RISE OF THE NNDWANDWE UNDER ZWIDE
The Ndwandwe chief Yaka and his son Zwide, who had succeeded him by the 1790s,
conquered local Nguni chiefdoms including the Klurnalo and Ngwaneni. Zwide is remembered
as being much more ruthless than Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa. When Zwide came to power
in 1805, the Ndwandwe clan, in the north of what we now call Zululand, was growing in
military power.
Zwide was the leader of the Ndwandwe
Sobhuza was the leader of the Ngwane, who later became the Swazi
Dingiswayo was the leader of the Mthethwa. Zwide and Sobhuza fought over land
along the Pongola River and Sobhuza was defeated after which he led his people
further inland to the area that is known as Swaziland today.
The Ndwandwe were a powerful tribe in the interior of South Africa.
Relied on the amabutho to fight for them.
Mzilikazi formed the powerful Ndebele nation. Moshoeshoe was a great leader of his
Sotho nation. In just a few years, the political face of South Africa had been
transformed.
Various small groups of people lived all over South Africa.
After defeating Sobhuza, Zwide came into conflict with Dingiswayo over other
resources like land and water
The Ndwandwe and Mthethwa chiefdoms used wars to conquer other chiefdoms and
make them part of a new larger nation.
The subject chiefs continued to rule their own people, but young men and women
became members of national age-regiments instead of each chiefdom having its own
initiation school, and the old custom of male circumcision disappeared altogether.
This new type of state seems to have developed first among the Ndwandwe.
The growth of the Ndwandwe state had begun before the mid-18th century when their Hlubi
and Ngwane (or Swazi) relatives had settled with them around the Pongola valley.
He attacked chiefs who disobeyed him and killed them rather than fining them a number of
cattle like Dingiswayo.
Zwide surrounded himself with traditional doctors and made people fear him as a magician.
He gathered the nation together for great annual ceremonies of which the most important
was the first fruits harvest ceremony called Incwala - probably of Ronga origin.
In a week of Incwala ritual, the king was doctored as the national leader, first in public with
songs and dances until he bit the first gouged of the harvest and then in private with medicine
to strengthen and purify himself and the nation.
Zwide's ruthlessness can be seen in his relations with the Ngwabe.
The Ndwandwe chief Yaka and his son Zwide, who had succeeded him by the 1790s,
conquered local Nguni chiefdoms including the Klurnalo and Ngwaneni. Zwide is remembered
as being much more ruthless than Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa. When Zwide came to power
in 1805, the Ndwandwe clan, in the north of what we now call Zululand, was growing in
military power.
Zwide was the leader of the Ndwandwe
Sobhuza was the leader of the Ngwane, who later became the Swazi
Dingiswayo was the leader of the Mthethwa. Zwide and Sobhuza fought over land
along the Pongola River and Sobhuza was defeated after which he led his people
further inland to the area that is known as Swaziland today.
The Ndwandwe were a powerful tribe in the interior of South Africa.
Relied on the amabutho to fight for them.
Mzilikazi formed the powerful Ndebele nation. Moshoeshoe was a great leader of his
Sotho nation. In just a few years, the political face of South Africa had been
transformed.
Various small groups of people lived all over South Africa.
After defeating Sobhuza, Zwide came into conflict with Dingiswayo over other
resources like land and water
The Ndwandwe and Mthethwa chiefdoms used wars to conquer other chiefdoms and
make them part of a new larger nation.
The subject chiefs continued to rule their own people, but young men and women
became members of national age-regiments instead of each chiefdom having its own
initiation school, and the old custom of male circumcision disappeared altogether.
This new type of state seems to have developed first among the Ndwandwe.
The growth of the Ndwandwe state had begun before the mid-18th century when their Hlubi
and Ngwane (or Swazi) relatives had settled with them around the Pongola valley.
He attacked chiefs who disobeyed him and killed them rather than fining them a number of
cattle like Dingiswayo.
Zwide surrounded himself with traditional doctors and made people fear him as a magician.
He gathered the nation together for great annual ceremonies of which the most important
was the first fruits harvest ceremony called Incwala - probably of Ronga origin.
In a week of Incwala ritual, the king was doctored as the national leader, first in public with
songs and dances until he bit the first gouged of the harvest and then in private with medicine
to strengthen and purify himself and the nation.
Zwide's ruthlessness can be seen in his relations with the Ngwabe.
