History · Lesson 13

The Zulu, the Mfecane, the Great Trek, apartheid and its end

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: B3 the Mfecane (Shaka and the Zulu, effects); B4 the Great Trek and frontier wars; C4 apartheid (origin, laws, resistance, Frontline States, dismantling, post-apartheid)

WAEC: apartheid and liberation in southern Africa; Nigeria and the OAU

NECO: apartheid and liberation in southern Africa; Nigeria and the OAU

What you will learn

Describe southern African peoples and British–Boer relations before the Trek.
Explain the rise of the Zulu kingdom and Shaka’s reforms.
Explain the causes and results of the Mfecane and the debate about it.
Describe the Cape Frontier Wars and the cattle-killing.
Explain the causes, course and results of the Great Trek.
Outline the mineral revolution, the wars of conquest and the Union of 1910.
Explain the laws and effects of apartheid.
Describe resistance to apartheid, international action (including Nigeria’s) and the transition of 1990–94.

Key points

Cape: Dutch 1652; British 1795/1806; Ordinance 50 (1828); slavery abolished 1834.
Shaka: chief 1816; stabbing spear, cow-horn formation, amabutho; killed 22 Sept 1828.
Mfecane causes: land, drought, trade, rival states, Shaka; Cobbing’s alibi debate (1988).
New states: Basotho (Moshoeshoe), Swazi, Ndebele (Mzilikazi), Gaza, Ngoni (Zwangendaba), Kololo.
Frontier wars 1779–1879; cattle-killing 1856–57 (Nongqawuse).
Great Trek c.1836: grievances, land; Retief killed 1838; Blood River 16 Dec 1838.
Natal 1843; Sand River 1852 (Transvaal); Bloemfontein 1854 (OFS).
Isandlwana and Ulundi 1879; Majuba 1881; Vereeniging 1902; Union 31 May 1910.
SANNC/ANC 1912; Land Act 1913; National Party 1948.
Laws: 1949 marriages; 1950 registration, group areas; 1953 Bantu education; 1959 homelands.
Resistance: 1952 Defiance; 1955 Charter; 1960 Sharpeville; 1961 MK; 1964 Rivonia; 1976 Soweto.
End: 2 Feb 1990 de Klerk; 11 Feb 1990 Mandela freed; 27 Apr 1994 vote; 10 May 1994 President.

Start here: Southern Africa before 1800

To understand the Mfecane, the Great Trek and apartheid, start with the peoples of southern Africa around 1800.

Khoisan: the San (hunter-gatherers) and the Khoikhoi (herders) of the west and south.
Bantu-speaking farmers and herders: the Nguni (Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Ndebele and others) on the eastern coastal belt, and the Sotho-Tswana on the highveld interior. They kept cattle, grew sorghum and maize, and were organised in chiefdoms.
Europeans: the Dutch East India Company founded a station at the Cape in 1652 under Jan van Riebeeck to supply its ships. Settlers, called Boers (farmers) and later Afrikaners, spread inland. Slaves were imported from Asia and other parts of Africa, and the Khoikhoi lost land and independence.

The British take the Cape

Britain occupied the Cape in 1795, handed it back in 1803, and took it again in 1806; it was confirmed as British in 1814. British rule brought conflict with the Boers:

English as the official language and British-style courts.
The Slagtersnek rebellion (1815), after which five Boer rebels were hanged.
The arrival of about 4,000 British settlers in the eastern Cape in 1820.
Ordinance 50 (1828), which gave the Khoikhoi and other free people of colour legal equality with whites and freedom of movement.
Abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire, in force from 1834, with "apprenticeship" until 1838. Slave owners complained that compensation was low and had to be collected in London.
Missionaries such as Dr John Philip of the London Missionary Society, who defended African rights and were resented by many Boers.

Worked example 13.1 (JAMB style)

The Dutch settlement at the Cape was founded in (A) 1488 (B) 1652 (C) 1806 (D) 1836. Answer: B. 1488 is Bartolomeu Dias rounding the Cape; 1806 is the second British occupation; 1836 is the Great Trek.

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Practice questions

1. The Zulu kingdom was built up by

Shaka
Mzilikazi
Moshoeshoe
Zwide

Show answer

A: Shaka
From 1816.

2. The upheaval of wars and migrations in southern Africa in the early 19th century is the

Great Trek
Mahdiyya
hijra
Mfecane (Difaqane)

Show answer

D: Mfecane (Difaqane)
Causes debated by historians.

3. The Basotho kingdom was founded by

Sobhuza
Zwangendaba
Moshoeshoe
Shaka

Show answer

C: Moshoeshoe
At Thaba Bosiu.

4. The Ndebele state was founded by

Dingane
Mzilikazi
Moshoeshoe
Cetshwayo

Show answer

B: Mzilikazi
Settled in present-day Zimbabwe.

5. Shaka was assassinated in

1828
1816
1838
1879

Show answer

A: 1828
By Dingane and others.

Key words

Mfecane: Nguni term ("the crushing") for the wars and migrations of c.1815–1840.
Difaqane: Sotho term for the same upheaval.
Amabutho: Zulu age-regiments.
Iklwa: Short stabbing spear associated with Shaka.
Boer: Dutch-descended farmer; later Afrikaner.
Voortrekkers: Boers who took part in the Great Trek.
Laager: Defensive circle of wagons.
Apartheid: "Separateness": the system of legal racial segregation, 1948–1994.
Bantustan: A "homeland" set aside for an African group under apartheid.
Pass: Document Africans had to carry to be in white areas.
Frontline States: States near South Africa and Rhodesia that supported liberation.
Sanctions: Penalties, such as trade bans, to force a change of policy.

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