Before the Great Ngoni Migration: Forgotten Testimonies About Zwide, Soshangane and the Ndwandwe Royal House

Exploring the James Stuart Archive and what southern Nguni oral traditions reveal about the origins of the Ngoni people of Malawi.

Who was Soshangane in relation to Zwide? Was the founder of the Gaza kingdom a brother, nephew or more distant relative of the powerful Ndwandwe ruler? And what might these relationships tell us about the political world in which Zwangendaba, remembered by the Jele Ngoni as a great ancestor, first rose to prominence?

The answers are not straightforward. Three accounts attributed to African informants recorded by James Stuart preserve different genealogies of Soshangane. Their differences deserve examination, not concealment.

Before the migration: Zwide's Ndwandwe kingdom

Before Shaka's Zulu kingdom achieved dominance, the southeast African region was home to a number of competing powers, including the Mthethwa associated with Dingiswayo and the Ndwandwe ruled by Zwide kaLanga. The wars and political upheavals of the early nineteenth century helped send several Nguni-speaking groups northwards. These included the followers of Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Nxaba Msane and Ngwana Maseko, although their movements and political fortunes were different.

This is why the history of the Ngoni of Malawi cannot be understood only by beginning with the crossing of the Zambezi. Its roots reach further south into the contested world of the Ndwandwe kingdom.

What is the James Stuart Archive?

James Stuart, an official in colonial Natal, collected extensive oral testimony on the history and customs of the Zulu and neighbouring communities around the turn of the twentieth century. The resulting papers were edited and published as The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples by Colin de B. Webb and John B. Wright.

Crucially, the traditions belong to the African informants who supplied them, not to Stuart alone. They also concern an earlier period and are thus not always eyewitness accounts. The following genealogies are reproduced as summaries found in scholarly notes citing the published Stuart volumes (PDF, printed p. 152); the cited pages of the complete original testimonies have not yet been independently checked for this article.

Three informants, three genealogies

1. Bikwayo kaNoziwawa

The version attributed to Bikwayo traces Soshangane's ancestors backwards:

Soshangane → Zikode → Ndwandwe → Nyamande

Here Ndwandwe appears as an ancestor's name as well as the familiar name of a people or political formation. This suggests why historical names require care: names of ancestors, clans and political groupings may overlap. Reported source: Stuart Archive, Vol. I, p. 64; genealogical notes.

2. Luzipo kaNomageje

The account attributed to Luzipo describes Langa as the father of both Zikode and Zwide, and Zikode as the father of Soshangane.

Langa → Zikode → Soshangane
Langa → Zwide

If understood literally, Zwide would be Soshangane's paternal uncle, not his brother. This is a significant difference from accounts that present them as belonging to the same generation. Reported source: Stuart Archive, Vol. I, p. 354; genealogical notes.

3. Mbovu kaMtshumayeli

Mbovu's account places Soshangane in a descent line through Zikode to Malusi. It also identifies Zwide, son of Langa, as a grandson of Malusi. This places both men within a wider related ancestral network, without establishing from the summary alone exactly how Zikode and Langa were related. Calling the rulers first cousins would therefore go beyond what the available summary securely establishes. Reported source: Stuart Archive, Vol. III, p. 45; genealogical notes.

The three accounts compared

Informant	Reported genealogy	Implication
Bikwayo	Soshangane → Zikode → Ndwandwe → Nyamande	Ancestral line including Ndwandwe
Luzipo	Zwide and Zikode sons of Langa; Soshangane son of Zikode	Zwide would be Soshangane's uncle
Mbovu	Both connected through Malusi	Related branches, precise relationship uncertain

Why might the genealogies differ?

Oral accounts could reflect different family memories, the political identities of informants, or changes across generations of transmission. A genealogy might preserve biological descent, but could also reflect the remembered status of a royal house or a wider lineage. These possibilities do not prove that any informant was mistaken or dishonest. They show why it is unsafe to impose a single uncontested family tree on a complex historical past.

Where does Zwangendaba fit?

W. H. J. Rangeley's account Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland offers a useful contrast between Ngoni oral tradition and A. T. Bryant's interpretation. Bryant described Zwangendaba as a man of comparatively modest standing in his homeland. The Ngoni account agreed he was not highly born, but insisted that he rose to become a general of Zwide's army. Rangeley also reported the Ngoni tradition that Zwide gave two daughters to Zwangendaba in marriage.

The tradition is historically important because it describes how Zwangendaba was remembered by his descendants: as a figure who achieved status through military leadership and political ties. Yet it remains a recorded tradition, not contemporary documentation of his precise rank.

Soshangane and Zwangendaba on the move

Gerhard Liesegang's study, Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839, places the traditions alongside nineteenth-century Portuguese and British evidence. British visitors encountered Soshangane's group in October 1822 and Zwangendaba's in November 1822 near the Delagoa Bay region. This evidence suggests they maintained distinct centres of authority even when later oral accounts portrayed them as being together.

Later, Soshangane established the Gaza state in Mozambique, whereas Zwangendaba's followers moved further north and crossed the Zambezi. Liesegang cautioned that some reported battles involving Zwangendaba may be confused with conflicts involving Nxaba Msane. The four migrating histories—Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Nxaba and Ngwana Maseko—must therefore not be merged into one.

Why this matters for the Ngoni of Malawi

The evidence suggests that the Ngoni migrations emerged from a much broader political world of military service, royal households, shifting alliances and competing chiefly traditions. The Jele and Maseko communities took different routes and preserved different memories, while retaining meaningful links to southern Nguni cultural practices. Readers interested in the survival of these traditions can compare Margaret Read’s Tradition and Prestige Among the Ngoni and her Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni, both reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.

The Stuart testimonies do not finally resolve the genealogical relationship between Zwide and Soshangane. Their value lies in preserving multiple African voices whose histories can be compared with traditions recorded further north and with documents nearer the events.

Conclusion

The history of the Ngoni did not begin when Zwangendaba crossed the Zambezi. It began in an older southern Nguni world whose politics and family traditions continued to shape the communities that migrated north. The disagreements among Bikwayo, Luzipo and Mbovu are not inconveniences to erase; they are clues about the complexity of that world. A comparable reminder that Ngoni royal history contains competing family traditions is found in J. M. Winterbottom’s A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy, which discusses the claims of Mpezeni and Umbelwa.

Related reading on NgoniPeople.com

For readers wishing to explore the background further, these articles already published on this site are particularly relevant:

• Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland — Ngoni testimony about Zwangendaba’s status and his relationship with Zwide.
• Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839 — Documentary evidence for the movements of Soshangane, Zwangendaba, Nxaba and the Maseko.
• A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy — Competing memories of royal succession within the Jele Ngoni.
• Tradition and Prestige Among the Ngoni — Margaret Read’s account of Ngoni political and cultural institutions.
• Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni — Oral evidence of royal memories preserved in poetry.
• Songs of the Ngoni People — Ngoni song traditions and their links to southern Nguni languages.

References and further reading

The links below lead to the original website reproductions and a scholarly PDF documenting the three reported Stuart genealogies. They are not direct digitised facsimiles of the three published Stuart pages.

1. James Stuart Archive collection guide, University of Cape Town.
2. Webb, C. de B., and J. B. Wright (eds.), The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples, Vol. I (1976), pp. 64 and 354; Vol. III (1982), p. 45. The genealogies cited above are reported in scholarly annotations (PDF, p. 152), which should be checked against the original volumes.
3. W. H. J. Rangeley, “Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland”, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
4. Gerhard Liesegang, “Nguni Migrations Between Delagoa Bay and the Zambezi, 1821–1839”, African Historical Studies, 3(2), 1970, 317–337.
5. Margaret Read, The Ngoni of Nyasaland (1956); and “Tradition and Prestige Among the Ngoni” (1936), reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
6. A. T. Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (1929).
7. Margaret Read, “Praise Poems of the Maseko and Jele Ngoni”, excerpt from Songs of the Ngoni People, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
8. Margaret Read, “Songs of the Ngoni People (Lullabies, Umsindo and Mthimba Songs)”, reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.
9. J. M. Winterbottom, “A Note on the Jele Ngoni Paramountcy” (1937), reproduced on NgoniPeople.com.

Research note: The genealogical passages of the printed James Stuart Archive have not been directly collated with the scholarly annotations. This article presents the accounts as reported historical testimonies, not definitive family trees.