The Ngoni Migration
In twenty years they travelled over a
thousand miles.
In 1818 the Nguni started to fight among
themselves for land and power. Different people wanted to be in charge. It
led to the Zulu Wars. They fought each other for power. The ones that lost
the the battles were forced to leave the Zulu lands. This was the start of a
long migration to find somewhere else to live.
Zwangendaba was one of the
defeated leaders. He fled north after his defeat in 1819. Zwangendaba's
followers started to use the name Ngoni. Over the next 20 years they had to
find ways to survive. How could they get food to eat? One way was to steal
food and cattle from villages they came across. They killed people who tried
to stop them. As you can imagine, they were disliked by the tribes they stole
from. None of the other tribes wanted the Ngoni to live near them, so they
forced them away. Each time the Ngoni were pushed further and further north.
Until, eventually, they reached Southern Tanzania.
Not much was written about the Mfecane.
What we know is from the diaries of missionaries and travellers from Europe,
and from the stories passed down from generation to generation.
Shaka and the Zulu Wars
It all started with troubles in South
Africa. They began at the start of the 19th century, around 1800. At this
time the Zulu kingdom was led by a powerful warrior called Shaka (or Tchaka). The Zulus became rich
and defeated many other tribes.
Zwangendaba
Ngoni Fighting Methods
As they moved north they came into
conflict. They fought the other groups who were living on the lands they
crossed. Because they knew Zulu fighting methods the Ngoni could usually
defeat groups that opposed them. The Zulu warriors werewell trained.
They planned how they were going to fight their battles. Their trick was to
try and surround their enemy. They went forward to battle in a horn formation and closed around their enemy. They
used assegais,which were
short stabbing spears and they were trained in man-to-man fighting. Most other
tribes used throwing spears. Often the Ngoni would make a mock charge, get their opponents
to throw their spears and then stab them with their assegais. After the battles
they would force the young men to join their army and take young girls for
wives. Other people, including the old people, were often killed.
The Ngoni specialised in fighting. That was
all they knew. They could not produce their own food. They had to keep moving
to find new villages they could plunder. The king of the Fipa people, who
lived in that area, made peace with the Ngoni. This saved his kingdom from
being destroyed. Zwangendaba built his own capital called Mapupo, which means
"dreams". For two more years they raided neighbouring people, the
Sukuma and Msafwa, to get food and cattle. Then they settled down with their
animals and families, and started to grow crops.
Break up of the Ngoni
Zwangendaba died in Mapupo in 1845.
He was buried in an ox hide at Chapota, near the Nyinaluzi River. He fled
from the Zulu Wars in South Africa. But he spent the rest of his life
fighting other tribes for survival. He was a great warrior and leader.
After Zwangendaba's death his family fought
over who should succeed him. His group divided in two. Then each of these
groups split up. In the end there were 5 separate groups. Three went back to
cattle raiding, in Malawi and Zambia. Two groups went north as far as Lake
Victoria. There they found Arabs who were taking local people as slaves.
Effects of the Ngoni migration and the Mkecane
The Ngoni migration and mfecane caused
trouble for 20 years, in central and east Africa. Thousands of people were
killed by the Ngoni. Villages were destroyed and people were forced offtheir
land. Many of them starved due to the lack of food.
The main problem was that the Ngoni knew
only one way of life and that was fighting. The only way they could feed
themselves was to plunder and kill. They even sold many of the people they
captured to slave traders. This caused more misery throughout East Africa.
Eventually the groups the Ngoni fought
banded together for protection. One of the Sangu chieftains, Mwakawangu,
united the people to defeat the Ngoni invaders. This gave the Sangu control
of the rich, farming area of the Southern Highlands. Other groups also realised
that they had to be strong to protect their livelihoods.
TASK 1: Ngoni Time
Line
Make a list of the important dates between
1800 and 1845 and write down what happened at each date:
Ngoni time line
1800 Shaka ruled the Zulu kingdom in South
Africa
1818 The Zulu Wars
1819
TASK 2: The Story of a
Ngoni Warrior
Imagine you were a young warrior with
Zangendaba.
You had been defeated in the Zulu wars and
forced to leave your home.
Write a story to describe how you think you
would have:
The Zulu and the Mfecane
The Zulu
The Zulu peoples were an important tribe in
South Africa in the late 18th century (around 1790). They lived around the
areas called Natal today. There were many small groups of Nguni, which was the old name for the
Zulu. The groups lived separately and were not organised under one leader.
The Zulu were cattle herders but they also
grew some crops. They came into contact with Portuguese farmers living in
Mozambique. The Portuguese grew maize, which they brought to Africa from the
Americas. Maize was a good crop to grow, because it produced more food from
the same area of land. The Zulu also started to grow maize. This gave them
more food and allowed Zululand to support more people. The Zulu became better
fed and stronger and their population increased greatly.
Shaka Zulu
Shaka Zulu was
the leader of one of the smaller Zulu chiefdoms. Because there was plenty of
food he was able to have an army. The food for the warriors was provided by
others. This allowed them to be a full-time army. They developed better
weapons. One of these was the assegai,
a short stabbing spear. The assegai was feared by enemies. Using his
well-trained warriors Shaka took over neighbouring lands.
The Tribute System
He force other tribes to pay him tributes
in exchange for protection. The tributes were gifts. They included cattle,
furs, feathers, and carved wooden sculptures. He took control of all the
precious metals. At this time they were copper and brass. The metal was used
to make wooden clubs stronger. It was also used for ornaments, like neck
rings and armbands. The more of these you had, the greater your importance in
the tribe.
Drought and Crop Failure
The problems for the Zulu started after
1800. By then most of the good land was being used. As the population grew,
the extra people had to fight for land in order to survive. Things were made
worse by 10 years with much less rain. The period of drought meant that crops
failed. This led to food shortages.
The Zulu Wars
The Zulu started to fight among themselves
for land and water. This led to the Zulu Wars from about 1815 to 1820. Many
people were killed and many others were forced off the land. The survivors
had to move out of Zululand.
The Mfecane
This led to the great migration called the "Mfecane", which meant
the "great scattering" .
The Mfecane lasted from 1815 to 1840. The people could not move south,
because the Dutch settlers had lived there since the 17th century. They could
not move east because Portuguese farmers were there and there were also slave
traders. So they moved north toward East Africa.
Zangendaba led
the Ngoni group that made their way north as far as Southern Tanzania. This
was what we now call the Ngoni migration.
The Ngoni Migration
Do this when you
have studied the whole topic of the Ngoni migration.
Make a list of the reasons why the Ngoni
migrated from South Africa to Southern Tanzania.
What were the things that caused them to
leave South Africa.
Why were they happy to settle in Southern
Tanzania 20 years later?
The Ngoni and the Zulu
(1) Where the Ngoni live
The Wagoni are Bantu people. They live in
south-west Tanzania.
They live in over 100 villages around the
town of Songea.
(2) Their Zulu origins
The Wagoni have a strong story-telling
tradition. Their elders tell stories about the tribe to the younger
generation. They are called "Hearing Tales". They are repeated
often so the young can learn the stories. They then pass them on to their
children.
This is how the history of the tribe is
passed on from one generation to the next.
According to these "Hearing
Tales" the Ngoni believe that the tribe is related to the Zulu. Their
stories tell of how they migrated to Tanzania from South Africa, from the
area between Natal and Swaziland.
There are 12 branches of the Ngoni tribe.
Other groups are in Northern Malawi, Eastern Zambia, Southern Zimbabwe and
Mozambique.
(3) How the Ngoni are like the Zulu
The Ngoni in Southern Tanzania have a lot
in common with other Ngoni groups and with the Zulu of South Africa.
1. Settlements. Their villages have
a similar design.Ngoni villages are built around the cattle enclosure. This
is called a kraal.
It is made from thorn bushes, to keep out wild animals. Cattle are the
Ngoni's wealth. When they eat cow's meat they believe they are sharing with
their dead ancestors.
The important buildings in a Ngoni village
are the houses of the clan head, his chief wife and the hut for the boys. In
the boys' hut they are trained in the Ngoni traditions. They also learn to
hunt.
There is a separate area where the men of
the village talk. The huts of other people are spread around the kraal. You
can see from this that protecting the cattle is very important to the Ngoni.
They also have some fields where they grow food crops. This settlement
pattern is found in all the Ngoni groups as well as in traditional Zulu
society. Below is a picture of the Ngoni men sitting inside the kraal.
2. Customs
and rituals. As
well as having similar settlements the Ngoni and the Zulu had similar customs
and rituals.
a. Girls had initiation ceremonies where
they are given sex education, taught family planning and house management.
b. Boys had similar circumcision ceremonies
and they were taught to hunt, other skills, tribal beliefs and some were
taught witchcraft.
c. Both boys and girls were taught the arts
of painting, modelling and crafts.
d. The groups had similar traditional
dances, which date back to their warrior past.
3. Language. They
share many common words in their languages.
(But the languages of each group have
merged with the languages of the people they live near, so they cannot any
longer speak to each other in a common Ngoni language.)
4. Ngoni and Nguni. The Zulu belong to a
group of tribes that are called the "Nguni" in South Africa. This is a very
similar name to Ngoni, and another reason why many Ngoni believe they are
related to the Zulu.
Please Note: The way of life of the Ngoni in East Africa and the Zulu of South
Africa are similar. They could be related to the Zulu. On the other hand,
they may have just picked up their customs after being conquered by the Zulu.
QUESTION
Do you
believe that the Ngoni are related to the Zulu? Explain why.
REFERENCEhttp://www.elateafrica.org/elate/history/ngoni/ngonifromsouthafrica.html |
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