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150 Years Ago in South Africa

As part of the Napoleonic wars, the British occupy the Dutch Cape Colony in 1806. The Dutch were allies of Napoleon at that time, but even after they switched sides to join the British in 1813, the British kept South Africa for themselves. A small rebellion by a group of Dutch Boers in 1815 is rapidly put down by the British, but a mass execution of rebels leaves much bad feeling.

1818, Shaka is king of the Zulu nation. Between this time and his death in 1828, the Zulu empire expands rapidly. At its height, the Zulu army was 50,000 men strong.

This is the time the Sotho people called the difaqane, which means "forced migration", as Zulu attacks created streams of refugees throughout southern Africa, one clan or tribe running into another and forcing it to flee, setting up a whole chain reaction. The Zulus simply called it the mfeqane--the crushing. Refugees of Zulu expansion, called the Batlowka (meaning the "wild cat people") rallied under the leadership of a female warrior, Manthatisi, in the Lesotho Mountains. Here they form a new mountain state along with the Matiwane and Moshweshwe peoples who already lived here.

In 1822, in a quarrel with their kinsman, the Matabele people under their king Mzilikasi, are forced to flee Shaka. Mzilikasi forms his own kingdom in the fertile Marico River valley, after his powerful army of 6000 men drive out the resident Sotho and Tswana people.

Members of the Swazi nation today show traditional dances. Dancing was used for story telling, entertainment, physical fitness, military training, courtship ceremonies, religious celebrations, and in general to draw members of the community closer together.

By 1834, a large number of Boers headed inland from Cape Colony to create a new country for themselves free of British rule. These movements came to be called the Gret Trek. The Boers came into conflict with the Matabele of Mzilikasi. The Matabele were decisively defeated in 1837, and the republic of Natal was formed in 1838.

But the Boers then were attacked by the Zulus, whose heartland was also in Natal. A number of hard battles are fought. Dingaan, the Zulu king, is finally defeated only after his half- brother Mpande and 17,000 Zulus side with the Boers. In an all-Zulu battle, Dingaan is defeated and Mpande then becomes king of the Zulu empire. But the Boers were not free for long, as Natal was annexed by the British in 1843. The Boers move on again farther into the interior and form what eventually become the two independent republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

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