1.
Great Trek
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The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Capes original European settlers, known collectively as Boers, and the British Empire. The Great Trek led directly to the founding of several autonomous Boer republics, namely the South African Republic, the Orange Free State, and the Natalia Republic. It was also responsible for the displacement of the Northern Ndebele people, vrijburgers were granted tax exempt status for twelve years and loaned all the necessary seeds and farming implements they requested. They were married Dutch citizens, considered of good character by the Company, as a result, by 1691 over a quarter of the colonys European population was not ethnically Dutch. Nevertheless, there was a degree of assimilation due to intermarriage. Following the Flanders Campaign and the Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam, France assisted in the establishment of a client state. This opened the Cape to French warships, to protect her own prosperous maritime shipping routes, Great Britain occupied the fledgling colony by force until 1803. From 1806 to 1814 the Cape was again governed as a British military dependency, the British formally assumed permanent administrative control around 1815, as a result of the Treaty of Paris. Just over a quarter were of German ancestry and about one-sixth were descended from French Huguenots, there were also 30,000 African and Asian slaves owned by the settlers, and about 17,000 indigenous Khoisan. Relations between the settlers—especially the Boers—and the new administration quickly soured, the British authorities were adamantly opposed to the Boers ownership of slaves, and what was perceived as their unduly harsh treatment of the indigenous peoples. The British government insisted that the Cape finance its own affairs through self taxation, in 1815, the controversial arrest of a white farmer for allegedly assaulting one of his servants resulted in the abortive Slachters Nek Rebellion. The British retaliated by hanging at least five Boers for insurrection, in 1828 the Cape governor declared that all native inhabitants but slaves were to have the rights of citizens, in respect of security and property ownership, on parity with the settlers. This had the effect of alienating the colonys white population. Boer resentment of successive British administrators continued to grow throughout the late 1820s and early 1830s and this replaced Dutch with English as the language used in the Capes judicial system, putting the Boers at a disadvantage, as most spoke little or no English at all. Great Britains alienation of the Boers was particularly amplified by the decision to abolish slavery in all its colonies in 1834. All 35,745 slaves registered with the Cape governor were to be freed and given rights on par with other citizens, although in most cases their masters could retain them as apprentices until 1838. Compensation was indeed offered by the British government, but payment had to be made in London and they resolved to trek beyond the colonys borders on their own. Droughts Perceived antagonism from British missionaries, the official recognition of the equality between settlers and native inhabitants
2.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
3.
Impi
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Impi is a Zulu word for any armed body of men. However, in English it is used to refer to a Zulu regiment. Its beginnings lie far back in historic tribal warfare customs, when groups of armed men called impis battled and these innovations in turn drew upon existing tribal customs, such as the iNtanga. This was an age grade tradition common among many of the Bantu peoples of the southern region. Youths were organised into age groups, with each responsible for certain duties. Kraal or settlement elders generally handled local disputes and issues, above them were the inDunas, and above the inDunas stood the chief of a particular clan lineage or tribe. The inDunas handled administrative matters for their chiefs – ranging from settlement of disputes, in time of war, the inDunas supervised the fighting men in their areas, forming leadership of the military forces deployed for combat. The age grade iNtangas, under the guidance of the inDunas, militarily warfare was mild among the Bantu prior to the rise of Shaka, though it occurred frequently. Objectives were typically limited to such matters as recovering cattle, avenging some personal insult, generally a loose mob, called an impi participated in these melees. There were no campaigns of extermination against the defeated and they simply moved on to other open spaces on the veldt, and equilibrium was restored. The bow and arrow were known but seldom used, warfare, like the hunt, depended on skilled spearmen and trackers. The primary weapon was a thin 6-foot throwing spear, the assegai, defensive weapons included a small cowhide shield, which was later improved by King Shaka. Many battles were prearranged, with the clan warriors meeting at a place and time. Ritualized taunts, single combats and tentative charges were the typical pattern, if the affair did not dissipate before, one side might find enough courage to mount a sustained attack, driving off their enemies. The defeated clan might pay in lands or cattle and have captives to be ransomed, outside the ritual battles, the quick raid was the most frequent combat action, marked by burning kraals, seizure of captives, and the driving off of cattle. Pastoral herders and light agriculturalists, the Bantu did not usually build permanent fortifications to fend off enemies, a clan under threat simply packed their meager material possessions, rounded up their cattle and fled until the marauders were gone. If the marauders did not stay to permanently dispossess them of grazing areas, the genesis of the Zulu impi thus lies in tribal structures existing long before the coming of Europeans or the Shaka era. In the early 19th century, a combination of factors began to change the customary pattern and these included rising populations, the growth of white settlement and slaving that dispossessed native peoples both at the Cape and in Portuguese Mozambique, and the rise of ambitious new men
4.
Battle of Blood River
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Casualties amounted to 3,000 of king Dinganes soldiers dead, including two Zulu princes competing with prince Mpande for the Zulu throne. Three Pioneers commando members were wounded, including Pretorius himself. After these two battles, Dinganes prime minister and commander in both the Battle of Maqongqe and the Battle of Blood River, General Ndlela, was strangled to death by Dingane for high treason. General Ndlela had been the protector of Prince Mpande, who after the Battles of Blood River and Maqongqe, became king. Dingane had agreed that, if Retief could recover approximately 700 head of cattle stolen from the Zulus by the Tlokwa, the accompanying request for the surrender of Trekker muskets at the entrance was taken as normal protocol when appearing before the king. While the Trekkers were being entertained by Dinganes dancing warriors/soldiers, Dingane suddenly accused the party of witchcraft and ordered his men. Dinganes soldiers then proceeded to impale all Retiefs men, lastly clubbing to death Retief, after the Battle of Blood River, the Dingane-Retief treaty was found on Retiefs bodily remains, providing a driving force for an overt alliance against Dingane between Prince Mpande and Pretorius. On 26 November 1838, Andries Pretorius was appointed as general of a wagon commando directed against Dingane at UmGungundlovu, by December 1838, Prince Mpande and 17,000 followers had already fled from Dingane, who was seeking to assassinate Mpande. In support of Prince Mpande as Dinganes replacement, Pretorius strategy was to target Dingane only, to allow Prince Mpande to oust King Dingane through military might, Pretorius had first to weaken Dinganes personal military power base in UmGungundlovu. Trekker leader Hendrik Potgieter had abandoned all hope of engaging Dingane in UmGungundlovu after losing the battle of Italeni, the military commander during Dinganes attack on Veglaer, was Ndlela kaSompisi. The highly experienced general Ndlela had served under Shaka, and was prime minister. Ndlela with his 10,000 troops had retreated from Veglaer, after three days and nights of fruitless attempts to penetrate the enclosed Trekker wagon laager, General Ndlela personally protected Prince Mpande—whom Pretorius later crowned as Zulu king in 1840—from Dinganes repeated assassination plans. King Dingane desired to have his half brother Mpande, the prince with children. Prince Mpande was married to Msukilethe, a daughter of general Ndlela, General Ndlela, like Pretorius the promotor of Prince Mpande, was responsible for Dinganes UmGungundlovu defence during the Trekkers second attack attempt under Pretorius in December 1838. Given general Ndlelas previous defence and attack experience at Italeni and Veglaer during April 1838 and August 1838 respectively, Ndlela had to let Pretorius come close to UmGungundlovu at Italeni, and lure the Trekkers into attack. Ndlela was not to attack the Trekkers when they were in a wagon laager position. The problem for Pretorius was that he had somehow to find a way to make Dinganes soldiers attack him in a defensive position at a place of his choice, far away from UmGungundlovu. The so-called covenant included that a church would be built in honour of God, should the commando somehow be successful, after the meeting with friendly Zulu chiefs at Danskraal, Pretorius let the commando relax and do their washing for a few days at Wasbank till 9 December 1838
5.
Voortrekkers
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The Voortrekkers were Boer pastoralists from the frontiers of the Cape Colony who migrated eastwards during the Great Trek. Voortrekker Leaders arranged in order by size of party, - Hendrik Potgieter, Sarel Cilliers, Piet Retief, see List of massacres in South Africa. See List of massacres in South Africa Arie Zacharias Visagie, David Stephanus Fourie, Jan Matthys De Beer, Hermanus Stephanus Lombard, the total number of families that trekked under a trek leader is 1093. From available sources it was found that during the years 1835 to 1845 a total of about 2540 families took part in the Great Trek, some of them were wealthy men though most were not as they were from the poorer communities of the frontier. It was recorded that the 33 Voortrekker families at the Battle of Vegkop lost 100 horses, the Voortrekkers were mainly of Trekboer descent living in the eastern frontiers of the Cape. Hence, their ancestors had established a semi-nomadic existence of trekking into expanding frontiers. Amongst the Voortrekkers were poor men too belonging to the squatter or bywoner class, the British possession of the Cape was affirmed with the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. With this change in government came a loss of control of the Cape and its resources such as land, the reasons for the mass emigration from the Cape Colony have been much discussed over the years. Afrikaner historiography has emphasized the hardships endured by the farmers which they blamed on British policies of pacifying the Xhosa tribes. Other historians have emphasized the harshness of the life in the Eastern Cape compared to the attractions of the country of Natal, the Orange Free State. Growing land shortages have also cited as a contributing factor. The revocation of Lord Glenelg of the Province of Queen Adelaide, the continued chronic insecurity on the frontier. Being blamed by the Government for provoking an unjust war, the Colony was perceived as being no place for Christian people to live. Land was becoming scarce and expensive owing to increase in the Afrikaans-speaking population. The advance of the English tongue, especially in official circles, the emancipation of the slaves ordained by the British in 1833. The inadequate compensation for the slaves by the British. The emancipation of the slaves took effect during harvest season, chronic mortification at the way the Boers actions were so freely criticized by the missionaries. The official recognition of the equality between colored men and whites, the Commisie Treks returned filled with enthusiasm for the countries they had visited
6.
KwaZulu-Natal
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KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, enjoying a long shoreline beside the Indian Ocean and its capital is Pietermaritzburg and its largest city is Durban. It is the 2nd most populous province in South Africa, with fewer residents than Gauteng. Two areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, at around 92,100 km2 in area, KwaZulu-Natal is roughly the size of Portugal. It has three different geographic areas, the areas largest river, the Tugela, flows west to east across the center of the province. The coastal regions typically have subtropical thickets and deeper ravines, steep slopes host some Afromontane Forest, the midlands have moist grasslands and isolated pockets of Afromontane Forest. The north has a primarily moist savanna habitat, whilst the Drakensberg region hosts mostly alpine grassland, the province contains rich areas of biodiversity of a range of flora and fauna. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, along with uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Ndumo, are wetlands of international importance for migratory species, and are designated as Ramsar sites. South Africa signed the 1971 Ramsar Convention to try to conserve and protect important wetlands because of their importance to habitats, the former Eastern Cape enclave of the town of Umzimkulu and its hinterland have been incorporated into KwaZulu-Natal following the 12th amendment of the Constitution of South Africa. The amendment also made changes to the southern border of the province. The northwesterly line of latitude and longitude traverses the province from the coast at Hibberdene to northeast Lesotho. KwaZulu-Natal has a varied yet verdant climate thanks to diverse, complex topography, generally, the coast is subtropical with inland regions becoming progressively colder. Temperature drops towards the hinterland, with Pietermaritzburg being similar in the summer, Ladysmith in the Tugela River Valley reaches 30 °C in the summer, but may drop below freezing point on winter evenings. The Drakensberg can experience heavy snow, with light snow occasionally experienced on the highest peaks in summer. The Zululand north coast has the warmest climate and highest humidity, one of these, eThekwini, is a metropolitan municipality and the other ten are district municipalities. The local seat of district municipality is given in parentheses. In 2012, the Ingonyama Trust owns 32% of the land in KwaZulu-Natal and this amounts to about three million hectares, occupied by over 4 million people. The Zulu king is the chairman of the Trust, the coastline is dotted with small towns, many of which serve as seasonal recreational hubs
7.
Khoikhoi
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The Khoikhoi or Khoi, spelled Khoekhoe in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography, are a group of Khoisan people native to southwestern Africa. Unlike the neighbouring hunter-gatherer San people, the Khoikhoi traditionally practised nomadic pastoral agriculture, when European immigrants colonised the area after 1652, the Khoikhoi maintained large herds of Nguni cattle in the Cape region. The Dutch settlers labelled them Hottentots, in imitation of the sound of the sounds that are characteristic of the Khoekhoe language. The Khoikhoi, originally part of a culture and language group to be found across Southern Africa. Southward migration of the group was steady, eventually reaching the Cape approximately 2,000 years ago. Khoikhoi subgroups include the Namaqua to the west, the Korana of mid-South Africa, advancing Bantu in the 3rd century AD encroached on the Khoikhoi territory, forcing movement into more arid areas. There was some intermarriage between migratory Khoi bands living around what is today Cape Town and the San, however the two groups remained culturally distinct as the Khoikhoi continued to graze livestock and the San to subsist on hunting-gathering. The Khoi first encountered Portuguese explorers and merchants around AD1500, the ongoing encounters were often violent. Local population dropped when the Khoi were exposed to smallpox by Europeans, warfare against Europeans flared when the Dutch East India Company enclosed traditional grazing land for farms. Over the following century, the Khoi were steadily driven off their land, Khoikhoi social organisation was profoundly damaged and, in the end, destroyed by colonial expansion and land seizure from the late 17th century onwards. As social structures broke down, some Khoikhoi people settled on farms and became bondsmen or farm workers, others were incorporated into existing clan, like many Khoikhoi and mixed-race people, the Griqua left the Cape Colony and migrated into the interior. Responding to the influence of missionaries, they formed the states of Griqualand West, by the early 1800s, the remaining Khoi of the Cape Colony suffered from restricted civil rights and discriminatory laws on land ownership. The more cynical motive was probably to create a buffer-zone on the Capes frontier, the settlements thrived and expanded, and Kat River quickly became a large and successful region of the Cape that subsisted more or less autonomously. The people were predominantly Afrikaans-speaking Gonaqua Khoi, but the settlement also began to attract other Khoi, Xhosa, the Khoi were known at the time for being very good marksmen, and were often invaluable allies of the Cape Colony in its frontier wars with the neighbouring Xhosa. In the Seventh Frontier War against the Gcaleka Xhosa, the Khoi gunmen from Kat River distinguished themselves under their leader Andries Botha in the assault on the Amatola fastnesses. However harsh laws were implemented in the Eastern Cape, to encourage the Khoi to leave their lands in the Kat River region. The growing resentment exploded in 1850, when the Xhosa rose against the Cape Government, large numbers of Khoi for the first time joined the Xhosa rebels. However, this principle was eroded in the late 1880s by a literacy test
8.
Zulu people
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The Zulu are a Bantu ethnic group of Southern Africa and the largest ethnic group in South Africa, with an estimated 10–11 million people living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, the Zulu were originally a major clan in what is today Northern KwaZulu-Natal, founded ca.1709 by Zulu kaMalandela. In the Nguni languages, iZulu means heaven, or weather, at that time, the area was occupied by many large Nguni communities and clans. Nguni communities had migrated down Africas east coast over centuries, as part of the Bantu migrations probably arriving in what is now South Africa in about the 9th century, the Zulu formed a powerful state in 1818 under the leader Shaka. Shaka, as the Zulu King, gained an amount of power over the tribe. On 11 December 1878, agents of the British delivered an ultimatum to 11 chiefs representing Cetshwayo, the terms forced upon Cetshwayo required him to disband his army and accept British authority. Cetshwayo refused, and war followed January 12,1879, during the war, the Zulus defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January. The British managed to get the hand after the Battle at Rorkes Drift. After Cetshwayos capture a month following his defeat, the British divided the Zulu Empire into 13 kinglets, the sub-kingdoms fought amongst each other until 1883 when Cetshwayo was reinstated as king over Zululand. This still did not stop the fighting and the Zulu monarch was forced to flee his realm by Zibhebhu, one of the 13 kinglets, Cetshwayo died in February 1884, killed by Zibhebhus regime, leaving his son, the 15-year-old Dinuzulu, to inherit the throne. In-fighting between the Zulu continued for years, until Zululand was absorbed fully into the British colony of Natal, under apartheid, the homeland of KwaZulu was created for Zulu people. In 1970, the Bantu Homeland Citizenship Act provided that all Zulus would become citizens of KwaZulu, KwaZulu consisted of a large number of disconnected pieces of land, in what is now KwaZulu-Natal. By 1993, approximately 5.2 million Zulu people lived in KwaZulu, the Chief Minister of KwaZulu, from its creation in 1970 was Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. In 1994, KwaZulu was joined with the province of Natal, Inkatha YeSizwe means the crown of the nation. In 1975, Buthelezi revived the Inkatha YaKwaZulu, predecessor of the Inkatha Freedom Party and this organization was nominally a protest movement against apartheid, but held more conservative views than the ANC. For example, Inkatha was opposed to the struggle. Inkatha was initially on good terms with the ANC, but the two came into increasing conflict beginning in 1976 in the aftermath of the Soweto Uprising. The modern Zulu population is evenly distributed in both urban and rural areas
9.
Afrikaans
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Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Hence, it is a language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as Cape Dutch or kitchen Dutch. Although, it is described as a creole, a partially creolised language the least. The term is derived from Dutch Afrikaans-Hollands meaning African Dutch. It is the first language of most of the Afrikaner and Coloured people of Southern Africa, therefore, differences with Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and a spelling that expresses Afrikaans pronunciation rather than standard Dutch. There is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages—especially in written form. With about 7 million native speakers in South Africa, or 13. 5% of the population and it has the widest geographical and racial distribution of all the eleven official languages of South Africa, and is widely spoken and understood as a second or third language. About 1. 5% of black South Africans speak it as their first language, large numbers of speakers of Bantu languages and English-speaking South Africans also speak it as their second language. It is taught in schools, with about 10.3 million second-language students and it, along with German, was among the official languages of Namibia until the country became independent in 1990, 25% of the population of Windhoek spoke Afrikaans at home. Both Afrikaans and German survive as recognised regional languages in the country, estimates of the total number of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million. The Afrikaans language arose in the Dutch Cape Colony, through a gradual divergence from European Dutch dialects, there is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, particularly in written form. Nevertheless, Dutch speakers are confronted with fewer non-cognates when listening to Afrikaans than the way round. Mutual intelligibility thus tends to be asymmetrical, as it is easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch, in general, mutual intelligibility between Dutch and Afrikaans is better than between Dutch and Frisian or between Danish and Swedish. The workers and slaves who contributed to the development of Afrikaans were Asians and Malagasys, as well as the Khoi, San, and Bantu peoples who also lived in the area. African creole people in the early 18th century — documented on the cases of Hendrik Bibault, Only much later in the second half of the 19th century did the Boers adopt this attribution, too. The Khoi and mixed-race groups became collectively referred to as Coloureds, beginning in about 1815, Afrikaans started to replace Malay as the language of instruction in Muslim schools in South Africa, written with the Arabic alphabet, see Arabic Afrikaans. Later, Afrikaans, now written with the Latin alphabet, started to appear in newspapers and political, in 1925, Afrikaans was recognised by the South African government as a real language, rather than simply a slang version of Dutch proper. Before the Boer Wars, and indeed for some time afterwards, rather, Afrikaans was described derogatorily as ‘a kitchen language’ or as ‘a bastard jargon, suitable for communication mainly between the Boers and their servants
10.
Zulu Kingdom
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The area was subsequently absorbed into the Colony of Natal and later became part of the Union of South Africa. Shaka Zulu was the son of Senzangakona, King of the Zulus. He and his mother, Nandi, were exiled by Senzangakona, Shaka fought as a warrior under Jobe, and then under Jobes successor, Dingiswayo, leader of the Mthethwa Paramountcy. When Senzangakona died, Dingiswayo helped Shaka claim his place as chief of the Zulu Kingdom, after Dingiswayos death at the hands of Zwide, king of the Ndwandwe, around 1818, Shaka assumed leadership of the entire Mthethwa alliance. Shaka initiated many military, social, cultural and political reforms, the alliance under his leadership survived Zwides first assault at the Battle of Gqokli Hill. The death toll has never been determined, but the whole region became nearly depopulated. Normal estimates for the death toll during this period range from 1 million to 2 million people, by 1825, Shaka had conquered a huge empire covering an area of around 11,500 square miles. Shaka was succeeded by Dingane, his brother, who conspired with Mhlangana, another half-brother, and Mbopa. Following this assassination, Dingane murdered Mhlangana, and took over the throne, one of his first royal acts was to execute all of his royal kin. In the years followed, he also executed many past supporters of Shaka in order to secure his position. One exception to these purges was Mpande, another half-brother, who was considered too weak to be a threat at the time, before encountering the British, the Zulus were first confronted with the Boers. In an attempt to form their own state as a protection against the British, while travelling they first collided with the Ndebele kingdom, and then with Dinganes Zulu kingdom. In October 1837, the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief visited Dingane at his kraal to negotiate a land deal for the voortrekkers. In November, about 1,000 Voortrekker wagons began descending the Drakensberg mountains from the Orange Free State into what is now KwaZulu-Natal. Dingane asked that Retief and his party retrieve some cattle stolen from him by a chief as part of the treaty for land for the Boers. This Retief and his men did, returning on 3 February 1838, the next day, a treaty was signed, wherein Dingane ceded all the land south of the Tugela River to the Mzimvubu River to the Voortrekkers. On 6 February, at the end of the celebrations, Retiefs party were invited to a dance, at the peak of the dance, Dingane leapt to his feet and yelled Bambani abathakathi. Retief and his men were overpowered, taken to the nearby hill kwaMatiwane, some believe that they were killed for withholding some of the cattle they recovered, but it is likely that the deal was a plot to overpower the Voortrekkers
11.
Piet Retief
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Pieter Mauritz Retief was a Voortrekker leader. Settling in 1814 in the region of the Cape Colony. He became a spokesperson for the farmers who voiced their discontent. He was a leading figure during their Great Trek, and at one stage their elected governor and he proposed Natal as the final destination of their migration and selected a location for its future capital, later named Pietermaritzburg in his honour. The massacre of Retief and his delegation by the Zulu King Dingane, the short-lived Boer republic Natalia suffered from ineffective government and succumbed to British annexation. Retief was born to Jacobus and Debora Retief in the Wagenmakersvallei, Cape Colony, today the town of Wellington, South Africa. His family were Boers of French Huguenot ancestry, his great-grandfather was the 1689 Huguenot refugee François Retif, from Mer, Loir-et-Cher near Blois, Retief grew up on the ancestral vineyard Welvanpas, where he worked until the age of 27. After moving to the vicinity of Grahamstown, Retief, like other Boers, acquired wealth through livestock and these prompted the 6th Cape Frontier War. Such losses impelled many frontier farmers to become Voortrekkers and to migrate to new lands in the north, Retief wrote their manifesto, dated 22 January 1837, setting out their long-held grievances against the British government. Retiefs manifesto was published in the Grahamstown Journal on 2 February and De Zuid-Afrikaan on 17 February, Retiefs household departed in two wagons from his farm in the Winterberg District in early February 1837 and joined a party of 30 other wagons. The pioneers crossed the Orange River into independent territory, when several parties on the Great Trek converged at the Vet River, Retief was elected Governor of the United Laagers and head of The Free Province of New Holland in South East Africa. This coalition was very short-lived, and Retief became the leader of the group moving east. On 5 October 1837 Retief established a camp of 54 wagons at Kerkenberg near the Drakensberg ridge and this was Bantjess second visit to Port Natal, his first having been there in 1834 on the Kommissitrek reconnaissance mission. Retief returned to the laarger with a message to the camp on 2 November 1837, due to his favourable impression of the region, Retief started negotiations for land with the Zulu king Dingane kaSenzangakhona in November 1837. After Retief led his band over the Drakensberg Mountains, he convinced Voortrekker leaders Gerrit Maritz, on Retiefs second visit to Dingane, the Zulu agreed to Boer settlement in Natal, provided that the Boer delegation recover cattle stolen by the rival Tlokwa nation. This the Boers did, their reputation and rifles cowing the people into handing over some 700 head of cattle. At Retiefs request, J. G. Bantjes drew up the famous Piet Retief / Dingaan Treaty outlining the areas of Natal to be secured for the Boers to settle and start their new farms and this was done and to be ratified at the Zulu Kings kraal. Despite warnings, Retief left the Tugela region on 25 January 1838, the deed of cession of the Tugela-Umzimvubu region, although dated 4 February 1838, was signed by Dingane on 6 February 1838, with the two sides recording three witnesses each
12.
Kingdom of Mapungubwe
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The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was a pre-colonial state in Southern Africa located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers, south of Great Zimbabwe. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe lasted about 80 years, and at its height its population was about 5000 people, the Mapungubwe Collection is a museum collection of artifacts found at the archaeological site and is housed in the Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria. They were the first Bantu to cross the Limpopo River to the south, the largest settlement from what has been dubbed the Leopards Kopje culture is known as K2 culture and was the immediate predecessor to the settlement of Mapungubwe. The people from K2 culture, probably derived from the ancestral Khoi culture, were attracted to the Shashi-Limpopo area, the area was also prime elephant country, providing access to valuable ivory. The control of the gold and ivory trade greatly decreased the power of the K2 culture. By 1075, the population of K2 had outgrown the area, spatial organisation in the kingdom of Mapungubwe involved the use of stone walls to demarcate important areas for the first time. There was a stone-walled residence likely occupied by the principal councillor, stone and wood were used together. There would have also been a wooden palisade surrounding Mapungubwe Hill, most of the capitals population would have lived inside the western wall. The capital of the kingdom was called Mapungubwe, which is where the kingdom gets its name, the site of the city is now a World Heritage Site, South African National Heritage Site, national park, and archaeological site. There is controversy regarding the origin and meaning of the name Mapungubwe, conventional wisdom has it that Mapungubwe means place of Jackals, or alternatively, place where Jackals eat or, according to Fouché—one of the earliest excavators of Mapungubwe—hill of the jackals. It also means place of wisdom and the place where the rock turns into liquid—from various ethnicities in the including the Pedi, Sotho. The ending bwe is a diminutive of the word ibwe, which means stone or rock in Shona language, Mapungubwe, in this respect, means the rocks of the bateleur eagles—an indication that there were many bateleurs in the area or location. Mapungubwean society is thought by archaeologists to be the first class-based social system in southern Africa, mapungubwes architecture and spatial arrangement also provide the earliest evidence for sacred leadership in southern Africa. Life in Mapungubwe was centred on family and farming, special sites were created for initiation ceremonies, household activities, and other social functions. Cattle lived in kraals located close to the houses, signifying their value. Most speculation about society continues to be based upon the remains of buildings, elites within the kingdom were buried in hills. Royal wives lived in their own away from the king. Important men maintained prestigious homes on the outskirts of the capital and this type of spatial division occurred first at Mapungubwe but would be replicated in later Butua and Rozwistates
