zulu Origins.pdf - 1 views
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Origins of the Zulu Kingdom
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James Gump*
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the Xhosa u
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1820s and 1830s is described
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on. John D. Omer-Cooper, in Zulu After math: A Nineteenth Century Revolution in Bantu Africa argues that the "wars and migrations of the Mfecane were the by products of a socio-political revolution towards larger communi ties and wider loyaltie
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Omer-Cooper's Zulu Aftermath serves as a useful point of departure for an examination of the origins of the Zulu kingdom.
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survived into modern times."3 Omer-Cooper includes among the mfecane's progeny the Basuto kingdom on the highveld forged during the difaqane and surviving to reach independence as Lesotho; the Swazi kingdom of the Dhlamini-Ngwane, founded in the 1840s and the basis for Swaziland; the Ngoni kingdoms in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania; the Kololo kingdom on the upper Zambesi river; and the Ndebele kingdom, settling eventually in southern Zimbabwe
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a. The battles and famines of the 1820s and 1830s are but a part of the history of Nguni state for
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Zulu Kingdom
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The Historian
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The conventional emphasis on great men and the military institutions they orchestrated embraces at least two methodologi cal deficiencies. First, it is ahistorical—if one views the formation of the Zulu kingdom as a revolutionary outburst among the northern Nguni one may overlook subtle evolutionary processes of socioeconomic change; and second, it is myopic—the tendency to study Zulu state formation as a phase of military history betrays a cultural or ideological dimension that reveals a great deal about the "essence" of the Zulu kingdo
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summarized The conventional focus on great men and military institutions is ahistorical and myopic, overlooking subtle socioeconomic change and cultural/ideological dimensions of the Zulu kingdom.
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Although Omer-Cooper does not view these societies this way, he perpetuates the bias by emphasizing the military "essence" of the Zulu kingdo
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. He replaced this brief period of ritual seclusion with long term military service to the chiefdom and grouped these former circumcision sets on the criterion of similar age rather than the traditional territorial principle. With these redesigned age-sets, or amabutho, Dingiswayo forged a confederacy from among his Nguni neighb
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Although the Zulu was one of the least significant of the chiefdoms absorbed during the course of Mthethwa expansion, its status changed markedly when Shaka usurped the Zulu chieftainship from his brother in 1816
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In 1959, anthropologist Monica Wilson initiated a second line of investigation by suggesting that scholars examine the role of long-distance trade as a factor in Zulu state formation. As evidence, she cites the statement of Henry Frances Fynn, an early Natalian trader, that Dingiswayo initiated trade with the northern part of Delagoa Bay as one of his first acts as Mthethwa chieftain.15 Alan Smith, drawing upon the journals and letters of Portuguese traders and missionaries, has advanced Wilson's proposal by arguing that a flourishing trade existed at Delagoa Bay between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The lucrative ivory trade with Europe during this period intensified in the second half of the eighteenth century and Smith demonstrates that a significant share of trade originated in Natal. Numerous accounts corroborate this view and indicate that trade routes extended as far south as the eastern Cape fro
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summary Long-distance trade was a major factor in Zulu state formation, as evidenced by Henry Frances Fynn's statement that Dingiswayo initiated trade with the northern part of Delagoa Bay. Alan Smith argued that a flourishing trade existed at Delagoa Bay between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
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were the (regiments ) defended against raiders provided protection for refugees
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f ivory. During the course of the Mabudu-Tembe struggle two major Nguni chiefdoms, the Dhlamini-Ngwane and Ndwandwe, moved southwestward into northern Zulul
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Two other studies advance the hypothesis that trade was a major elemënt in the rise of the Zulu kingdom. Henry Slater argues that the effect of mercantile capital (i.e., the European demand for ivory at Delagoa Bay) placed unbearable tensions on a feudal social structure. The ensuing conflict over control of the means of production for the market transformed a feudal mode of production into an absolutist one.18 David W. Hedges argues that control of the ivory trade along the coastal lowlands between Delagoa Bay and northern Natal played an important role in Nguni state formation during the latter half of the eighteenth century. The conflict that ensued by the early nineteenth century did not result from an increase in ivory exports, as Smith suggests, but according to Hedges, from a change in the nature of the trade at Delagoa Bay. Hedges argues that the number of ships at Delagoa Bay decreased, and the export of cattle, a valuable commodity in Zululand, replaced that of
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summary Trade was a major factor in the rise of the Zulu kingdom, with Henry Slater arguing that mercantile capital placed tensions on feudal social structures and David W. Hedges arguing that control of the ivory trade along the coastal lowlands played an important role in Nguni state formation.
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socio-political change should be challenged for two reasons. First, the most substantial evidence linking Nguni expansion to Delagoa Bay is Fynn's brief allusion to Dingiswayo
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Second, the precolonial Nguni economy pivoted around the production of cattle and crops. Even during the nineteenth century trade held, at best, a secondary role.
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The most dramatic difference between this map and one he constructs for 1950 is that the latter reflects almost no forest or scrubfores
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ry. The conflict that appears to have been widespread immediately prior to the emergence of Shaka, may have reflected the efforts of ruling lineages to extend their polities over the most favorable ecological zone
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An analysis of Ndwandwe, Mthethwa and Qwabe expansion in the eighteenth century reflects three goals of each: 1) to dominate versatile pasturage; 2) to control fertile river valleys and coastal lowlands; and 3) to dominate defensible hill regions to protect precious economic assets, such as cattle and grain.26
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g the northern Nguni . . . must also be understood as encompassing a major social transformation cen
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The Historian Given the spotty oral and documentary evidence, it is doubtful that scholars will ever know "precisely why the long-established equilibrium among the small autonomous northern Nguni chiefdoms rather suddenly collapsed."42 Yet it now seems clear that this collapse was not sudden, and it involved significant ideological, as well as socio-political change. At the same time scholars have also exaggerated the military features of the Zulu kingdom, thus missing the more complex character of Nguni amabutho. And finally, the extent of population loss on the highveld as a result of the Shakan wars remains unknown. Afrikaners may not have trekked into a demographic vacuum. Since dramatic depopulation is not a proven historical fact, it should not be treated as such. To do so, one risks contributing to the political mythology of apartheid.
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Given the patchy oral and written records, it is unlikely that researchers will ever fully understand "precisely why the long-established equilibrium among the small autonomous northern Nguni chief doms rather suddenly collapsed."42 However, it is now apparent that this collapse was not abrupt and that it encompassed a considerable shift in ideologies as well as sociopolitics. At the same time, researchers have overemphasized the military prowess of the Zulu empire, omitting the more nuanced personality of Nguni amabutho. Finally, it is unknown how much of the highveld's population was displaced by the Shaka's conflicts. The demographic void that the Afrikaners entered might not have existed. Dramatic depopulation should not be accepted as historical fact because it has not been established. One runs the danger of causing the apartheid
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Given the patchy oral and written records, it is unlikely that researchers will ever fully understand "precisely why the long-established equilibrium among the small autonomous northern Nguni chief doms rather suddenly collapsed."42 However, it is now apparent that this collapse was not abrupt and that it encompassed a considerable shift in ideologies as well as sociopolitics. At the same time, researchers have overemphasized the military prowess of the Zulu empire, omitting the more nuanced personality of Nguni amabutho. Finally, it is unknown how much of the highveld's population was displaced by the Shaka's conflicts. The demographic void that the Afrikaners entered might not have existed. Dramatic depopulation should not be accepted as historical fact because it has not been established. One runs the danger of causing the apartheid
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The Bloody Story of the Zulu War of 18
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