The Mfecane was one of a period which witnessed many theories being developed and produced which tries to account for Mfecane. Orthodox historians maintain that the Mfecane was a great series of wars and raids initiated and perpetrated by the powerful amaZulu king, Shaka ,during the 1820s and 1830s according to J.Mvenene . But factors had shown that mfecane was not caused by one factor but various reasons which include the participation of the European slavery ,the emergency of Zulu kingdom ,the attack of Zwide on Ngwane as the initiating of the mfecane ,droughts and new military tactics .Also to some historians the mfecane was a created myth to justify the colonization by the European .Therefore one can note that several factors have contributed to the Mfecane rather blaming the Zulu for war and labeling them as blood thirst tribe. Mfecane had been described as the crushing or scattering and 'mfecane' theory, the creation of a number of historians, describes an era of history, particularly the 1820's, when vast regions of the interior of southern Africa were thrust into immense upheaval, characterized by number population migration according to Guy Frere Hartley .

1. UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE
Farai Mushangwe
Reg number: R168003G
Course Code:
Programme: B.A.A.III
Lecturer: Dr. Nyakudya
Question: How do you account for the Mfecane? Justify
your answer with concrete examples .

2. The Mfecane was one of a period which witnessed many theories being developed and produced
which tries to account for Mfecane. Orthodox historians maintain that the Mfecane was a great
series of wars and raids initiated and perpetrated by the powerful amaZulu king, Shaka ,during
the 1820s and 1830s according to J.Mvenene1. But factors had shown that mfecane was not
caused by one factor but various reasons which include the participation of the European slavery
,the emergency of Zulu kingdom ,the attack of Zwide on Ngwane as the initiating of the mfecane
,droughts and new military tactics .Also to some historians the mfecane was a created myth to
justify the colonization by the European .Therefore one can note that several factors have
contributed to the Mfecane rather blaming the Zulu for war and labeling them as blood thirst
tribe. Mfecane had been described as the crushing or scattering and 'mfecane' theory, the
creation of a number of historians, describes an era of history, particularly the 1820's, when vast
regions of the interior of southern Africa were thrust into immense upheaval, characterized by
number population migration according to Guy Frere Hartley2.
The war which broke between Zwide and Ngwane had been regarded by some historians as the
beginning of the Mfecane because from that war a series of wars preceded and culminated into to
what is now called the mfecane. The attack of Zwide’s Ndwandwe on Matiwane Ngwane in
1817 as intiating the Mfecane and Both the Ngwane under Sobhuza and the Ndwandwe under
Zwide consolidated and expanded their areas of control on the banks of the Pongola River, and
the major struggle between them arose over arable lands there according A. Eldredge3. Therefore
one can concur with the above scholar for blaming the indigenous tribes for being responsible
because fighting for land but the gist of the story is that if the local tribe were fighting for land
this does not explain the mfecane as anyone recalled it .This information can be doubted in sense
that written sources consulted by scholars were written by the whites whom much bias can be
traced. One can argue that the fight between local tribes was because of the encroachment of
white settlers in the areas.
1 J.Mvenene,A social and Economic History of the African people of Gcalekaland ,1830-1913,1,2014,pp-59-71
2 G.F.Hartley, Dithakong and The Mfecane: A Historiographical and Methodological Analysis ,Thesis submitted in
fulfilmentof the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History ,University of
Capetown,1992,p.1
3 E.A.Eldredge, Sources of Conflictin the Southern Africa,C.1800-30:The Mfecane Reconsidered, The Journal of
African History,Vol.33.No.1,1992p.3

3. Furthermore, the emergency of Zulu state was the main cause for the mfecane because since the
Zulu was the victor then they were portrayed as bloodlust and the cause of destruction. 4J.Wright,
concurs that the term mfecane refers to a series of wars and migrations which are supposed to
have sparked off by the emergence of Zulu kingdom. Therefore one can argue that this scholars
seemed to focus on the contribution of Zulu in fighting without narrowing in the fact that pushed
the Zulu to fight .Also the emergency of the Zulu kingdom was ascribed a great intensification of
the Mfecane resulted in massive conflict and upheaval according to J.D.Omer-Cooper5. However
6Cobbing argues African societies did not generate the regional violence on their own rather
,caught within the European net they were transformed over length period because of external
plunders such as Portuguese slave exporters .Therefore this justify the rise of the Zulu state not
as threat or destruction of other tribes but as respond to ongoing violence from Europeans .
In addition, the internal revolution within Zulu state had been attributed to the migration and
destruction of many tribes in South Africa and this resulted in the spread of myth about Zulu.
First the Zulu internal military revolution was the cause of the violence taking place among
various African societies and this was largely to the fact most written documents which do exist
were mostly written by white travelers, missionaries and officials. However Cobbing argued that
the internal revolution consist of a little more than the erroneous claims that Shaka or
Dingiswayo or Zwide first invented the ibutho and transformed tactics by introducing the short
stabbing spear and heads and chest battle formations7 .Therefore the internal revolution was a
myth which traders depicted Shaka as the bloody monster and potential threat to the settlement at
Port Natal 8.Also the propaganda of the myth thus served a clear material purpose to tarnish the
image of Shaka as cruel according to J.Wright9 .One can argue that Mfecane has been explained
in many ways by historians but never adequately.
4 J.Wright,Political and the Makingof Natal’s Mfecane,Canadian Journal of African studies ,vol.23.no.2 ,1989,p.272
5 J.D.Omer-Cooper, Has the Mfecane a Future ? A Response to the Cobbing Critique, Journal of Southern African
Studies,Vol.19.No.2,1993,p.274
6 J.E.Richner,The Historiographical Development of the Concept Mfecane and the Writing of Early Southern African
History from the 1820’s to 19 20’s,Thesis submitted in fulfilmentof the requirements for the Degree of Master of
arts ,Rhodes university,2005,p.4
7 J.Cobbing,The Mfecane as Alibi:Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo ,The Journal of African History ,vol.9.No.3
,1988,p.489
8 http://cnx.org/content/m23197/1.1/
9 J.Wright, Political and the Makingof Natal’s Mfecane,Canadian Journal of African studies ,vol.23.no.2,1989,p. 273

4. Further, the encroachment by the European in South played a crucial role in the Wars known as
mfecane because Europeans grabbed land pushing weaker tribes out Cape Town causing
pressure and practicing slavery raids on South African tribes. The Griqua and Korana were
supplied with guns and ammunition they need to raid neighboring Africans for cattle and slaves
which cause political instability in the region. Cobbing is therefore correct to identify Europeans
and their allies as the main instigators of violence across the Cape Colony frontier according to
E.A.Eldredge10. Therefore instead of focusing on the Zulu as the cruelest tribe much
historiography did not focus at the contribution of the European settlers.11E.A.Eldredge goes on
to state that Boer immigrant farmer from the Western part of the Cape and this created a barrier
on the tribes within because they was no land to expand .One can argue that the Europeans were
the instigators violence which resulted in series of wars which transformed great nation such as
the Zulu into great nations into defending themselves.
In addition, population played an important role in the Mfecane because the growth of the
population had been cited as a contributing factor to the wars and violence’s. The growth of
population and its accompanying feature of land shortage must have contributed significantly to
the violence according L.D.Ngcongco12.Therefore this means that shortage of land because
population increase and sometimes aided by drought which resulted in aiding violence .There is
considerable evidence that early conflicts involving the Mthethwa and Zulu were related to
competition over lands according E.A. Eldredge13.This means that drought reduced the carrying
capacity of both arable land and pasture and increased competition over resources in the late 18th
and 19th century. One can argue that population increase aided by other factors contributed to the
Mfecane . 14J. Wright concurs with the notion that conflicts whose primary causes are to be
sought not in the expansion of Zulu kingdom but in intersection of forces emanating from three
other epicenter of upheaval.
10 .A.Eldredge, Sources of Conflictin the Southern Africa,C.1800-30:The Mfecane Reconsidered, The Journal of
African History,Vol.33.No.1,1992,p.18
11 Ibid,p.96
12 J.F.Ade Ajayi,Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880’s ,General History of Africa.VI,UNESCO,75732 Paris
Cedex,France ,2000,p.95
13 A.Eldredge, Sources of Conflictin the Southern Africa,C.1800-30:The Mfecane Reconsidered, The Journal of
African History,Vol.33.No.1,1992,p.30
14 J.Wright,Political and the Makingof Natal’s Mfecane,Canadian Journal of African studies ,vol.23.no.2,1989,p. 273

5. More over trade had played a role in the mfecane since many tribes engaged in trade and some
evidence points out the fact that series of wars some were influenced by trade .Dingiswayo did
open up an ivory trade route with Delagoa Bay ,conquring in the process several clans to open up
his access to the Indian ocean port according to E.A.Eldredge15.This supported by the slavery
which was being participated by Portuguese which also aided by other factors resulted in the
violence .Increasing inequalities within and between societies coupled with a series of
environmental crises at the beginning of the nineteenth century transformed long –standing
competition over natural resources and trade in South eastern Africa into violence struggles for
dominance and survival according to E.A.Eldredge16. Therefore one can argue that mfecane
resulted from various factors which dominated the 18 century.
All in all the mfecane had many versions which even some historian had termed it theories but
from the above several factors played an important role in the violence and wars such as
emergency of the Zulu, encroachment by the European ,population and land shortages. Also the
role played by traders at the port of Natal that of spreading myth that Shaka was cruel to justify
colonization and the use of force .More so internal revolution of the Zulu army which had been
accused by the biased historians as the major cause of the Mfecane played a minor role.
Therefore to a great extent Mfecane was period of violence emanating from various factors.
15.A.Eldredge,Sources of Conflict in the Southern Africa,C.1800-30: The Mfecane Reconsidered, The Journal of
African History,Vol.33.No.1,1992,p.97
16 Ibid,p.1

6. Bibliography
Ade Ajayi.J.F,Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880’s ,General History of
Africa.VI,UNESCO,75732 Paris Cedex,France,2000.
Cobbing.J,1988. The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo ,The Journal of African
History ,vol.9.No.3 ,1988.
Eldredge.A, Sources of Conflict in the Southern Africa,C.1800-30: The Mfecane Reconsidered, The
Journal of African History,Vol.33.No.1,1992.
Hartley.F.J, 1992.Dithakong and The Mfecane: A Historiographical and Methodological Analysis ,Thesis
submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of
History ,University of Capetown,1992.
http://cnx.org/content/m23197/1.1/.
Mvenene.J, A social and Economic History of the African people of Gcalekaland ,1830-1913,1,2014.
Omer-Cooper.D.J,Has the Mfecane a Future ? A Response to the CobbingCritique, Journal of Southern African
Studies,Vol.19.No.2,1993.
Richner.E.J,The Historiographical Development of the Concept Mfecane and the Writing of Early Southern African
History from the 1820’s to 19 20’s,Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of
arts ,Rhodes university,2005.
Wright.J, Political and the Makingof Natal’s Mfecane,Canadian Journal of African studies ,vol.23.no.2 ,1989.