The Role Of Shaka In The Mfecane

Introduction:

The Mfecane was a series of Nguni and Zulu wars that took place on the Southern tip of Africa during the 19th century. And this caused the whole demographic of this area to change there was also a whole social and political change that took place during this period. The Mfecane was set in motion by the Zulu kingdom because they wanted to expand their power over Southern Africa. And they also had a whole military revolution under the leadership of Shaka. And in this essay I am going to be looking at the role the Zulu king Shaka played in the Mfecane.

Shaka and the Mfecane:

To understand the reasons for the Mfecane and why Shaka played a big role in this war one has to go even further back and look at the history of Shaka and the

His warriors marched for 25 miles and then they went and surrounded the kraal of this tribe and then the eLangeni tribe surrendered even before Shaka could fight them. When he obtained this tribe he then punished those that had done any harm to his mother and with this conquer he also obtained more warriors into his army. Shaka then went on to attack the Buthelezi tribe this tribe oblivious to what Shaka was capable of they already prepared to celebrate their victory over Shaka and his warriors. But Shaka used a military tactic that surprised the Buthelezi tribe threw them totally of guard and then they started to panic and they could not even throw their spears and because of this panic the Buthelezi army just fled. Again here Shaka expanded his tribe with the survivors of the Buthelezi tribe being incorporated into his

The Mfecane that Shaka played a big role in was not just bad because it prompted a whole new political culture in Southern Africa. But the fact of the matter is also that is caused a lot of suffering to the people as people died from famines and a lot of people had to leave their homes because of fear. People had to travel long distances in order for them to get away from this great suffering that they had. One can say that the role that Shaka had played in the Mfecane was to broaden the horizons of the zulu tribe and expand them into other parts of the country and caused this tribe that was not as organised before to be organised. One can say that because he had played such a big role in the Mfecane a lot of diversity was established in Southern Africa that is still today the