It was all
about land and who owned it and
the local people of Southern Africa
had no intention of quietly sitting
back whilst first the Dutch and
then the British forcefully took
over their land, acre for acre.
From the first Dutch settlement
in South Africa’s Cape in
1652 the trouble started brewing.
The San people (Bushmen) and Khoi-Khoi
(Hottentots) were peaceful folk
and simply moved away. The people
of the Xhosa and Zulu African
tribal kingdoms however were not
going to be moved without a fight
and for the next two centuries
bloody battles ensued between
the Dutch, the British and the
African tribes.
In
the beginning
The San and Khoi-Khoi tribes lived
in Southern Africa for centuries
before the Bantu-speaking tribes
moved into the north-east and
east coast around the 11th century.
Relative peace reigned between
these farming communities who
traded their wares throughout
the region.
Their calm
existence changed dramatically
with the arrival of the first
European settlements in the Cape
in 1652. A supply station was
opened by the Dutch East India
Company and the local farmers
were no longer welcome on their
own land. Inevitably the Dutch
colony grew eastwards over the
next 150 years and often came
into conflict with the Bantu tribes.
The first Bantu War was in 1779
when Dutch farmers were violently
intercepted by the Xhosa. By now
the Europeans had their own dialect,
called Afrikaans and moved even
further eastwards after the British
seized the Cape in 1806. The British
abolished slavery in 1834, which
did not sit well with the Afrikaans
farmers who felt that the British
were interfering in their affairs.
Slaves had been imported from
East and West Africa and South
East Asia for years. The Afrikaners
decided to move on and the Great
Trek took place. Hundreds of Afrikaners
packed up their possessions and
cattle and moved across the Orange
River.
The British
forged ahead with their plans
to colonialize Southern Africa
and drove 20,000 Xhosas from their
land, replacing them with British
settlers. Of course the Bantu
tribes were not going to take
this abuse for much longer and
it all came to a head when King
Shaka of the Zulus decided enough
was enough and waged one of the
bloodiest wars against the European
settlers in history. The British
and the Boers (Afrikaners) weren’t
the greatest friends either and
often clashed.
The
Battle of Blood River
The Voortrekkers or Boers, as
the Afrikaners were then known,
moved into Zulu territory, known
today as Kwa Zulu Natal and tried
to negotiate with the Zulus for
land to settle on. The Zulus were
not interested and made this quite
clear after a few violent clashes
with the Voortrekkers. The Afrikaners
then stopped at Ncome River to
pray and face a bloody conflict.
On December 16 1838, 464 Afrikaners
(Boers) defeated an army of 10,000
Zulu warriors. The Boers saw their
victory as a gift from God and
a sign that they were to rule
the land and its original inhabitants,
the African tribes. This was The
Battle of Blood River where over
3,000 Zulus lost their lives,
yet not one Afrikaner was killed.
Today monuments stand on both
sides of the river commemorating
the bravery of both the Zulus
and Afrikaners.
The
Battle of Isandlwana
After the Battle of Blood River
there was peace in the Natal area
for a short time. The Zulus tolerated
the colony that was forming in
Natal’s Port simply because
it offered them a trading post.
Port Natal had been “discovered”
when the Portuguese explorer Vasco
da Gamma landed on this east coast
of South Africa on Christmas day
in 1497. He named it Rio de Natal
or Christmas River. It was a port
of call for many sailors and merchants
but only started to flourish in
the 1830’s. It was then
renamed Durban after the Governor
of the Cape colony, Sir Benjamin
Durban. It was not long before
the British and the Afrikaners
came into conflict over who was
to rule the area and they fought
it out bitterly. In 1879, however
the British laid claim to the
whole of Zululand and advised
Zulu King Cetshwayo. This resulted
in The Battle of Isandlwana in
January 1879, where 20,000 Zulu
warriors descended on the British
army camp, defeating them in the
bloody battle that ensued. Close
to 2,000 British soldiers were
killed on that mountain and served
to put fear into the hearts of
the British.
Rorke’s
Drift
Not long after Isandlwana, a handful
of only 100 British soldiers held
off an army of 4,000 Zulus during
the Battle of Rorke’s Drift.
The heroic actions of the vastly
outnumbered British resulted in
the award of 11 Victoria Crosses.
Britain however would not accept
defeat and sent re-enforcements
and the Anglo-Zulu War raged on
until Britain eventually emerged
the victor in 1887.
Across much
of the Kwa Zulu Natal midlands,
monuments commemorate the brave
warriors who fought for their
land and the soldiers who fought
for their country and their lives.
Expert guides and historians now
offer guided tours to the very
foothills and grasslands where
these mighty battles occurred.
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