Historians are examining the possible impact on African societies of new trade goods in southern Africa and the growing trade in gold, ivory and slaves at Delagoa Bay. This illustration is from Thomas Baines’ journal in 1848, where he wrote: ‘Two or three of the women brought a hartebeest skin for sale at the moderate price of two basins full of powder, a quantity of balls and any old or new handkerchiefs or articles of wearing apparel.’
Before the 1960s much historical writing on the period focused on the ‘wars of Tshaka’, which then set off a chain reaction of warfare and migration. This was seized upon by apologists for the apartheid system to create what has been called the ‘myth of the empty land’ – the idea that the Zulu were responsible for the depopulation of the interior, and that the homelands merely conformed to the pattern of African settlement as the whites encountered it in the 1830s.
By the 1960s historians wanted to show that Africans acted rationally to new challenges and developments on the continent. The Mfecane was now portrayed in a positive light as ushering in a period of state building, of innovative rulers in South Africa and states strong enough to challenge white expansion in the interior.
Further research into pre-colonial southern African history threw up new ideas. Some historians argued that overpopulation due to the availability of secure food resources (particularly maize), or the effect of climatic changes caused by drought and long-term environmental degradation may have caused competition for grazing land.
By the 1970s different propositions were put forward. Possibly the entry of new trade goods into southern Africa may have created competition and the need to wield sufficient power to control access to this trade. European demands for ivory and gold may have been the reason for the sudden militarisation of Nguni states and the reorganisation of their economies. Historians examined the possible impact on African societies of the growing trade in gold, ivory and slaves at Delagoa Bay from the mid-eighteenth century, and attempted to quantify the scale of the trade in slaves.
As far as the highveld is concerned, slightly different reasons have been advanced to
African societies were quick to appreciate the possibilities for trade during the nineteenth century. This sketch shows trading in ivory on the coast.
explain the upheavals. The focus here is on cattle accumulation and the impact of trade. Chiefs who had large herds and sufficient pastureland could attract followers and distribute cattle to supporters or destitute individuals. The bogadi, or bridewealth system, placed an even greater premium on cattle, which in turn allowed men access to wives and independent homesteads.
As archaeologists particularly have noted, the Sotho-Tswana were ‘cattle-centred’ societies. Environmental decline placed a strain on grazing, leading to competition. Storage of wealth in the form of cattle made such societies vulnerable to diseases and cattle raids. In addition, evidence suggests that the Tswana particularly were on the convergence of trade routes into the interior. Emanating from the west (present-day Angola), the east (Mozambique) and the Cape, these mercantile contacts had a long history. The trade was steady but not spectacular. The usual trade items were beads, copper, iron and cloth in return for ivory, skins (karosses) and cattle. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, there was a sudden increased demand for trade items from the Tswana.
This came from two quarters – from the advance of the Cape frontier and settlement of
Portrait of a Kora, as illustrated in Burchell’s Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa. The settlement of the Griqua and Kora communities along the lower and middle Orange River increased the demand for trade items.
Griqua and Kora communities along the lower and middle Orange River, and from Delagoa Bay, where the demand for ivory intensified. As ivory became a more and more desired item, it led to competition for hunting grounds and control over trade routes, and the necessity for well-organised hunting parties. Among Africans, this created rivalry on the one hand, and on the other the need for larger and more centralised communities.
All of these explanations imply some sort of rational internal response by Africans to these developments, which might account for the Mfecane. However, these explanations for the Mfecane were strongly challenged by Julian Cobbing (see The ‘Cobbing thesis’) in the late 1980s.
