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The Mfecane is one of the most controversial periods in southern African history. Traditionally it has been seen as a period of prolonged warfare between various African tribes and groups, starting with the rise of Shaka and the formation of the Zulu kingdom, and spread by people fleeing from Shaka. The resulting warfare killed somewhere between severan hundred thousand and two million people, depending on your source, although no exact figures can exist. More recently an alternative version of the period has been suggested, in which many of the changes seen in the area are blamed on European settlers – Portuguese, British and Boer – and the idea of a largely internal African disaster seen as a colonial era justification for their settlement. However there is no obvious reason why the Europeans couldn’t have been using a genuine African disaster to justify their actions (not that many of the colonists would have needed such a justification).
This book largely follows the earlier view (although using lower casualty figures). We thus follow the early history of the Zulus and the rise of Shaka. Although his direct impact was limited to a relatively small area, we know that several significant figures did indeed flee from Shaka’s vicinity, including Matiwane and Mzilikazi (founder of the Matabele). It was the movement of these men and their followers that spread the violence into surrounding areas. Mzilikazi in particular was very widely travelled, ending up in what became Matabeleland (western Zimbabwe). The author does a good job of keeping each of these stories clear and separate in the readers mind, an impressive achievement for a complex period with a number of major players.
Only towards the end of the period being studied here do the Europeans begin to play a major role in events, starting with the Great Trek of the Boers. This brought them into conflict with the Matabele and the Zulus, most famously at the battle of the Blood River of 1838. The significance of this battle is somewhat exaggerated – the war between the Boers and Zulus continued for another year, and the really decisive battle only gets a brief mention.
This is a good introduction to this disasterous period in the history of Southern Africa. The reader needs to be aware that it largely follows the older (but still widely supported) interpretation of events, but it does a good job of telling that story. The key actors in this story and the majority of their activities are part of reliably established history and many of the groups now existing in southern Africa emerged in this period, so this is a valuable story to understand.
Chapters
1 – The Arrival of the Settlers
2 – Shaka: The Quest for Power
3 – Matiwane’s Path of Terror
4 – The British Arrive
5 – Mzilikazi: The Bloodiest of All
6 – Dingane: Who Rules by Fear
7 – Mzilikazi’s Rivers of Blood
8 – Enter the Boers
9 – The Great Trek Begins
10 – Defeat of the Matabele
11 – Intrusion onto the Lands of the Zulu
12 – Weenen and Italeni
13 – Blood River
14 – The End Game
Author: Robin Binckes
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 128
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2019