Transformation
in Southern Africa
Causes
of the Mfecane
| GRADE LEVEL | THEME | TOPIC | DURATION |
| 10 | SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY | TRANSFORMATIONS
IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: MIGRATIONS AND MOVEMENTS FROM THE EARLY TO THE
MID-19TH CENTURY |
x LESSONS |
Transformation
in Southern Africa |
The mfecane was partly caused by changes in the Nguni groups that resulted in the development of the Zulu nation. Stronger leaders began to absorb weaker groups around them. Before this problems between groups had been insignificant, but larger tribes meant larger conflicts. The Ndwandwe, led by Zwide, the Ngwane under Sobhuza and the Mthethwa under Dingiswayo changed the military, political and social systems of the southern African people completely. These changes led to Shaka Zulu’s rise to power and his dream of a Zulu kingdom, and his military drive through southern Africa.
Picture
A: The arrival of maize changed the agricultural patterns of the people
of southern Africa. Although it was nutritious it required more water
than indigenous plants and encouraged
groups
to
move closer
to each other so more people
could be fed. Population growth and severe drought in the late eighteenth century caused societies to settle closer to each other. When maize arrived from the Americas through Portuguese traders in Mozambique, people realised that this plant was more nutritious than local plants and could feed larger groups of people, which also caused communities to move closer together. Ivory trade with the Portuguese in Delagoa Bay motivated people to move to the area south of Mozambique where leaders could control this industry. Land became scarce and farmers had reached the limt of usable land on the edge of the Kalahari Desert in the northwest and the mountains on the southern edge of the Highveld. Water became harder to find and rain was scarce.
Picture B: The ivory trade with the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay motivated
people to migrate there. The mfecane was caused by a number od interacting factors including environmental and societal changes, as well as severe conflict and fear among the people of southern Africa. It affected the continent as far north as Malawi. It is difficult to say what the exact reasons for the migration were because this history went unrecorded. Outcomes: Learners are able to use skills and knowledge to construct knowledge in the form of an historical argument and communicate it through writing.
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Activity
3