Showing posts with label clans of the ngoni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clans of the ngoni. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

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The Origins of The Majimaji Rebellion

  • Wednesday, March 30, 2011
  • Samuel Albert


  • By A. R. W. Crosse-Upcott
    Source: Man, Vol. 60 (May, 1960), pp. 71-73
    Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable

    Several theories have been advanced to explain the sinister and dramatic Majimaji rebellion of 1905, which engulfed the entire southern half of the Deutsch-Ostafrika territory, then barely a decade old. Yet, none of those that have come to my notice seems to me to ring altogether true. For a start, the official German hypothesis of a planned conspiracy has been effectively demolished by R. M. Bell's excellent account (1950) of the nuclear outbreak; and indeed, common sense alone would render such a notion suspect, in view of the prevailing aftermath of a chaotic slaving and tribal-war era.
    Maji maji Rebellion impi 

    The associated claim that Islamic elements were behind the revolt has more cogency, but here again my own researches on the spot show little more than connivance or subordinate participation on the part of local Muslims. True, the Ngindo instigators of the trouble embraced the Mohammedan faith along with the magic water (from which the movement derived its name 'Majimaji' or 'Water-water' in Kiswahili); but, even though by a paradox it is Islam which has persisted among the Ngindo tribe, initially the pagan Majimaji cult seems to have had the upper hand. The intriguing question of the degree to which Islam can be made responsible for the revolt is one which I intend to discuss in a separate essay.

    Maji Maji 'rebels'
    Another explanation, that of J. H. Driberg (1931), holds that Nubian mercenaries from the Sudan imported the idea of immunity from rifle fire conferred by mystic water. Whilst this is possible, the evidence that I shall bring in support of an indigenous water cult anterior to the German occupation makes it unlikely that the Nubians should have contributed much to the Majimaji unrest. If anything, their contribution would have been to arouse discontent through provocation, as they won evil fame for  atrocities against the native population. This introduces the controversial hobby horse of German oppression, roundly condemned by Bell. Whilst I would not seek to defend the regime I am undecided about the alleged intolerable conditions in the area in question, namely Liwale, if only because the German personnel were too few in number and insufficiently mobile to mount a thoroughgoing reign of terror. Granted, the authorities were not popular; but this alone can scarcely account for the widespread and violent Majimaji reaction. In this connexion the Ngindo, who are by no means unintelligent, seem to have been well aware of the probable outcome of German defeat, that is, Ngoni resurgence; raiders of the Ngoni tribe, thought to be of Zulu extraction, had pulverized the region from Lake Nyasa right to the coast for more than a generation before the Germans took over. And there can be few who would opt for Ngoni frightfulness in preference to German discipline. However, the wizards who preached the Majimaji cause seemingly met this objection by promising to send wild beasts to drive any invaders back!

    Almost half-a-century before the Majimaji cataclysm, the explorer Sir Richard Burton ascended the Rufiji valley on his way to the interior. Not many marches inland from the coast he made the following observation:

    Certain 'hill tribes . . . have a place visited even by distant Wazaramo pilgrims. It is described as a cave where a P'hepo or disembodied spirit of a man, in fact a ghost, produces a terrible subterranean  sound, called by the people Kurero or Bokero; it arises probably from the flow of water underground. In a pool in the cave, women bathe for the blessing of issue, and men sacrifice sheep and goats to obtain fruitful seasons
    and success in war' (Burton, I857, p. 88).

    Now, Bokero is the title commonly assigned to the originator of the Majimaji cult. In and around Liwale I myself always encountered the variant Bokera, but one has good authority (Bell) for the pronunciation Bokero. Eye witnesses of the rebellion speak of bogus seances held in a cave by this same Bokero, who was in addition associated with a pool called Ndagalala, said to be situated at the confluence of the Lihenge and Ngarambi rivers, some distance north of Liwale (Liwale District Book). People were attracted thither by the rumour that their ancestors, whose spoken answers to questions would be boomed through tunnels in the cavernourso ck,were to be seen reflected in the pool's surface. Actually Bokero is a term loosely applied to several witch-doctors who achieved prominence in launching the Majimaji campaign; and the primary Bokero's real name was Kinjiketire Ngwale. He was hung by the Germans in the early stages of the revolt.

    Maji Maji prisoners
    The hill tribes to which Burton referred in his journal appear to have been the 'Waruguru' (Burton), otherwise known as Lugurua, group inhabiting the mountains of Uluguru well to the north of the Rufiji. I have no first-hand knowledge of these mountains having seen them only from a distance  but people familiar with the area tell me that they are without caves of any size. A comprehensive article on Luguru religious beliefs (Scheerder
    and Tastevin) contains no allusion whatever to any cave; and a German s oldier-official who spent years in Uluguru before the turn of the century, though he dwells on the 'wonderful mountains (' Von Prince), mentions neither cave nor shrine.The apparently complete absence of written corroboration or factual proof to bear out Burton's story leads me to suspect hat he may have been mistaken as to the scene of this earlier cult. His informants may have been speaking from hearsay probably through an interpreter and there is every likelihood that inaccuracies might occur. My own supposition is that, hearing of the mountainous surrounding of the sacred pool, Burton guessed the known Luguru range to be the locality his informants meant; whereas he would have no knowledge of the unexplored country lying to the south of the Rufiji. Neither Burton, who had already tried to do so without success nor any other explorer excepting the ill-fated Roscher and Von der Decken, had managed to penetrate the hinterland of Kilwa, to the south, owing to the hostility of the slave-traders. So nothing was known about mountains or any other geographical features southwards.

    In point of fact, the Matumbi region not far south of the Rufiji contains both caves and mountains. An article on the geology of the Rufiji basin (Stockley) includes a significant discussion of caves in the Mtumbei valley,a bout 30 miles inland from the port of Samanga. According to this source the principal cave thereabout Nsangoma, runs to truly gigantic size. A Roman Catholic priest from the nearby Kipatimu mission, Father Ambrosius Mayer,  visited Nangoma shortly after its discoveryby the authorities in 1910. He estimated that 5,000 people could have camped unseen in its 'enormousv estibule(' ibid.) where he found the traces of numerous earth fires. This then, would seem to account for the local reports of villages mysteriously deserted during the Majimaji operations.  Another feature of Nangoma cave which Father Ambrosius noticed makes the analogy with Burton's account startling namely' an unruffled still pool of water which appeared to be of considerable depth'( ibid.). A. successor at the Kipatimu mission, Father Hilmar, who contributes a section on this subject to form part of Stockley's article, observes: 'the natives state that this stream never dries up even in the driest dry season.' Further he specifically declares that the Majimaji subversion 'originated from this place,' though unfortunately without giving details or citing the grounds for his assertion.

    One cannot therefore be certain that the rebellion did have its genesis at Nangoma. Nevertheless from the foregoing, a strong presumption  exists that the original magic water, or perhaps simply the idea of magic water, emanated from it. Also, the evidence from Ngindo survivors of the revolt points consistently to Ngarambi (Ruhingo), like Mtumbei a part of Matumbiland, as the heartland focus of Majimaji propaganda; note that the Ndagalala pool at Ngarambi, mentioned earlier,  is stated to be surmounted by a hill called Bwengi (Liwale District Book). Inevitably, some confusion has arisen in the recounting of these almost legendary events, but all the versions volunteered to me by local inhabitants agree in placing the origin in that general vicinity. For instance Ngameya, the witch-doctor who assumed Bokero's mantle and wielded the greatest influence during the victorious phase of the militant cult, operated in the Kitope area of Matumbiland. An old map of the Rufiji (Beardall) marks 'Kitopi Hill' no great distance inland from Samanga, i.e. to the east of present-day Kitope; and one is tempted to think that this individual lived fairly near to Nangoma cave and had access to it; certainly the home of Bokero himself, to whom Ngameya was related by marriage, lay close by at Ngarambi. Once the Majimaji conflict had broken out in earnest, Ngameya transferred his headquarters to another hill farther to the west, Nandanga; and it was to Nandanga that almost all the 'pilgrims' whom I interviewed went in search of 'the water.' Minority opinion favours a source on the Rufiji river itself at Mpanga (Bell), not far from which a water spirit called Nyangumi (literally 'whale' in Kiswahili) was thought to haunt the Pangani rapids. It is curious that Bokero's younger brother, Njugumaina Ngwale, should have adopted the title 'Nyangumi' (ibid.), and that one authority should have regarded Nyangumi as the prime mover in the revolt . . . the people allegedly believed that 'a great medicine man lived in the Rufiji river in the form of a water monster, and that this supernaturalc reaturec ould dispense medicine' (Sayers). Evidently, like the other sources of magic water, Mpanga has its characteristic hill; for Beardall (1881), surveying the Rufiji for the Sultan of Zanzibar in i 88o, claims to have climbed it.The truth may be that, as the revolt developed, the distributing centres for magic water multiplied and spread far afield; thus in central Liwale it is said that a container filled initially at Ngarambi could be replenished anywhere in Ngindoland. Moreover, Ngindo cynics of today invariably ascribe the entire rebellion to the greed of the witch-doctors, intent on amassing more and more wealth from the lucrative fees charged for the magic water!

    Hence the birthplace of the revolt can be taken to be somewhere in the Matumbi area immediately south of the Rufiji river, most probably at Nangoma cave itself. Furthermore the historical material which I quote indicates the probable existence of a water cult at Nangoma at least half-a-century before the Majimaji upheaval. My tentative reconstruction of the cult's evolution is this. For a lengthy period, perhaps even for centuries, the awesome setting of Nangoma had given rise to mystical beliefs associated with water. Though widely known, as the allusion to 'distant Wazaramo pilgrims' shows (Burton; the Zaramo then occupied the Dar es Salaam coast and its nearby hinterland, much as they do now), the water's magical properties seem to have been mainly peaceable until the opening years of the present century; Burton does mention success in war as one of its attributes, but the sort of irregular skirmishing of the time between minor tribal segments, set against a background of sporadic and disruptive slave raiding, lacked the systematic character of true warfare; in Burton's day the wholesale pillage and slaughter of the Ngoni raids from the west had yet to impinge seriously on the coastal belt. Whilst the German occupation put an end to this instability, considerable tensions remained unresolved. The rancour of the Islamic coast, expressed in the formidable Bushiri rising of 1888 which had all but annihilated the German chartered company and had prompted direct imperial intervention, still lingered; and the authorities had been obliged to put down a whole series of local outbreaks in the turbulent interior, notably in the desperately fought Hehe campaign of 1890 to I894. Any general appeal to violence would therefore have found support in a number of apparently disparate quarters.

    Just such a general appeal to violence, as yet latent, existed ready-made at Nangoma. Though the first reported incidents in the Majimaji rebellion occurred at Samanga and Kibata, in the vicinity of Nangoma (Bell), not a few of my Ngindo informants consider that the water cult had next to no warlike content before the advent of Abdalla Mpanda, the most ferocious of the rebel leaders in Liwale, who is alleged by them to have twisted a largely neutral panacea in to a 'war of liberation,' using the threat of reporting the local headmen to Liwale boma for failing to give warning of the impending onslaught. Whilst this is manifestly an exaggeration, there are grounds for believing that the movement was not in the least aggressive in its inception; it is noteworthy that according to Bell's chronology Kinjiketire   Ngwale, the prototype Bokero, was already in his grave ten days before Liwale boma foundered. Rather, it was only by degrees, and aided by bureaucratic inaction on the part of the imperial German government, that the revolutionary elements gained the upper hand. Perhaps the shift of Ngameya's base to Nandanga hill marked the decisive swing to a belligerent policy; for it was from this centre that for the first time the Majimaji  armies' took the  field. Henceforth the contagion of Majimaji defiance spread rapidly, until the feeble detonation of Nangoma was lost in the vast explosion of war.


    References

    Beardall, W., 'Exploration of the Rufiji,' Proc. R. Geog. Soc., 188I, pp. 640ff.
    Bell, R. M., 'The Majimaji Rebellion in the Liwale District,' Tanganyika N .  R., No. 28 (1950), pp. 38-57.
    Burton, Sir R. F., The Lake Regions of Central Africa, Vol. I.
    Driberg, J. H., 'Yakan,' J. R. Anthrop. Inst., Vol. LXI (193I), 413-20.
    Liwale District Book (Official).
    Sayers, G. F., Handbook of Tanganyika (1930).
    Scheerder and Tastevin, Revd. Fathers, 'Les Wa lu guru,' Anthropos,Vol. XLV, Parts I-3, pp. 241ff.
    Stockley, G. M., 'The Geology of the Rufiji District,' Tanganyika N. & R., No. i6, pp. 21-24.
    Von Prince, T., Gegen Araber und Negern.
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    Saturday, October 30, 2010

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    Notes on the Angoni and Achewa of Dowa District of the Nyasaland Protectorate

  • Saturday, October 30, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • Extract from 'Notes on the Achewa and Angoni of the Dowa District of the Nyasaland Protectorate. by A. G. O Hodgson, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 63 (Jan. - Jun., 1933) pp. 123-164.

    I. ENVIRONMENT.


    1. Geographical Introduction.

    THE Nyasaland Protectorate consists of a strip of land some five hundred miles in length and approximately seventy miles in width, lying around the southern and western shores of Lake Nyasa, which is the most southerly and the third in size of the great East African lakes. The hot, low-lying plain which forms part of the Rift valley rises gradually from an altitude of 130 feet on the Lower Shire River to 1,600 feet at the level of the lake. To the west of this

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    Thursday, October 28, 2010

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    THE CLANS OF THE NGONI ACCORDING TO GT NURSE

  • Thursday, October 28, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • By G. T Nurse , Clanship in Central Malawi pp 50-62 (1978)


    As might be expected, the clan structure of the central Ngoni of Malawi is one which has developed from the system current in the Nguni lands of Natal and Swaziland towards the end of Mfecane, the period of disturbances surrounding the rise of the Zulu power. It was as a consequence of the Mfecane that the two Ngoni migration which terminated in central and east Africa set out from their original homeland. Some of the modifications which have taken place in the clan structure of the Maseko Ngoni have been due to the exigencies of the migration, while others are recognizably the consequences of contact with the Maravi.


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    Friday, October 22, 2010

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    CLANS OF THE NGONI

  • Friday, October 22, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • By Margaret Read, Ngoni of Nyasaland (1956)

    Ngoni clans had a particular role in their political and social organization. These clans had certain characteristics which distinguished them from the clans of the local peoples, and which they had in common with the Nguni group of the South-eastern Bantu. The use of the clan name in address and in thanking for gifts, the strict exogamy in the clans, and the hierarchy of rank among the clans—these were all of southern origin. Mrs. Hoernle,1 writing of the social organization among the northern Nguni, said that the clan was called isibongo, 'a word referring more particularly to the name of the group'. The Ngoni spoke of their clan name as their cibongo, and they generally added 'that is my thanking name'. Dr. Kuper2  used the term clan for 'the furthest extension of kinsmen traced through the father or the mother'. She referred also to the sub-division of clans among the Swazi—a process of fission by which a
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    Sunday, October 17, 2010

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    The Stabbing of Shaka and Ndwandwe War that Led to the Movement of The Ngoni and Others From Zululand

  • Sunday, October 17, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • by A.T Bryant, a Missionary in Zululand and Natal 

    The evening was come, and brought an agreeable transformation of the scene. The bright variegated gaiety of the day had now become set in a background of jetty darkness, and, lit up by the lurid glow of bonfires of dried reeds, presented a weird and fascinating study in light and shade. It was a serenade in which the great chief was himself taking a part. Suddenly a terrifying shriek rent the air; and the fires went mysteriously out! The multitude was plunged in darkness, and confusion reigned supreme. Shaka the Terrible, Shaka the Divine, had himself been stabbed! Verily now hath come the end for many there present. What shall be done? The gathering wrath must be appeased somehow, else unhappy are they whose misfortune it must be to have to come near the wounded despot; for, says the adage, the wild-beast bites those who approach it. Now, the enemy whom Shaka just at that moment had uppermost in his mind was the Ndwandwe king, Zwide, whose power had not yet been broken and whose adherents, under Sikunyana, were even then threatening the
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    Friday, September 17, 2010

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    TRADITION AND PRESTIGE AMONG THE NGONI

  • Friday, September 17, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • Author(s): Margaret Read
    Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Oct., 1936), pp.453-484 Published by: Edinburgh University Press


    Before I made my first camp in an Ngoni village, many Europeans had said to me, 'There are practically no Ngoni left today. They are all hopelessly mixed with other tribes. None of them keep to the Ngoni customs any longer. Their chiefs are no good.' From the doorway of my hut I saw people coming all day long to the Paramount Chief, behaving towards him with profound respect, bringing him presents, working for him. His children formed a special group in the village, easily recognizable by their bearing and their manners. Old indunas came to instruct me, as they had instructed chiefs in their day, on the duties of a ruler, and the code of Ngoni laws. Old warriors in war dress came and danced by the cattle kraal and sang praise songs. Courts were held with scrupulous regard for order and justice. Other chiefs came visiting from distant parts with their retinues, and were received ceremonially. It soon became apparent that here was the centre of a political state, whose head was invested with prestige and authority over a wide area, and where behaviour to the Paramount and to every one else was strictly regulated by custom, and as strictly observed. These were Ngoni, and they and their fellow Ngoni in other areas1 for the next ten months introduced me to the Ngoni people. The European assertion, that they no longer existed as a people, they laughed at, and proceeded to demonstrate that the contrary was true.

    The Ngoni are found to-day scattered over four East African territories. The largest groups are in Nyasaland in the districts of Mzimba, Dowa, Fort Manning, Dedza, and Ncheu. In Northern Rhodesia they are in the Fort Jameson and Lundazi districts bordering on Nyasaland. Another section is in Portuguese East Africa on the South-West border of Nyasaland. Under other names there are Ngoni settlements in Tanganyika Territory. The present divisions of the Ngoni are due partly to European frontiers, partly to the fact that more than one party of them came up from the south, and partly to divisions among the Ngoni during the period of settlement.

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    Thursday, August 19, 2010

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    Ngoni Politics and Diplomacy 1848 - 1904 (part 2)

  • Thursday, August 19, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • B. Pachai, Professor of History, University of Malawi, 1970


    In the period covered in this article there were six different rulers and regents functioning at different times with varying degrees of success in the political life of the main Ngoni hosts in the north and south.28 After 1875 those in office had to contend in their external relations with three important influences, viz., indigenous and neighbouring peoples, missionaries, and the advent of British administration. Of these the first powerful impact came from the Scottish missionary factor represented in the work of the Livingstonia and Blantyre missionaries. In 1878 Dr Laws and Mr James Stewart visited Chikusi where they were kept waiting for four days before Chikusi would see them, an experience which Dr Stewart was to live through when he visited Mbelwa the following year. The British Consul, Hawes, on the other hand,lead a pleasant experience at Kujipore when he called on Chikusi in 1886. The Ngoni chiefs kept strict protocol in their dealing with Europeans. Where this was not respected by the visitors, as it happened in the case of the Chiwere Ndlovu Ngoni of Dowa district, the consequences were very serious. Dr Laws, who was kept waiting for days by Chikusi, was surprised when Jumbe came out of his village to meet him half-way at Nkhota Kota in 1879;29 but this is understandable when we consider that Jumbe was saddled with internal disaffection led by his headman, Chiwaura, and external threats from the Yao. The Ngoni were in no hurry to seek political alliances with Europeans.

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    Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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    Ngoni Politics and Diplomacy 1848 - 19041 (Part 1)

  • Wednesday, August 18, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • B. Pachai, Professor of History, University of Malawi, 1970

    I

    By 1904 the Ngoni of Malawi were widely distributed through a large part of the country with main and subsidiary settlements of both the Jere and Maseko communities or tribal clusters. These settlements had a number of common characteristics. The chiefs (with few exceptions) could all claim linear political descent from those who had led them through most of the way to the chosen land; they were now under British protectorate rule ; each main settlement had an administrative system with central authority, executive authority, military and judicial authority, all of which were subsequently modified to suit the protectorate government from time to time; each had started off with little more than a simple kinship organization with leadership provided by a determined individual of a well-known clan fleeing for safety and security with a hard core of kinsmen; each tribal cluster had to work out its own immediate political salvation during the period of dispersion or at the point of permanent settlement. The difference between these Ngoni and those of the Northern and Southern Nguni was that political evolution in the case of the former was based on trial and error tempered by a transference of 'home' patterns of government far removed in both space and time. Things not only happened quickly; they happened very far from `home'; they happened, too, without precedents at first. Before political patterns and social adjustments could evolve, external intrusions brought about compelling side-effects. In the end a political system emerged. Hammond—Tooke has defined a political system broadly 'as the system of power-distribution in a society'.2 In looking at this power-distribution in the Ngoni society of Malawi a number of propositions constitute a good starting point.

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    Monday, August 9, 2010

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    Tentative Chronology of The Ngoni, Genealogy of Their chiefs and Notes

  • Monday, August 9, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • BY D. GORDON LANCASTER. 1937.

    NOTE OF INTRODUCTION

    THESE tentative notes relating to the Ngoni are the result of many years of research amongst the natives in the Eastern Province of N. Rhodesia, with whom I have been in constant contact, firstly as a Government official and secondly as a friend. I have received the greatest assistance and courtesy from the Paramount Chief, Mpezeni Jere II, and I am further indebted to A. K. Jere, a son of old Chief Kapatamoyo Jere, without whose knowledge, assistance and tactful handling of the old indunas these notes and genealogy would never have been completed.

    NOTES

    (1) Zongendaba (Zwangendaba, Uzwangendaba) Kumalo, son of Hlatshwayo of theNgoni tribe and his wife, Mquamache Nzima, was born near St. Lucia Bay in 1780 circa.

    Zongendaba, when a young man, appears to have shown great promise as a military leader. Hlatshwayo, his father, and Ziwide, uncle of his wife, Loziwawa Nqumayo, appear to have been close neighbours and friends, and with other local clans for some time resisted Tshaka. The date of Hlatshwayo’s death is not known, but Zongendaba broke away from the district or tribal area with a large following, after the second attack by Tshaka on the Ndwandwe Tribe, whom the Ngoni were assisting. Mzilikazi, a younger member of the Kumalo, after this defeat served Tshaka as an Induna for approximately two years, during which time his bravery and leadership, under the eye of Tshaka, brought him promotion. Zongendaba and Gwaza Tole broke away with a followingin the year 1823 ; Mzilikazi followed towards the end of the year 1825.

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    Sunday, August 8, 2010

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    Interesting Oral History of The Maseko Ngoni Under Mputa

  • Sunday, August 8, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • By William Perceval Johnson, Archdeacon of the Universities Mission to Central Africa

    Note from The moderator: I am of the opinion that the Zulu in paragraph 5 onwards was not the successor of Zwangendaba but rather broke away from the Zwangendaba's ngoni after his death. There are also other areas besides this where the author differs from the position of other historians. I guess it is all because all these are oral histories, It is therefore difficult to tell who is right or wrong.

    The Angoni were the first aggressors. They came up from the south with another clan, allied or akin, which was under a famous chief called Mputa, i.e. the Smiter, and the two parties separated near what is now Bulawayo. Mputa crossed the Zambesi low down — this is the Angoni account of him — and wandered about, going up to Mtonya and on to the Rovuma river and finally to the north end of the Lake, where he seems to have settled not far from Songea.

    As he went he brought desolation to the Lake side. The old men in various villages can remember this time of terror, and bring before us how the news flew from village to village that the Smiter was coming and how each village waited its turn in trembling. 'At Chilowelo,' said one man, ' we were well out of the way; not many of his people came down here.' An old man of Losefa said : ' When Mputa came we had heard that the Angoni cannot bear water and that if you are in the water,even up to your knees, they will not touch you. This was true, for we went in and Mputa passed us in the water ; but he burnt our village.' A headman of Mtengula told us : 'He took my mother as a slave, but I was a mere child.'

    Where there were no stockades built, the people could only escape to the reed-beds or to the rocks in the Lake. The village of Msumba, which had reeds and a marsh at the back, made a good stand. Mputa stayed some time near it, this gave the Nyasas time to gather, and after a battle or so he moved away. An old Ngoo man, still alive, is proud of having killed an Angoni on this occasion, and tells how he took his shield, his feathers, and his name, and Maendaenda of Pachia has the scar of a wound as a memento of the fight.

    It is certain that Mputa brought a rude awakening to the villages in the hills as well as to those on the Lake. Several old men tell of the good old days in the hills before he came to afflict them : 'We lived in our own villages quietly; each had its own burial ground and its own place for burning witches,' — and now their security was gone. Mputa, terrible as he was, did not stay long; he passed through the land like a comet. In judging of the resistance that the people of the Lake made to him, we must remember that they had no weapons but bows, while the Smiter had spears. Their archery was good — witness the fact that a man at Msumba had the reputation of having killed three Angoni with one arrow in the old days — but they were outmatched in arms.1

    Meanwhile the party of Angoni with whom Mputa had started on his travels had been going up the west side of the Lake and round the north end. On the west side their chief died and was succeeded by another called Zulu. Their progress was marked by destruction. 'We came by Waya to Sukuma, where we found people whom they call the Wa-Mapangwa continually playing the bamboo vilumbo (a musical instrument), said our Angoni authority. The Angoni soon put an end to this peaceful playing of the vilumbo.

    They settled near Mputa, at a place afterwards called Songea or Songela on the bend of the Rovuma river; the place chosen later on by the Germans for their headquarters and now occupied by our Government. The hill Ngolo'olo, where the Adonde (or Adendauli) seem to have lived before their coming, figures in any account they give of their country. Finding themselves near Mputa, they submitted to him.

    These Angoni were akin to Mputa, as we have said, but they were not of the same family. It is a custom among the Angoni to cry out some family name after sneezing or when they are excited, after drinking for instance. Zulu's people at such times shouted the name Gama (and the women Zinjama); Mputa's shouted Jere, both names of ancestors.2


    Mputa treated the Angoni with great severity and feeling against him grew. Nevertheless they went to raid with him near the river Lihuhu, by the place which is now called Wiethaven. The inhabitants drove them back and Mputa was killed.

    His funeral seems to have been the last united act of his people and the Angoni. It must have been impressive. They blocked the water of the upper Lihuhu with stones, put the body of the chief in the skin of a newly killed bull, and burnt it in the dry bed of the river. The Angoni stood in crowds on the banks, all silent till the heat of the fire made the bones of the corpse crack ; then together they beat their shields with their spears.

    A new chief was chosen. The candidate, apparently Mputa's next of kin, had to go through the ordeal of standing on one leg with his spear poised over his head from sunrise till the sun went down. (This is the only instance in which I have heard of this ordeal.) But the patience of Zulu's people was exhausted and they drove Mputa's people south to the hill Ngango, near the Rovuma river.

    There had been a little respite by the Lake, but now the raiders returned, driven south by the Angoni, Their leader was again named Mputa, and the Lake people believed him to be the same Mputa as before and assumed that he had met with a reverse, which was indeed the case.

    With this second Smiter, or following close behind, came Kaindi and other headmen. Kaindi made himself a name. He seems to have crossed the Lujenda river and to have attacked the clans on the river Meto, nearer the coast ; these Meto people had probably got gun-powder up from the coast,and Kaindi came back from the Meto with the name of 'Powder Eater'. He did not go away after raiding as the first Mputa did ; he lingered in the hills by the Lake, now here, now there, and everywhere he raided. 'We were after the time of Mputa,' said a man at Mbamba, 'but Kaindi caught me when I was keeping the herds, and killed my mother.' 'He meets, he kills,' it was said of him. At last he settled at Chisindo, the hill straight inland from Msumba, and made the Lakeside people pay tribute to him to escape being murdered by his men as they worked in their fields. The present chief at Chiwanga remembers carrying up food to him.


    Notes

    1. The archery deteriorated; it was very feeble when we came to the Lake.

    2. The custom has spread to other tribes who have come under Angoni influence and extends south into Msumba and other villages where men from the north have married. It varies in different places, all who come from the west by the north using, apparently, only one name, while others say : 'Son of so and so, grandson of so and so'. Sometimes, as above, the name of one ancestor is uttered (the Chiongwe or Chiongo), sometimes the family name of the father or the maternal grandfather (the Chilawa). The natives from the south and east, who trace through the female line, lay most stress on a man's maternal male relatives. There is not infrequently one Chilawa for the men of a family and another for the women.
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    Wednesday, August 4, 2010

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    Maseko Ngoni At Domwe 1870 to 19001

  • Wednesday, August 4, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • By Dr. Ian Linden, Professor of Biology, University of Malawi1


    When the Maseko Ngoni settled in Domwe c.1870 their society had already been shaped by almost fifty years of warfare and migrations. The army, organized on an age-set principle, brought together 'captives from the march' with different tribal backgrounds. To avoid bids-for power by close relatives of the paramount alumuzana and izinduna, who occupied the positions of political power within the state, were chosen not from the royal family but from members of the aristocratic Swazi clans.

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    Wednesday, April 7, 2010

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    Inkosi Mtwalo of Northern Ngoniland in Nyasaland

  • Wednesday, April 7, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • By W. H. J. Rangeley

    This article is based entirely on information given to the author by numerous Africans, with the following exceptions:

    (1) The site of the battle between Zwide and Shaka is no longer remembered by the Ngoni and is quoted from "Olden Times in Zululand and Natal" by A. T. Bryant. Bryant says that Nxawa was one of the Mbekwane clan. The Ngoni say he was Nqumayo. Bryant is more likely to be correct. So also quoted is the route east of the Lubombo hills. The Ngoni merely record that they went north to the lower reaches of the Limpopo river. Bryant states (chapter 44) that Zwangendawa was "but a commonplace squire at home". The Ngoni agree that he was of humble birth but insist that he rose to be General of Zwide's army. The fact that Zwide gave him two daughters in marriage would indicate that Zwangendawa was a man of importance. Bryant states that Zwangendawa clashed in battle with Soshangane (chapter 44) With heavy losses on both sides. The Ngoni admit heavy losses in battle against Nxawa, and the names of many who died are remembered to this day, but they deny any clash with Soshangane. There is, however, evidence that there was a minor clash with Soshangane, according to Ngoni now dead.


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    Monday, March 29, 2010

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    Some Oral Traditions From The Maseko Ngoni

  • Monday, March 29, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • Ian Linden

    University of Malawi

    THE MIGRATIONS that resulted from the conquests of Shaka Zulu and the disintegration of the Ndandwe Empire in the early 19th century have been subjected to extensive historical analysis. But where a study of the Maseko Ngoni of the Dedza district of Malawi might be expected there is a surprising gap. The tendency to treat Ngoni states as a whole, with each paramountcy an expression of the "Ngoni social system", has meant that in the past smaller groups, like the Maseko, have been simply assumed to illustrate principles of organization more impressively displayed by larger groups, like the Northern Ngoni. Now that the importance of differences between Ngoni states in their relationships with subject tribes, fission of segments, proximity to missions and trade routes, communications between paramounts and local indunas, is emphasised by historians no single state can be taken as paradigm. Rather than seeing Ngoni states in the context of the unfolding of general principles derived from the idea of the "martial society", increasing attention is being given to the unique circumstances in which the different refugee bands of the Mfecane found themselves. As a result the myth of the all-conquering Ngoni, dear to the hearts of the first Europeans in Malawi, has become increasingly suspect.

    In the sense that the northwards migration of the Ngoni from South Africa is attested to in Portuguese documents of the time, the Maseko cannot be said to have a pre-colonial history. However the problem of tracking this migration is similar to that of a physicist following electrons through a cloud-chamber; only when they collide with some other body can their position and direction be inferred. The Maseko did come into collision with a number of Portuguese settlements, but, as the settlers, fighting for their lives, rarely took any interest in the genealogy of their assailants, and as there were many different hands of refugees, this evidence is not very helpful. In large measure the early history of the Maseko 1825-1870 can only be reconstructed by a critical assessment of oral traditions.

    In this first article it is proposed to present what little oral history there has been collected from the Maseko and to show how much information can be sifted from these sources. The two available sources are interviews conducted by the anthropologist, Margaret Read, with Ishmael Mwale, treasurer to Inkosi Gomani II, between 1935-1939,1 and interviews conducted by a planter, Mr. Manser-Bartlett, who lived in the Ntakataka area between 1920-1969, with Nyathei, regentess for Abraham Kachindamoto, between 1898-1911, and with her husband Kautsiri.2

    The value of these testimonies above any that could be collected today lies not simply in their dating from the 1930's, but in their being collected before written histories of Malawi became available to the public: the informants are unlikely to be incorporating material of a secondary nature taken, for example from Ntara or Chibambo.3 The two branches of the Maseko, at Ntakataka and Dedza have, moreover, been separated since the climax of the civil war between Chikusi and Chifisi in 1891-1894. Testimonies from the two regions provide a useful cross-check on the influence of local factors on distortions and embellishments of the narrative.

    1. Ishmael Mwale. Treasurer to Gomani II recorded by M. Read.

    "Nqaba, son of Mbekani. made war on Shaka, but was defeated and retreated to Swaziland. Then Ngwana said 'If you run away from Shaka. he will trouble us, so I am going to leave' . . . . In the middle of the darkness Ngwana left together with Nqaba. They came to the country of Nancekwani at Mauwa and fought with the people. They defeated the four chiefs there and conquered the country. Ngwana went straight to Ulozi to the village of Mamba, father of Lewanika. He destroyed the land of the Lozi and died there . . . . When Magadlela left Ulozi he went to the country of Ndunduwali and from there to Nyika. He arrived at Cidima Mbirasweswe and there Zwangendabaa found them. There was fighting between Magadlela and Zwangendabaa and many people were killed and they did not know who they were because it was night. When Magadlela ran away he made for Golongozi where Nqaba was, and explained to him about the war. They mobilized the army to follow Zwangendaba. When they found him they destroyed many of his men. Somfuya and other brothers of Zwangendaba were killed. When they returned front the war they went to Cikwanda. There they found Gaza and fought with him and were defeated. Magadlela and Nqaba ran away. Nqaba took a friendly farewell because there was hunger .... Magadlela allowed him to leave and went straight to the country of the Makombe. They conquered it and came to Nyungwi and conquered them too. When they wanted to cross the Zambesi they made medicine and beat the water with a stick and separated it. All the army crossed and reached Kalumbi. They fought there and Mgoola took care of the chieftainship. Mgoola came with all the army to Ntumba and caught many Ntumba people. In Ntumba country Mputa entered the chieftainship."

    la. Praise poem to Ngwana, son of Goqweni, collected by M. Read.

    The last verses:

    "You who separated from the people of Shaka. Shaka of the Mbelebele kraal

    You who separated from the people of Nyathi, the son of Mashobane; it thundered, it was cloudy

    Thou resemblest cattle that were finished by wolves.

    You who originated with the people of Mzilikazi,

    You who originated with the people of Mpakana, son of Lidonga

    You who originated with the people of Ndandwe.'

    2.Nyathei and Kautsiri, regentess and her husband 1898-1911. notes of interviews recorded by Manser-Bartlett c. 1930.

    "Gassa chief. N'gawa chief (Transvaal) made war. People got tired of Ngawa (click) because he kept calling them out to dance ligubu and refused to allow them to marry. They went to see Par. Chief Gassa and asked him if they might go away to find war elsewhere and gain experience but had secretly made up mind to clear out to get land and wives for themselves. Chose Ngwana (Maseko) as their chief (son of N'gabe) -came to a river which they called Sawe when N'gwana died (land of Avenda) -all together at this time and fought and conquered the Avenda. Came to the country of the Maungwe, conquered them -who shall be the better? -quarrelled and parted- Jere to the West, Angoni East. Kafalamazani- Chuoko pa Nyambewo to Zambesi. Zambesi was in flood. Witch doctor took medicine, put it on stick and struck the water. River divided and the people passed. This side of the river conquered the Amalabvi, came to where the Nkondosi joins the Shire to the country of Mboola (Achikunda chief) and Kanyinda (Achikunda). By the time they had reached Maungwe country Chidiaonga was old enough to take over from his elder sister who acted as regent on N'gwana's death. Turned North to the country of the Antumba at Neno and settled. While there Sosala, son of Nankumba (Malawi) came to Chidiaonga at Muira (P.E.A.) and asked for his friendship. Here the people got tired of Chidiaonga because he made them shave the forward lock of hair and was cruel to them—so they deposed him and put Mputa in his place although he was still very young. Sosala offered to lead them up the East side of the lake to a country where there was cattle. The Angoni had none at the time--trekked to Ncheu. Banda; find only a few villages, Samara, Mpingangila (at that time there was no Mponda—he had not left Mataka's). Made a treaty of friendship with Mpingangila and crossed Shire on his canoes; crossed at Makandanji's to Chindamba's (present Malunda) and along the side of the lake to Makanjila's. Fought and conquered him and seized his cattle. Went to the country of the Matengo where we staved--gave Sosala some cattle and he came back. Stayed some time fighting the Matengo and built a village near a mountain called Ntapa-tapa--this was North of Songea. Then a fighting party looking for new country came from Nzongendaba. Agreement was reached about the division of country and there was no war. Mputa started a war with the Abena and during the fighting was killed. Chidiaonga was appointed chief but decided to leave because he did not want to stay where his brother had been killed. Mputa was cremated on the bed of the Rovuma. Mputa had seized cattle from the Ajere and Matengo and when they heard that Chidiaonga was going to move they got together in the early hours and raided him. He ran away as he was surprised and unprepared-fled to the East through the Yao country to the coast-Haruba, Mwanjira, Koloke to Liuli where they were told by the local natives not to sleep on the beach as the tide was coming in all the Angoni were surprised at this phenomenon. They returned through Yao, Makua and Anguru chiefs, Maonda, Mabaka, Nkanjila, Mzozozera - proceeded to Blantyre chasing out the Yao and a general war took place covering the country as far as Namwera. Chidiaonga made his headquarters at Chinamvu while his warriors swept through Kawinga's and fought with Jaliasi. During the war Mkata was the big chief at Mangoche. When the war was finished they moved to Domwe."

    2a. Anonymous story in Manser-Bartlett notebooks.

    "Chaka kept this particular tribe purely as warriors refusing to allow them to marry—refused to allow them even to kill cattle for themselves. So they agreed amongst themselves to send an nduna to Chaka to ask permission to make a raid and having obtained this permission not to return. The first to leave were the Jere under Nzongendaba and then some months after left the Maseko under Magazilla but became suspicious and sent an impi after them and a battle took place at Sojevana. An Ngoni killed Chaka's nduna. They travelled through the country of the Avenda and Makalanga and so came to the country of the Maswina. Then they went into the country of the Makombe and from there to the country of the Nyungwe and Achikunda. After taking the Makalanga they came up with the Ajere near Bulawayo and fought and parted. The Ajere proceeded North and the Angoni to Salisbury and so to the country of the Aswina. They crossed the Zambesi to the country of the Akapako and followed the Mawe river to another stream, the Nkondosi, rising near Sangano. Then they followed the Livelanji river to the country called Tambo (people Ambo)--crossed the Nkame river to Nyape and went to the country of the Ntumba, Ncheu. Stay for two years. Sosala appeared with buffalo droppings to make them believe there were good cattle and they go North — cross the Shire at Mpingangila and skirt the foothills around Malindi—move on to Kalanje where they fight the Yao (Chief Gwaza is from Kalanje). Continue to Mbamba Bay in the country of the Matengo and settle at Ntapa-tapa hill. Heavy fighting with a scouting party from Ajere (Zule Kanchenche-pfungo Gama). Zulu remains a vassal of Mputa. Soon after Mputa decides to fight the Abena and he was killed in this raid and burnt on the Rovuma at Lichiningo—the people stayed to make beer and dance ligubu. Then the Ajere rebelled and attacked during the night. The Maseko fled following the Rovuma to the sea at Liuli- arrived back at Chilwa and fought Nkanjila and Kawinga -to Chiradzulo. Then moved on to Njowe near Matope and went to Domwe."

    3 Genealogies from M. Read and Manser-Bartlett notebooks.


    An evaluation of these stories requires some knowledge of the probable bias of informants. Perhaps the most predictable is a tendency to convey an impression of unity and homogeneity where none in fact existed. There can be little doubt that from their origin the group of people now called the Maseko Ngoni were extremely heterogeneous in composition. Throughout their migrations the assimilation of captives formed the basis of their society. The presentation of Maseko history as a unified history of a clan is therefore artificial.

    It is instructive that an analysis of these stories does reveal a number of confused strands of tradition, products of the diversity within Ngoni society of incorporated groups. More particularly the two branches of the Maseko may be expected to use oral history to bolster their claims in relation to their subject peoples and to each other. So it is important to bear in mind that the Ntakataka branch is the product of a break-away movement by followers of the son of a former regent, while the Dedza branch can truthfully claim continuity with a line of paramounts going back as far as, and perhaps beyond, Mputa.

    Praise poems and songs provide a useful yardstick for the measuring the reliability of non-formal genealogies. In Ngoni society, with its migrations and assimilation of alien groups, popular stories can become distorted in a short space of time. Praise poems are more trustworthy; as a formal tradition relying on rhyme and rhythm for effect, entrusted to "Umbongi", official praisers of the paramount, the likelihood of major distortions over a period of less than one hundred years is remote. As far as accidental distortion is concerned the poem for Ngwana son of Goqweni provides the most reliable evidence for the origin of the Maseko, but, as a piece of functional history, belonging to the paramount, it may quite intentionally purvey a spurious impression of continuity and nobility of ancestry to the listener.

    There has clearly been some conflation of Ndebele, Shangaan and even Makololo traditions in the non-formal accounts. The reason for this conflation may either be that elements from all these groups became associated with the Maseko on their travels, so bringing their own traditions into the common pool, or that the Maseko merely met members of these groups early in their migrations and incorporated parts of their traditions into their history. It would be impossible to say with any accuracy when these contacts were made or when a particular group joined the Maseko. Temporary alliances were made between different parties and many battles fought between 1825 -1835. At any time a given band might be in alliance with any other around a camp fire, or victoriously incorporating fresh batch of captives: in every case there would be an opportunity for additions to he made to what ould be increasingly a common pool of stories.

    The origin of the Maseko during Mzilikazi's secession from Shaka after 1822 finds confirmation both from the poem and Ntakataka accounts. The tradition of a secret decision not to return to Shaka made as a result of his prohibition of marriage and personal assimilation of cattle, is the classic story of the secession of Mzilikazi's regiment. Ngwana would be a member of Mzilikazi's regiment who left with his fellow clansmen c. 1825. It would be difficult to disprove the contention, though, that Ngwana merely took with him fellow members of his age-set who later came to justify their position in relation to captives in terms of kinship, forming a spurious "royal clan". Mzilikazi's followers only amounted to about 300 people so Ngwana's hand must have been very small indeed and might possibly have been a few related families.1

    From references to "N'gawa" and "Nqaba" in all stories -both attempts at rendering the Zulu click in Nxaba- Nxaba and Ngwana appear to have met and formed a temporary alliance. Documentary sources would suggest that this alliance was formed in the area of Delagoa Bay where Shoshangane, Nxaba and Zwangendaba were raiding and forming alliances of convenience.5 Bryant refers to a battle between Mzilikazi and Nxaba c. 1825 after which Nxaba moved eastwards, so it may have been during this period that the alliance between Nxaba and Ngwana was struck.6 By way of support for the idea that the hand under Ngwana moved east, Elmslie mentions another battle between the Maseko and Zwangendaba in the Delagoa Bay area.7

    From the clan names to be found around Dedza (the Ndau in particular) it can be concluded that the Nxaba/Ngwana band captured Venda people and moved north from the Transvaal. From the fact that Ngwana and Nxaba then crop up in widely separated areas it must be assumed that the alliance broke up; Ngwana raided in the Zimbabwe area While Nxaba was further to the east. Raids by a "Musese Nyana" possibly Ngwana arc still remembered in the Zimbabwe area.8 The accounts of Ngwana's death on the "Sawe" (Sabi river) and, from the Dedza account, on the "Ulozi" are not as contradictory as might first appear. "Ulozi" is a plausible corruption of "Urozwi", a name that would be given to the major riser in the Rozwi area of Zimbabwe. i.e. the Sabi river."

    "Maswina" being a derogatory name for the Shona people, both accounts are in agreement that the Maseko moved north-east into Mashonaland; the "Nyika" of Mwale's story should then be read as "Manica". This movement might easily have been caused by a disastrous encounter with Zwangendaba's rearguard. Between 1831-1833 Vila Manica was attacked a number of times; this gives a probable date for Nxaba's and the Maseko's stay in Manicaland." Finally if "Golongosi" is taken to be "Gorongosa" in the Barwe district of Mozambique there seems no reason to question Mwale that the Maseko met Nxaba again after they had attacked Vila in successive years.

    The alliance between Nxaba and Ngwana was renewed in order to eliminate threat posed by Zwangendaba. Both bands moved west to locate their common enemy. By this time the Maseko party was led by "Magadlela" (Mwale), "Magazilla" (Nyathei) -- both attempts at rendering the click in Mgidla whom Bryant gives, interestingly enough, as a relative of Nxaba.11 The attack on Zwangendaba's Jere and the death of Somfuya are corroborated in Chibambo's vivid account of the same battle from Jere oral traditions. As a result Zwangendaba withdrew to the safety of the north-bank of the Zambezi south of Zumbo on November 19th, 1835, a date that can be fixed accurately owing to the occurrence of a solar eclipse.12


    Further proof for the presence of both Nxaba and Mgidla in this area is given in a diary entry made by Livingstone from Zumbo itself: "Zumbo. January 16th, 1856. The last of the population withdrew suddenly on learning of the approach of the Caffres under Changamara, Ngabe and Mpakana".13 It will be recalled that "Mpakana" was a name found in Ngwana's ancestry in the praise poem; Bryant also tantalisingly gives an "Mbekane" as father of Nxaba.14 It seems reasonable to suppose that Mgidla might have used this title.

    With the Jere put to flight the Maseko appear to have moved back again eastwards to the area of north Barwe where they might have had a settlement on the Mvira river (Muira in the Ntakataka accounts). On their return they passed through Chioco (Nyathei's "Chuoko") and reached NYUNGWE, a name used both for the town of Tete and the tribe in the area. Between 1836-1838 there is documentary evidence of Ngoni raids on the prazos around Sena; Mgidla and Nxaba would be the only groups in the area.15 In about 1838 Shangaan traditions record a battle between Nxaba and Shoshangane.16 This pressure from the south by Shoshangane's raiding parties provides an explanation why the Maseko moved north across the Zambezi the following year.

    Much of the confusion in both narratives surrounding the person of "Gaza" or "Gassa"---both, of course, Shoshangane ---might be explained by supposing that, as a result of attacks by Shoshangane, Nxaba was put to flight and his band dispersed, some going to the Shangaan, others going to the Maseko. Liesegang has recorded a story of a group defecting from Nxaba to the Shangaan almost identical to the Ntakataka accounts of a group leaving Nxaba. The Ntakataka accounts would thus represent a strand of tradition brought in by defectors from Nxaba. this would also provide an explanation for the genealogy giving Nxaba as the father of Ngwana; Ngwana's sonship would merely have been an expression of the relative importance of the two leaders. Ngwana might in fact have been , at the beginning, little more than an important induna under Nxaba.

    The fate of Nxaba is equally confused. According to Bryant he reached Barotseland only to die in a trap set by the Makololo.17 This is supported by a reference in Livingstone to an "Ndebele" raid on the Makololo led by "Mpakana".18 Mwale's account also brings in the Lozi area in his obviously misplaced reference to Lewanika. The only equivalent to be found in Kautsiri's story is a strange reference to the Angoni being warned about the tide at "Liuli". Now the Angoni were well acquainted with the sea and tidal movements in the Indian Ocean are not impressive. It is remotely possible that this "Luili" is a corruption of "Lealui" and the sea, the flood plain in Barotseland, where a large area is covered with water during the rainy season. The Maseko are known to have had some contact with Livingstone's Makololo porters, during the Trans-Shire raids of the 1880s from whom they might have got these stories. It is hard to think of any other way for such traditions to cover the immense distance between Dedza and Barotseland.

    Whatever the details, the origins of the Maseko are placed in the Ntakataka traditions from Nyathei, in the context of an event connected with Shoshangane, while in the Mwale and anonymous accounts their beginnings are linked with Mzilikazi or Shaka. Each tradition gives an aspect of the truth, for after their encounter with Shoshangane the Maseko crossed the Zambezi at the Lupata Gorge, south of Tete, to begin a new chapter in their history distinct from Nxaba. There are two clues to dating their crossing as 1839: firstly a statement by Nyathei recorded by Manser-Bartlett, that the Maseko were only a few months behind the Jere when they finally- moved north. It is known that the Jere stayed in Nsenga country on the north bank of the Zambezi for about four years, so their departure date would be late 1839.19 Secondly there are Portuguese records which mention "landeens- crossing the Zambezi in 1839.20

    Mgidla died shortly after this date and the regency was taken over by an elder sister, Mgoola, until Mputa was old enough to rule. The route north can be followed from the list of tribes conquered: Achikunda, the vassals of the Portuguese along the Zambezi, Ambo, further to the north and, around Ncheu, the Ntumba. Predictably the Ntakataka source tries to squeeze in Chidiaonga, the father of Chifisi, as paramount for a period in order to give credence to the Kachindamoto-Chifisi line over the Gomani-Chikusi line. The narrator is then faced with the difficulty of disposing of Chidiaonga to make way for the traditions associated with Mputa at Songea.21 The discrepancy between the genealogies Nxaba/Ngwana versus Goqweni/Ngwana might equally represent an attempt by the Ntakataka branch to play down the importance of the house of Mputa by supporting a popular genealogy against the "royal" one.22

    The movement of the Maseko from Ncheu to Songea is picked up in Chewa traditions collected by Ntara.23 The Maseko and Chewa versions are virtually identical: Sosala, the Kalonga, lured the Maseko across the Shire at Mpingangila near Fort Johnston c. 1846. Mputa trekked north along the east side of the lake in search of the promised rich cattle country. Both traditions further agree that Sosala and his Maravi accompanied the Ngoni to Songea to return later with a present of some cattle. It must therefore be assumed that their relationship was an alliance rather than that of a subject tribe.

    Apart from minor details, explicable in terms of a Maseko attempt to present their years at Songea in the noblest light, the Maseko stories for this period co-incide well with oral traditions collected from the Ngoni in Tanzania. Shortly after their settlement near Songea in 1850 two Jere segments led by Zulu Gama and Mbonani appeared around the north end of the lake. Mputa successfully attacked them and Zulu was roasted to death as a punishment, while Mbonani died shortly afterwards. After an interval two sons of Zulu, Hawai and Chipeta, roused the neighbouring Nindi, Bena, Pangwa and Ndendeuli tribes to revolt.24 The Maseko were defeated and Mputa killed. According to custom he was cremated where the Lichiningo river enters the Rovuma and Chidiaonga took over as regent for Chikusi.

    The movements of the Maseko after this are dificult to determine. Without field work in Mozambique it would be impossible to say whether the Maseko did move eastwards towards the sea and then swung round in an arch, or, what is more probable, retraced their steps and fled back south into Malawi.

    On reaching the Shire Highlands in the 1860s the Maseko come into Yao oral history.25 Settlements were made near Mulanje and Matope before they were finally lured by Sosala again into the crossing the Shire from where they moved north to settle on Domwe mountain c. 1870.

    It would be tempting to analyse these migrations in terms of some internal nnecessity of the Ngoni martial way of life. But it is too obvious that these great treks of the Maseko were not some northwards goldrush for cattle and captives, far less the triumphal march of a victorious army. Almost all the movements of the Maseko can be correlated with external threats. From 1825 onwards it is possible to give a list of threats with their consequences:

    (1) Fear of Shaka's army-move north-east into the Delagoa Bay area.

    (2) Presence of powerful bands under Zwangendaba and Shoshangane-form an alliance with Nxaba and trek northwards.

    (3) Make contact with Zwangendaba's rearguard--flee north-east to Manica and form a second alliance with Nxaba.

    (4) Successful battle against Zwangendaba c. 1834-return to the Barwe area and continue raiding. possibly from a settlement on the Mvira river.

    (5) Shoshangane's raiding parties defeat Nxabe --cross the Zambezi in 1839.

    (6) Find the Ncheu area already devastated by Zwangendaba and the route north blocked. Promise of rich cattle country to the north-form alliance with Maravi and move round to the east side of the lake and proceed north.

    (7) Settlement at Songea threatened attack Zulu and Mbonani and win.

    (8) Attacked by subject tribes under leadership of Hawai--- flee south again.

    (9) Settlements in the Shire Highlands but Yao presence gets stronger-move to Matope.

    (10) Yao chieftains still a threat-- move and settle at Domwe, at the extremity of Mpezeni's raiding territory and in good cattle country.

    This bald cause-and-effect catalogue exaggerates, of course, the passivity of the Ngoni. It does, however, emphasise the important point that their failure to form any permanent settlement before 1870 was not entirely a choice of their own making. Neither were the early relations of the Ngoni the blitzkrieg affair sometimes portrayed. According to the relative strengths of forces around them they went in for alliances quite as much as assimilation. A suitable alliance of 'subject' tribes against them, as occured at Songea was, moreover, enough to defeat them.

    In the next article the forces ranged against the Maseko during their permanent settlement at Domwe will be examined. An attempt will be made to show that the colonial period from 1870-1900, as well as their early history, found the Ngoni as much the victims of circumstance as the mighty warriors of missionary mythology.
    Wife of a Mozambican Ngoni chieftain in 1936

    References and notes

    1. Read M., The Ngoni of Nyasaland, Oxford University Press, 1956.

    2. Papers presented to the library of Chancellor College, 1969.

    3. Ntara S. J., Mbiri ya Achewa, Limbe, Malawi Publications, 1965 and Chibambo Y. M., My Ngoni of Nyasaland, 1942, London, United Society for Christian Literature.

    4. Lye W. L., "The Ndebele Kingdom South of the Limpopo River", J. Afr. History, Vol. X, No. 1, 1969.

    5. Warhurst P. R.. "The Scramble and African Politics in Gazaland", Zambesian Past, p. 47, ed. Stokes E. & Brown R., Manchester University Press, 1965.

    6. Bryant A. T., Olden Times in Zululand and Natal. Longmans, 1929. p. 424.

    7. Elmslie W. A., Among the Ngoni, Edinburgh, Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier. 1899, p. 19.

    8. This and subsecuent references were supplied to me by Dr. G. Liesegang of Kola University to whom I am deeply indebted for details of Portuguese records.


    10. Warhurst, The Scramble, p. 48.

    11. Bryant. Olden Times, p. 280.

    12. Lancaster G. D.. "Tentative chronology of the Ngoni", J. Royal Anth. Soc., 1937, XVII. p. 78.

    13. Schapera I.. Livingstone's African Journal: 1853-1856, Chatto & Windus, 1963, p. 375.

    14. Bryant, Olden Times, p. 424.


    16. ibid.

    17. Bryant. Olden Times, p. 424.

    18. Scharer-a L. Livingstone's Private Journals, Chatto & Windus, 1960, p. 20.

    19. Lane-Poole E.H.The Native Tribes of the Eastern Province of Northern Rhodesia, Lusaka. 1949. p.6 and Fraser D., Wining a Primitive People, London, 1922, p. 312.


    21. Mputa's death and cremation on the Lichiningo River is a fixed point for all narratives.

    22. It is interesting that today the Kachindamoto's area go so far as to say that Chikusi and Chifisi were brothers with the same father.

    23. Mara. Mbiri ya Achewa. p. 30.

      
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    Thursday, March 4, 2010

    0

    The Zwangendaba Succession

  • Thursday, March 4, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • C. J. W. Fleming
    IN order to appreciate all the niceties of the Zwangendaba succession it is necessary to go back and look at the ancestry of this legendary potentate. He was the son of Hlachwayo, an induna of the powerful Ndwandwe chief, Zwide Ncumayo, who occupied the country to the north of the Black Mfolozi River in Northern Zululand. There is here, as there often is in other places, some confusion over tribal names.' Basically all the peoples in the coastal belt from Delagoa Bay to the Great Fish River were of Nguni stock but there were many subdivisions among them and many tribal names. Very often these names stemmed from the designation of the locality from which the people hailed. This appears to have been the case with the Angoni for they are often called Swazi, apparently because they came from a district called Uswazi in their original homeland near St. Lucia Bay.2 Because of this they are often confused with the Swazi of present day Swaziland, but this is wrong for it seems that there is no direct connection between the two groups except that they were both of Nguni origin. They probably derive their other name of Angoni from the wider tribal name of Nguni. The Angoni's closest associates in Zululand, where they hailed from, were the Ndandwe, their overlords, and the Kumalos, later to be known as the Amandebele, who were also at one time the subjects of Zwide Ncumayo. Their southern neighbours were the Mtetwa and the Zulus, who, to start with, were an insignificant group living alongside the Mtetwa. However this was all changed in the opening decades of the nineteenth century when Shaka Zulu, a scion of the house of Senzangakona Zulu, first of all seized the family chieftainship, then that of Dingiswayo of the Mtetwa, his erstwhile benefactor, and then proceeded to subdue all the neighbouring tribes in Zululand. All the conquered people afterwards came to be known as Zulu. Very early on Shaka turned his attention to Zwide Ncumayo and a protracted struggle followed. Zwangendaba like his father was one of Zwide's indunas and was reckoned to be one of his most successful generals in the fights with Shaka. In 1819 however Zwide's armies were finally defeated at the battle of the Mhlatuze River and the broken remnants and many women and children fled northwards and eventually collected, together with many other refugees from Shaka's reign of terror, in the country to the south of Delagoa Bay. Among them were Sochangane, an Ncumayo who subsequently usurped the Zwide chieftainship, and Zwangendaba and many of their followers.

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    Thursday, October 1, 2009

    1

    Some Late WHJ Rangeley Correspondences on Angoni (Courtesy of society of Malawi)

  • Thursday, October 1, 2009
  • Samuel Albert
  • Below are some letters I obtained from the Society of Malawi in Mandala House in Blantyre that should be of interest to those studying Ngoni history and language



    Ntcheu.P.O.
    10th December 1952.

    Dear Rangeley,

    Many thanks for your long and interesting letter. I have questioned an old and intelligent Ngoni named Yakobe, aged perhaps 75 or 80. I did not prompt him in any way but merely asked questions and was impressed by his ready and intelligent replies. I believe he knows the truth of the matter. If Chidiaonga settled at Domwe in 1871 that would be about the time of Yakobe's birth and he would have got his information from his parents or others who had first hand knowledge of the matter.

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