Matabeleland

{{Infobox settlement

<!-- for references: use [1] The land is fertile but semi arid. This area has coal and gold deposits. Industries include gold and other mineral mines, and engineering. There has been a decline in the industries in this region as water is in short supply due to scarce rainfall. Promises by the government to draw water for the region through the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project have not been carried out, continuing water shortages.[2]

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History

Rozvi Empire

Around the 10th and 11th centuries, the Bantu-speaking Bakalanga/vakaranga arrived from the south and settled in Mapungubwe on the Limpopo and Shashi river valleys. Later they moved north to Great Zimbabwe. By the 15th century, the Bakalanga/vakaranga had established a strong empire at Khami under a powerful ruler called Dlembeu. This empire was split by the end of the 15th century and were later conquered by the Nguni people.

Ndebele Kingdom

In the late 1830s, Mzilikazi Khumalo, led a group of Nguni and other ethnic groups from present-day South Africa into the Rozvi Empire of the Bakalanga. Many of the Bakalanga people were incorporated to create a large state called Ndebele Kingdom. Mzilikazi, a former general under Shaka, organised this ethnically diverse nation into a militaristic system of regimental towns and established his capital at Bulawayo ("the place of killing"). Mzilikazi was a statesman of considerable stature, able to weld the many conquered tribes into a strong, centralised kingdom.

In 1840, Matabeleland was founded.[3]

External links

Beneath the Zanu PF, MDC feud – notes for Mbeki Newzimbabwe.com(George Mkhwananzi)
The History of the Ndebele people {Zimbabwe}
"Free State of Matabeleland"

References

tags --> }} Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers and are further separated from Midlands by the Shangani River in central Zimbabwe. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people who were called "Amatabele" (people with long shields – Mzilikazi 's group of people who were escaping the Mfecani wars). Other ethnic groups who inhabit parts of Matabeleland include the Tonga, Bakalanga, Venda, Nambya, Khoisan, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and Tsonga. The capital and largest city is Bulawayo, other notable towns are Plumtree, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Lupane, Esigodini, Hwange Gwanda and Maphisa. Maphisa-gets-town-board-status

First Matabele War

The first decisive battle was fought on 1 November 1893, when a laager was attacked on open ground near the Bembesi River by Imbizo and Ingubo regiments. The laager consisted of 670 men of the British South Africa Police (BSAC), 400 of whom were mounted along with a small force of native allies, and fought off the Imbizo and Ingubo forces, which were considered by Sir John Willoughby to number 1,700 warriors in all. The laager had with it small artillery: 5 Maxim guns, 2 seven-pounders, 1 Gardner gun, and 1 Hotchkiss gun. The Maxim machine guns took center stage and decimated the native force at the Battle of the Shangani. Although Lobengula's forces totaled 8,000 spearmen and 2,000 riflemen, versus fewer than 700 BSAC troops, the Ndebele warriors were unable to counter modern weaponry. Leander Starr Jameson sent his troops to Bulawayo to try to capture Lobengula, but the king escaped and left Bulawayo in ruins behind him.

An attempt to bring the king and his forces to submit led to the disaster of the Shangani Patrol when a Ndebele Impi overwhelmed a British South Africa Company patrol led by Major Allan Wilson at the Shangani river in December 1893. Except for Frederick Russell Burnham and two other scouts sent for reinforcements, the detachment was surrounded and wiped out. This incident had a lasting influence on Matabeleland nationalism and spirit of resistance and the colonists who died in this battle are buried at Matobo Hills along with Jameson and Cecil Rhodes. In white Rhodesian history, Wilson's battle takes on the status of General Custer's stand at Little Big Horn in the United States. The Matabele fighters honoured the dead men with a salute to their bravery in battle and reportedly told the king, "They were men of men and their fathers were men before them." Lobengula died in January 1894, under mysterious circumstances; within a few short months the British South Africa Company controlled Matabeleland, and white settlers continued to arrive.

History

Rozvi Empire

Ndebele Kingdom

See also

External links

References

British South Africa Company

First Matabele War

Second Matebele War

Birthplace of Scouting

British Rule

Sovereign Rhodesia

Zimbabwe

Gukurahundi Massacre 1983-1987