a powerful, centrally controlled kingdom
Dingiswayo’s kingdom, on the other hand, was not quite so firmly and centrally controlled but its strength lay in their control of coastal hunting forests and the trade with Delagoa Bay
The beginnings of the Mfecane
When Dingiswayo became leader of the Mthethwa, his main concern was to improve the military system of his tribe.
The army attacked smaller tribes which were allowed to continue their existence as tribes, but only if they agreed to recognise him as their paramount chief.
Some of the tribes which were dominated in this way were the Thembu, Qwabe, Mshali Mngadi and the Zulu.
Young men of a similar age were divided into regiments. Each regiment had its own name, colour and weapons.
The young men were even required to remain celibate until such a time when they had proven themselves worthy of the name “warrior”.
Dingiswayo’s army soon went from strength to strength and was employed in an attempt to expand his territory.
In 1816 Ndwandwe armies moved into the agricultural of valley of Pongola, expelling the Ngwane and driving them northwards.
Warfare erupted, and two kingdoms the Ndwandwe under the leadership of Zwide, and the Mthethwa under Dingiswayo battled for control of resources and trade.
Both kingdoms became more centralized and militarized, their young men banded together in age regiments that became the basis for standing armies, and their kings became more autocratic as they fought for survival.
The Ndwandwe appeared victorious in 1818 when Dingiswayo was killed and his forces scattered, but almost immediately Ndwandwe dominance was challenged by an entirely new force which rose from the ruins of the Mthwethwa: the Kingdom of the Zulu under the leadership of Shaka
Shaka and the rise of the Zulu
The Zulu tribe was initially a small tribe which recognised Dingiswayo as its paramount chief.
The tribe consisted of approximately 2000 people and its tribal chief was Senzangakona.
Shaka, his son, was born in around the year 1787.
Shaka and his mother Nandi could not get along with some of the other members of the Zulu family and went to live with Nandi’s family, among the Lungeni people.
When Shaka was 16, his mother took him to the Mthethwa and, at the age of 22, he became a soldier in one of Dingiswayo’s regiments.
He was brave and intelligent and soon became leader of one of the regiments.
When Senzangakona died in 1816, Sigujane, a half brother of Shaka, became chief of the Zulu.
Shaka, together with another half-brother Ngwadi, plotted against Sigujane, who was soon murdered.
With a regiment borrowed from Dingiswayo, Shaka made himself chief of the Zulus.
Shaka was an exceptional military leader and organised the Zulu army with military precision.
He employed the idea of total warfare.
All the men younger than forty were divided into regiments, based on their age.
The head of the homestead (umnumzana) had many wives
Shaka built his capital at Bulawayo and, although he recognised Dingiswayo as paramount chief, started incorporating smaller tribes into the Zulu nation.
In 1819, when war broke out between the Ndwandwe and Mthethwa, Dingiswayo was killed by Zwide, after which the defeated Mthethwa tribe was incorporated into Shaka’s tribe. In time, Shaka destroyed the Ndwandwe tribe completely
He employed cunning military techniques such as the following: when Zwide sent the Ndwandwe to attack Shaka, the latter hid the food and led his people and cattle further and further away from the capital.
Zwide’s army followed and Shaka’s soldiers waited until night fell to attack them, when they were exhausted and hungry.
The Ndwandwe army turned back, after which Shaka attacked and destroyed them.
A second attempt was made by Zwide later in 1819 to destroy Shaka, but once again the Ndwandwe had no luck.
After this attempt, Shaka ordered the complete destruction of the Ndwandwe people.
Shaka went on destroying several smaller tribes until Natal was practically depopulated.
Unit of production was family and umnumzana paid tributes to the king. Young men were not allowed to marry
Apart from production army were used to accumulate more cattle from the weaker clans
The Zulu eventually grew into a mighty nation when Shaka succeeded in uniting all the people in his chiefdom under Zulu rule.
In the years that followed, Shaka’s armies attacked chiefdom after chiefdom between the Drankensberg and the sea.
Many thousands of men, women and children were killed. Of those survived, some were incorporated into the expanding Zulu kingdom
Others became refugees, hiding in the forests and hills
Organisation of the kingdom: He converted a loosely controlled chieftaincies and homesteads of the northern Nguni into a single, large, centralized kingdom in which all authority came directly from the king.
Many thousands of men, women and children were killed. Of those survived, some were incorporated into the expanding Zulu kingdom
Others became refugees, hiding in the forests and hills
Organisation of the kingdom: He converted a loosely controlled chieftaincies and homesteads of the northern Nguni into a single, large, centralized kingdom in which all authority came directly from the king.
The end of Shaka’s rule
The end of Shaka’s rule: To a certain extent Shaka had always used fear of execution to instill loyalty. E.g. After the death of Shaka’s mother in 1927 many were killed for not showing sufficient grief
The regiments were also tired of constant wars and campaigns
In 1828, two of Shaka’s half-brothers, Dingane and Mahlangane, murdered him and Dingane took his place as leader of the Zulu nation
Shaka’s kingdom had been built upon the success of a perpetual state of war and continual supply of booty
Invasion of the low veld in 1837-1838 by armed and mounted Boers who emigrated from the Cape Colony and came in search of new land for white settlement.
We can conclude that
The rise of the Zulu Nation led to the intensification of the Mfecane by Shaka.By looking at other causes, it can be said however that the Mfecane started even before Shaka become chief of the Zulu.
This means that mfecane was to take place with or without Shaka.
His coming into power increased the rate of the mfecane as he was so interested in wars and hence defeated other tribes
The rise of Dingane
Dingane’s capital was built at Umgungundlovu. He was not as good a soldier as Shaka and this caused his defeat in many of his wars.
In order to combat the decline of the Zulu kingdom, Dingane decided to kill a few important leaders.
One of these leaders, Ngeto (of the Qwabe tribe), realised that his life was in danger and, after gathering his people and livestock, fled southwards and settled in the Mpondo district, from which he himself started to attack other tribes.
Dingane soon sent soldiers to fight the Mpondo people but he also launched attacks against Mzilikazi and the Voortrekkers.
On 3 February 1838, Dingane’s tribesmen killed Piet Retief, together with 67 of his followers, during an ambush.
Retief had had an agreement with Dingane that if he succeeded in returning Dingane’s cattle that had been stolen by Sikonyela, the Voortrekkers would be allowed to buy lan from the Zulu.
When the Voortrekkers returned with the stolen cattle, they were killed.
The Voortrekkers swore vengeance and Dingane’s army was defeated at Blood River on 16 December 1838 by Andries Pretorius.
Dingane’s death brought with it an end to the extermination wars waged by the Zulus.
However, in other parts of the country, the Mfecane continued under leaders such as .Msilikazi, Soshangane and Sikonyela
Sobhuza, Mswati and the founding of the Swazi nation
When Zwide himself retreated to this region in 1819, Sobhuza led his people back southwards to the Usuthu valley
It was here that Sobhuza laid the foundations of the nation was to take its, Swazi, from his son and heir Mswati.
Sobhuza and Mswati built their nation upon a careful mixture of conquest, diplomacy and marriage alliances
By the end of Mswati’s reign in 1865 the Swazi kingdom rivalled the Zulu in power and importance
Basically Sobhuza’s policy was to avoid conflict with his neighbours
He paid occasional tribute to the Zulu king. If attacked his people retreated to the safety of mountain caves.
Nevertheless they suffered a number of Zulu raids, especially from the armies of Dingane.
Sobhuza died in 1839 and Mswati took the throne from his father
The Ngoni of Central and East Africa
Most notable of those expelled from southern Mozambique by Soshangane in the 1830s were Jere Ngoni led by Zwangendaba.
They and two other Ngoni groups, the Maseko and Msene, moved north-westwards onto the Zimbabwe plateau.
There they attacked the ancient Rozvi and Mutapa kingdoms. Organized along centralized regimental lines they absorbed conquered people and forced them to pay tributes
After ravaging the palteau during the early 1830s the Ngoni eventually moved north of the Zambezi.
Msene Ngoni were destroyed by the Kololo on the upper Zambezi plains
The Jere Ngoni led by Zwangendaba reached as far north to Southern Tanzania and few far as Western Tanzania.
Mzilikazi and Ndebele Kingdom
Another small Nguni tribe that was forced to join Zwide’s Ndwandwe tribe was called the Khumalo.
The Khumalo tribe was suspected of treachery during the war against Dingiswayo’s Mthethwa and its leader, Mashobane, was summoned to Zwide’s kraal and killed.
Zwide appointed Mzilikazi as the new leader of the Khumalo.
He was an intelligent leader who knew how to gain the trust of the tribes that had been incorporated into his own.
Trouble started when Mzilikazi began to suspect that Zwide wanted to kill him.
In preparation, Mzilikazi formed an alliance with Shaka, who allowed him to be the leader of one of his regiments.
In 1821, Mzilikazi felt strong enough to become independent. Shaka sent him to attack a small Sotho tribe northwest of Zululand and, as always, he brought back with him a number of cattle taken during the battle.
However, this time he did not hand them over to Shaka as he had done before.
When Shaka sent his messengers to collect the cattle, Mzilikazi refused to return them.
After this, he was attacked by Shaka’s army and had no option but to flee with his people.
Mzilikazi trekked northwards with his people until he reached the Olifants (Elephants) River.
He was now in the territory of powerful Sotho tribes, which he attacked, taking their women, children and livestock.
He attacked tribes as far as Tswanaland and overpowered them by the military tactics perfected by the Zulu people. His tribe eventually became known as the Matabele
Mzilikazi decided to trek to the central Transvaal and he eventually settled in the vicinity of what is today known as Pretoria.
He moved because he needed to put even more distance between himself and Shaka and he was also in need of more grazing land.
After this move, his tribe became even more bloodthirsty When the Voortrekkers came on the scene in 1836, Mzilikazi once again went on the attack
At Vegkop, the Voortrekkers succeeded in defeating the Matebele, but they lost all their cattle
In 1837, the Voortrekkers once again succeeded in defeating the Matebele at Mosega and the Voortrekkers, under the leadership of Potgieter, recovered some of their stolen cattle.
The Matabele then moved away only to be defeated by the Zulu.
In an attempt to get away from his enemies, Mzilikazi crossed the Soutpansberg Mountains and the Limpopo River into which is today known as Zimbabwe. He died in 1868.
Dispute over his succession begun and eventually went to Lobengula, his son.
Lobengula allowed the British to take control.
The British South Africa Company secured the mineral concession for all of Matabeleland in 1888.
Ndebele tried to revolt against the British.
Lobengulawas defeated and the Ndebele abandoned war and became herders and farmers in 1896
Soshangane and the Gaza state
After the tribes of Zwide, Soshangane,
Zwangendaba and Nxaba,had been defeated by Shaka, they fled to Mozambique. There, they destroyed the Portuguese settlement at Delagoa Bay.
As the Mfecane continued, the land was devastated and tribes were attacked. Much damage was done. Soshangane’s capital was near the modern day Maputo and Shaka attacked him here in the campaign that cost Shaka’s life
Soshangane then moved on to Middle Sabie and settled near Zwangendaba and his people
The tribes of Soshangane and Zwangendaba coexisted in harmony until 1831, when they went to war.
Zwangendaba had to flee before Soshangane, after which Soshangane, went on to attack Nxaba, who responded by fleeing with his followers to the present-day Tanzania.
With Soshangane’s biggest enemies out of the way, he began building his Gaza Kingdom.
From his capital, Chaimite, soldiers were sent in all directions to attack other tribes. Even the Portuguese were forced to accept him as paramount chief.
His kingdom stretched from the Zambezi to the Limpopo Rivers and his army resembled that of the Zulus in its military strategies.
As Soshangane grew older, he began to believe that the Matshangano had bewitched him
In retaliation, he attacked them and many fled to the Transvaal where their descendants still live today.
Soshangane died around the year 1826.
Moshweshwe and Sotho Kingdom
Moshweshwe, the builder of the Sotho empire, was born in 1793.
His mother belonged to the Bafokeng tribe and his father was chief of the Bakwena tribe.
When the Mfecane began in 1816 Moshweshwe was 23 years old.
During the early years of his chieftainship, leaders such as Shaka, Dingane and Mzilikazi were waging the destructive wars of the Mfecane.
Many of the people who got caught up in these wars turned to Moshweshwe for refuge. He took them all in and his tribe grew bigger and stronger.
In 1823, Moshweshwe established Butha Buthe as the capital of his chiefdom. A year later, he established a safer stronghold at Thaba Bosigo.
This mountain stronghold was so secure that when Mzilikazi attacked it in 1831, he had to turn back without accomplishing anything.
Moshweshwe was a diplomatic and powerful leader and was too clever to try to expand his territory northwards because he knew that this would incur the wrath of strong leaders such as Mzilikazi, Shaka and Dingane
In summary, what causes of Mfecane?
Population Increase as so many people migrated into the area because it was generally good for farming due to fertility of the land
Shortage of land. This was mostly due to population increase. People could no longer fit on the land that was available. To get land, people had to fight for it. The defeated ones had to migrate to other places
Rise of long distance trade .During the 16th century, trade had developed along the east coast of Africa with the Portuguese at Delagoe Bay. Because of the desire to control trade, some Nguni tribes began to attack others in order to control and acquire more tribute. In fact the Portuguese wanted to trade with organised groups under powerful leaders
Eastern Expansion by the Cape Whites: Towards the end of the 18th century, there was a great desire by whites at the cape to expand in the eastern direction in order to acquire more land. This however contributed to the worsening of the shortage of land
The rise of the Zulu Nation led to the intensification of the Mfecane by Shaka.
By looking at other causes, it can be said however that the Mfecane started even before Shaka become chief of the Zulu.
This means that Mfecane was to take place with or without Shaka.
His coming into power increased the rate of the Mfecane as he was so interested in wars and hence defeated other tribes
Geographical barriers (features) such as the Drakensburg Mountains and the Indian Ocean made it impossible for people to expand to the west and east respectively.
This contributed to population increase resulting in wars to secure land
Effects of Mfecane (Difaqane)
Mfecane whether it was a reality or a myth brought tremendous effects in history of Southern Africa and central African region.
Its repercussion was both constructive and negative as it happened to many world catastrophic political and social upheavals
New states such as Zulu kingdom itself, Swazi, Kololo in Barotseland and Soshangane and his powerful Gaza Empire), Sotho kingdom were formed. Defensive States were formed in places where it was easy to defend it incase of war.
Political reorganisation was also one of the Positive Results.
This meant that some traditionally small clan states joined together to form large multi clan states which become extremely strong in order to protect themselves .
The conquered people were incorporated into an expanded tribe.
Military Organisation: The initiation age regiments were increasingly brought under the centralised authority of powerful kings and used as standing armies for military campaigns in state building experiment
Many states copied the fighting tactics of Shaka and used them on the weaker tribes which used the old methods of fighting. E.g., the Ngoni, Kololo and Ndebele copied the fighting methods of Shaka and his Zulu Warriors
Mfecane also brought new type of leaders. These are the leaders who stopped relaxing rules as in the past.
They brought severe discipline and efficient administration.
The army became the basis of power on which the kingdom had to depend on for its complete survival and success
Although the mfecane in many ways promoted the political development of southern Africa, it also caused great suffering.
Depopulation: Some land was left without people as they migrated in search on new land where to settle. Large parts of the country in Natal, the Transvaal and Free State were largely depopulated because people fled in droves to safer areas such as the Transkei, the edge of the Kalahari, the Soutpansberg and the present-day Lesotho
Displacement: Most of the Bantu were uprooted from their way of life such as farming and pastoralism due to the Mfecane.
When the British later settled on their land, the displaced Africans ended up providing cheap labour force to the white settlers on the farms and in mines
Decline of some clans or states: As a result of the Mfecane, many Central and East African kingdoms which were previously strong and prosperous came to a decline.
They could not withstand the military strength of the tribes from the south, who had already copied Shaka’s styles of fighting.
Examples of such kingdoms that were destroyed partly due to Nguni invasions were the Tumbuka, Lozi and Rozwi
Spread of warfare: The defeated tribes run away from their original places. On their way they also raided and defeated other tribes. The defeated were sometimes assimilated
The new invaders introduced new political methods, new military tactics and new weapons they had fled with from Zululand
Destruction of food and property: Shaka‘s forces in particular burnt gardens, villages, seized grain and cattle.
This brought serious misery starvation and generally poverty among the people.
Families, traditions and customs broke up: e.g. traditional practices was stopped, stealing become the order of the day and some people practiced cannibalism to get food
Therefore
The Mfecane had a great influence on the history of South Africa. The study of Mfecane shows that it was essentially a process of social, political and military change internal to African society.
This revolution not only produced catastrophic consequences at the time but has left a profound imprint on the demographic pattern of Southern and Central Africa
It also brought into existence of peoples who still define their identity by reference to the leaders and the wars of the mfecane i.e. common identity of people of difference origins
Historians agree that the Mfecane was a complex process with regional variations and was not triggered by a single factor.
The Mfecane has come to be widely accepted as a name for the process of political change and the accompanying wars and migrations which began in the late eighteenth century.
Mfecane reevaluated
The military and political activities that came with the Mfecane have been presented as a series of experiments in state building involving the rapid assimilation of political, linguistic and cultural elements, as well as the development of a sense of common identity and loyalty within the newly-created states.
These experiments resulted in the emergence of new states such as the Swazi and the Zulu states.
They also led to the founding of new states in other parts of South Africa, present day Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
Some historians believe that the emergence of the Zulu state did not initiate the process of the political transformation known as the Mfecane, but was itself a product of a chain of events which had started earlier.
It is these earlier processes that had given rise to states such as the Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa.
One important example of state formation in the era before the rise of the Zulu state was the migration of Sobhuza to the Swaziland area.
Julian Cobbing is considered to be the first historian to discredit the long established idea that an internally generated process of political change underlay the wars and migrations of the 1820s and 1830s
He rejects the idea that the Mfecane was caused by factors that were internal to African societies.
Cobbing believes that liberal historians failed to mention the role of whites in the Mfecane.
Cobbing argues that the wars and migrations of the 1820s and 1830s were caused primarily by an increasing demand for African slaves by European traders and settlers
Cobbing joined other scholars such as Alan Smith, David Edges and Philip Bonner who said that trade was responsible for the political change, migrations and state-building activities in the Delagoa Bay and Thukela corridor. The argument here is that the slave trade at Delagoa Bay was slow to pick up, until the beginning of the nineteenth century when the demand for slave labour increased in Brazil and other markets.
African leaders such as Zwide of the Ndwandwe responded to the demand for slaves by mounting aggressive slave-raiding campaigns into the south where they came into conflict with Dingiswayo's Mthethwa.
The defeat of the Mthethwa at the hands of the Ndwandwe provided an opportunity for the rise of a new state, the Zulu state.
The rise of the Zulu state, in this perspective, is seen as a defensive reaction against the slave trading activities of the Ndwandwe.
According to this view, the Mfecane was caused by the external trade radiating from Delagoa Bay.
It is claimed that this explanation undermines the thesis that the Mfecane was essentially an African phenomenon.
Cobbing intended to demonstrate that there was nothing like “a selfgenerated internal revolution” within Northern Nguni-speaking societies; rather it was the external causes of the slave trade that were responsible for the change in Northern Nguni territory.
Cobbing suggests that the white penetration into southern African in the early nineteenth century which had devastating consequences for African societies - was driven by the need to solve the massive demand for slave labour in the Cape Colony.
Cobbing suggests that the officials, traders and missionaries not only deliberately underplayed their slaving activities but went further and invented the “myth” of the Mfecane
These raiding activities were also responsible for the chain reactions of violence and destruction that engulfed the sub continent and gave rise to new states and the destruction of others. Cobbing sees only white agency of change
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