Sobhuza I and the Ngwane (Later the Swazi) Chiefdom

Sobhuza I and the Ngwane (Later the Swazi) Chiefdom

The Ngwane under Sobhuza I (Somhololo) 1815 -39 were driven northwards by the Ndwandwe who attacked them every time they settled down. On their way north, the Ngwane attacked the Maseko clan of Ngoni in the great Usutu valley, causing them to become another M'fecane nation of marauding refugees

The Ngwane were then expelled northwards conquering the Pedi or the Sotho clans on their way. They finally settled in the upper Nkomati valley beyond the range of the Ndwandwe attack while Zwide was at war with Dingiswayo and Shaka in the south 1818-19.

When Zwide fled from the Zulu defeat in 1819 by Shaka, he took his people to Ngwane country around the Upper Nkomati and Sobhuza withdrew south -eastwards, The Ndwandwe were now too weak to follow and attack the Ngwane and Sobhuza and Zwide became allies with the marriage of Zwide's daughter Thandile as wife to Sobhuza. Around 1820, Sobhuza began a more peaceful process of state building fixing his capital in Usutu valley. From this centre, Sobhuza brought into regular tribute from the pedi of the neighboring High Veld, and the Tsonga in the low Veld, as well the small Ngoni chiefdoms in the middle Veld country around the little Usutu valley. Sobhuza therefore founded the state known as Ka- Ngwane or later called Swaziland.

There was a lot of politics from the Ndwandwe influence on the emerging Ngwane (Swazi) nation in the use of the "Incwala as a national unifying ceremony stressed strongly by Sobhuza's son Mswati (1840 -68) as the son of Ndwandwe Princess

The strong political role of the Queen mother among the Ngwane as a check on the power of the king also seems to have been of Ndwandwe origin.

The responsibility of the Ngwane king to a national council responsibility of the Ngwane king to national council of elders (Libandla) may have been adopted from the Pedi. The Pedi or/ the Ronga influence on the Ngwane may also be seen in the si-Swati language in royal marriage by cousins of the same clan, forbidden among all other Nguni and even in hair styles.

Sobhuza relations with the Europeans dates back in 1830 are with the V oortrekkers and European traders at the Delagoa Bay. When the Boers beat the Zulu at the Blood River battle in 1838, Sobhuza sent a message of congratulation. But the Swazi were then invaluable allies of the Boers in the Zulu-Swazi -Boer wars that followed during which King Sobhuza died (1838-39) The first Swazi- Boer treaty of friendship was agreed in 1840 between the Natal Volksraad and the regency that followed Sobhuza

Mswati son of Sobhuza was considered too young to rule alone till 1845. He soon established himself as the greatest of Ngwane kings, giving his name to the nation as the people of Mswati - erna-Swati or in is Zulu -ama-Swazi. He organized the state along Ndwandwe lines

Zwide and the Ndwandwe Chiefdom

The growth of the Ndwandwe state had begun before the mid-18th century when their Hlubi and Ngwane (or Swazi) relatives had settled with them around the Pongola valley

The Ndwandwe chief Yaka and his son Zwide, who had succeeded him by the l790s, conquered local Nguni chiefdoms including the Klurnalo and Ngwaneni.

Zwide is remembered as being much more ruthless than Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa. He attacked chiefs who disobeyed him and killed them rather than fining them a number of cattle like Dingiswayo.

Zwide surrounded himself with traditional doctors and made people fear him as a magician. He gathered the nation together for great annual ceremonies of which the most important was the first fruits harvest ceremony called Incwala - probably of Ronga origin.

In a week of Incwala ritual, the king was doctored as the national leader, first in public with songs and dances until he bit the first gouged of the harvest and then in private with medicine to strengthen and purify himself and the nation.

Zwide's ruthlessness can be seen in his relations with the Ngwabe. Around 1816, the new Ngwane tried to renew an old claim to use crop lands near the Pongola. Wide reacted by sending an army, which attacked and burnt down Sobhuza's capital on the southern border of present day Swaziland.

He also tried to block the trade route along the coastal flats between the Maputo and Mthethwa Kingdom, but he was defeated with the use of firearms by the Mthethwa and their allies.

The Ndwandwe and the Mthethwa fought again in battle at Mbuzi at Zwide's capital in the Pongola valley during the winter of 1818. Some scholars say that Dingiswayo was made mad or servile by Zwide's magic during the battle.

Dingiswayo wandered away from his army, was captured and put out to death by Zwide, as his skull was displayed on the door way of the powerful Ndwandwe Queen mother (the mother of Zwide). The Mthethwa kingdom built upon the personal power of Dingiswayo fell apart on the death of the King.

One of Dingiswayo's chiefs- Shaka immediately began to build up a new Kingdom based on his own chiefdom of the Zulu.

Before Shaka could become too powerful Zwide sent an army south to attack the Zulu Kingdom. The Ndwandwe army surrounded the smaller army of the Zulu on Gqokoli hill just south of the Mfolozi. Every time the Ndwandwe attacked, the Zulu protected themselves with their large shields from the spears thrown at them. The Zulu then used their short handled stabbing spears to drive the Ndwandwe away. Zwide was annoyed at their defeat and led his whole army against the Zulu at the end of 1818.

Some historical sources say that Zwide had acquired his army with stabling spears. Shaka first retreated southwards, drawing the Ndwandwe further and further from their home in unfamiliar environment and territory.m The Zulu then attacked the Ndwandwe in small guerilla groups, and Zwide turned the Ndwandwe army homewards. As they advanced on the Mhlatuze River, Shakas attacked the tired and starving Ndwandwe with a full army. The Ndwandwe were roundly and defeated, as most of the survivors fled northwards with Zwide to attack the Ngwaneni of Matiwane valley on the present Swaziland- Transvaal Frontier.

At this place of settlement, Zwide generals -Zwangendaba and Soshangane quarreled with him and marched down the Nkomati top and attacked the Ronga around the Delagoa Bay. Between 1818 - 1819, the Ndwandwe fought wars with the Mthethwa and the Zulu, which set of a chain of wars across Southern Africa known as M'fecane.

The Ngwaneni of Matiwane were also attacked by the fleeing Ndwandwe, as they themselves also attacked the Hlubi, who refused to give back Ngwaneni cattle previously sent for safe keeping. The Hlubi crossed the Drakensburg to raid the Sotho in 1821 and therefore began the Difagane wars on the High Veld. Mean while Zwide's former funerals Zwangendaba and Soshangane founded the Ngoni and Shangane states and spread the wars to central and East Africa, while Shaka waged endless wars to bring people of the Natal area into his nation.

During 1819 to 1826, to the North of the Zulu, the Ndwandwe under Zwide recovered some of their former strength in the upper Nkomati Valley. They raided the southern parts of the Pedi Kingdom but remained at peace with their Ngwane neighbors under Sobhuza I as allies In about 1824, the Ndwandwe army ventured as far north as the Pongola River, and the Zulu army failed to SLOpit.In 1825, the Ndwandwe were weakened by the death of Zwide and by the disputes of his sons over who should succeed him as king of the Ndwandwe. •

In the following year Zwide's son Sikunyana/ Singuyane decided test Ndwandwe strength against the Zulu and marched south with an army of over 20,000, but was defeated by a much larger and battle hardened Zulu army under the command of Shaka assisted by a few English traders with noisy firearms. Many of the Ndwandwe were killed and the survivors fled to swell the ranks of the Ndebele, Shangane, Ngoni and Kololo and Ngwane nation in the north.