Mfecane

The Mfecane was a period of warfare, migration, and political upheaval in southern Africa during the early nineteenth century, associated with the rise of new states.

Zulu Kingdom: A southern African kingdom established under Shaka in the early nineteenth century. Its expansion became central to accounts of the Mfecane’s wars and migrations.
Shaka: A Zulu ruler who expanded his kingdom in the early nineteenth century. His reign became a focal point for explanations of the Mfecane.
Soshangane: A Nguni leader who founded the Gaza Kingdom in southeastern Africa. His movement northward linked regional conflict to state-building in Mozambique.
Difaqane: A Sesotho term commonly used for the period of upheaval and migration in southern Africa. Its framing can differ from Mfecane, especially in emphasis and historical interpretation.
Ndwandwe–Zulu War: A series of early nineteenth-century conflicts between the Ndwandwe and Zulu polities. These wars helped drive political fragmentation and movement across the region.
Dingiswayo: A Mthethwa leader who built regional power before the rise of the Zulu kingdom. His political and military innovations preceded Shaka’s expansion.
Gaza Kingdom: A nineteenth-century kingdom founded by Soshangane in present-day Mozambique and surrounding areas. Its formation illustrates how migrating groups established new political centers.
Great Trek: The migration of Boer settlers inland from the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s. It overlapped with the aftermath and reshaped relations between African polities and settlers.
Migrations in southern Africa: Movements of communities across southern Africa, shaped by conflict, ecology, trade, and political change. Displacement and resettlement connected distant conflicts during the upheaval.
Mthethwa Empire: A powerful polity in present-day KwaZulu-Natal under Dingiswayo in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Its rise formed part of the political competition that preceded the upheaval.

Linked from 13 pages