What is the Mfecane theory?
What is the Mfecane theory?
Book Description: The idea that the period of social turbulence in the nineteenth century was a consequence of the emergence of the powerful Zulu kingdom under Shaka has been written about extensively as a central episode of southern African history.
What role did the Mfecane play in the Great Trek?
The major point of Mfecane: The Role Played by Blacks in the Great Trek, is that blacks trudging besides ox wagons out of the Cape and into the hinterland outnumbered white Trekkers. “The Great Trek has been interpreted in many different ways,” Halala writes in the introduction to his book.
Why was Mfecane so significant in the history of South Africa?
The Mfecane led to the development of larger political units such as the Zulu state and the Swazi composite. With the fall of Dingiswayo, Shaka emerged from the ashes of the small Zulu chiefdom to build it into a larger political kingdom. Shaka defeated Zwide and then he crafted his Zulu kingdom.
How did the Mfecane impact Southern Africa?
By the 1960s, the mfecane and Zulu nation building were being given a positive spin – considered more as a revolution in Bantu Africa, where Shaka played a leading role in the creation of a Zulu nation in Natal. Moshoeshoe similarly created the Sotho kingdom in what is now Lesotho as a defense against Zulu incursions.
Who started the Mfecane?
The concept first emerged in the 1830s and blamed the disruption on the actions of Shaka Zulu, who was alleged to have waged near-genocidal wars that depopulated the land and sparked a chain reaction of violence as fleeing groups sought to conquer new lands.
When did Mfecane begin?
1815 – 1840Mfecane / Period
What was the impact of the Mfecane quizlet?
What was the impact of the Mfecane? The resulting political disruption sent African groups fleeing before the Zulus into both Portuguese coastal regions and the Boer farms of southern Africa.
Which tribes were affected by Mfecane?
There were three major ethnic groups that occupied the areas now known as Nquthu, Babanango, Empangeni, Mtubatuba, Hlabisa, Nongoma, Pongola, Vryheid, Melmoth and Mahlabathini – those ethnic groups were the Ngwane, the Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa.
What are the causes and effects of Mfecane PDF?
Causes of Mfecane They identified population explosion, the introduction of maize by the Portuguese, land shortage and hunger, new military tactics and weapons development, and the change in society to formation of age regiments. These factors will be briefly examined below.
How was Southern Africa like during the period of 1750’s?
By 1750, most of the people in southern Africa lived in small chiefdoms ruled by a chief. Chiefdoms were not isolated from one another. They traded and interacted with one another, and with the nomadic Khoisan. From time to time, chiefdoms went to war with one another.
Who coined the term Mfecane?
In contrast to Julian Cobbing, who called the mfecane an alibi for colonial-sponsored violence, this article argues that much documentation of conflict in the Caledon region consisted of various ‗alibis’ for African land seizures and claims in the 1840s and ‗50s.
Was the Mfecane an alibi?
Cobbing also presents the Mfecane as a myth deliberately created to pro- vide an “alibi” for slaving and raiding, then at a later stage propagated by historians to justify and legitimate the racially unequal division of the land.