The Afro-European Wars In South Africa, 1780 PDF
Preview The Afro-European Wars In South Africa, 1780
THE AFRO-EUROPEAN WARS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1780 - 1880 by Lucas Ratnraonaseswa Molomo A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI 1976 UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI LIBRARY 0100488 6 / I» Lucas Rammonnscswa Molomo, hereby declare that this thesis Is my own work and has not been submitted for a degree to any other University LUCAS RAMMONASESWA MOLOMO This thesis has been submitted for Examination with my approval as University superviso '\Q^+£L- '^rrLRvisoR page INTRODUCTION i CHAPTER I Bantu contacts and Relations with Europeans 1 Distribution and Settlement White Encroachment CHAPTER 2 The First Military Clashes 23 The Dutch Period The First British Period The Batavian Period The Second British Period CHAPTER 3 White Invasion of the Interior 111 The Eastern Frontier The Highveld * Zululand CHAPTER 4 Resistance and Collaboration 195 On the Eastern Frontier In Trans-Orangia Beyond the Vaal River In Zululand C O N T E N T S Page CHAPTER 5 Change in Power Structure 299 CHAPTER 6 ’Pacification' and the Imposition of White Rule 317 CHAPTER 7 Conclusion 395 Bibliography 411 A B S T R A C T The study presented in this document is about African-European wars in South Africa in the period 1780-1880. Active military resistance to European intrusion in this part of Africa began in 1659, seven years after the establishment by the Dutch of a half-way station at the Cape of Good Hope. For one and a quarter century from that date the resistance was limited to the Khoikhoi and San, who were closer to the Dutch Cape settlement. By about 1780 the Khoikhoi and San social cohesion hid, to all intents and purposes, broken down under the pressure of the expanding Dutch Cape settlement. What conflict there was between them and Europeans after 1780 was for accomodation rather than for any hopes to expel the latter from the area. This study is therefore concerned with the resistance of the Bantu, who, in 1780, were only just coming under the pressure of the advancing white colonists. In spite of the spirited resistance that the Bantu offered during the period covered by this study, by 1881 they had practically been conquered and subjected to white rule. That the conquest was a central event in the history of South Africa cannot be overstated. Neither Mfecane nor the Great Trek nor the so- called mineral revolution has had more far-reaching consequences. The social problems that afflict South Africa today are at bottom an attempt to readjust, modify or reverse the consequences and implications of that conquest. Yet the event has attracted little or no scholarly attention. No straight and major study has been made as to why and how Africans, in spite of the apparent spiritedness of their resistance, were eventually conquered and subjected to white rule. The extant records of this conquest theme were compiled by non-historians who were by and large concerned to record the history (heroic exploits)of Europeans in South Africa. The records are fragmentary and severely biased against Africans. I have identified these records in the Introduction to this study. Professional historians on the other hand have tended to concern themselves with this conquest theme to the extent only that it had a direct bearing on their fields of study, which were often either aspects or general histories of South Africa. The result is that the African - European conflict has been no more than brief allusions scattered in passim fashion in their historical works. My view is that the conflict is so crucial to the under standing of South African history that there is an obvious need to devote a major study to it. There is need to identify the fundamental issues which lay at its roots; to study its actual mechanics: the tactical and logistic situations, weaponry deploy ment and man-power resources* Such a study, in my opinion, would go a long way to explain the all important question of why and how African military resistance to European colonisation of South Africa collapsed. This study, therefore, is an attempt to provide such explanation. If the attempt succeds, then, an important gap in the history of South Africa, I feel, shall have been filled in- The study would not only be a significant contribution within the context of South African history but also in the general and wider continental context of African history- My thesis ig this study is that a combination of three factors explain the collapse of the South African resistance. The first of these is lack of unity and co-operation within and among African communities- The result was that the resistance guups found it difficult to co-ordinate their resistance efforts. The second factor is the impact of Western civilisation on the African societies. The heavy economic and cultural onslaughts which that civilisation launched on African societies severely sapped their strength and made it difficult for them to sustain drawn-out war. Finally, the resistance groups had to content with the problem of disparity in military technology between them and the white invading forces. Throughout the resistance Africans made impressive effort to acquire firearms and, as will become evident in this study, by the end of the 1870*s they had, at any rate from the point of view of quantity, gone a long way to narrow the gap. What they could not, however, master in a short space of hundred years was effective skill to maintain and use the firearms. This, as the study clearly shows, remained their major weakness throughout the resistance and, indeed, may have been crucial in their final defeat- All these points are highlighted in the chapters that follow. Yet in spite of all these difficulties it can be said that African resistance to colonial rule in South Africa was impressive. Africans often won resounding victories and, although they were finally conquered and subjected to white rule, they nevertheless effectively prevented Europeans from repeating what they did in Australia and New Zealand where they virtually exterminated the Aborigines and Maoris respectively. i INTRODUCTION The study presented in this document is about African resistance to white rule in South Africa during the period 1780-1880, The fact that the conquest and subjection of Africans to white rule was a central event in the history of South Africa cannot be overstated. Neither Nfecane nor the *Boer Trekf nor the so-called mineral revolution has had more far-reaching consequences. The social problems that afflict the country to-day stem from the efforts by the people of South Africa to readjust, modify or even reverse the consequences of that conquest. Yet, like in many t other aspects, of South African history, no straight and major study has been made on the process whereby the country was colonised and the native peoples subjected to white tule. The extant records on this theiae were made by non historians who were by and large concerned to record the history (heroic exploits) of Europeans in South Africa, The records are fragmentary and severely biased against Africans. The major documentswhich deal with Amaxosa resistance are A Narrative of Irruption of the Kaffir Hordes into the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope, 1834 - 1835, Struik, (Facsimile reprint), Cape Town, 1965, and Narrative of the Kaffir War‘, 1850 - 53, London 1851. Both these documents were compiled by Robert Godlonton and are severely biased against the Amaxosa. The only published document that gives nearly a complete picture of ii Amazulu resistance is The Washing of the Spears, by D. R. Morris. G. Tylden*s The Rise of the Basuto is a general history of the Basotho, but it contains useful material on their resistance to white rule. No printed book on the Bapedi resistance exists. What information there is on this section of African resistance is in the form of articles in periodicals and sections or chapters in the general histories. All these materials I have cited, it will have been noticed, are regional in coverage. The piecemeal approach, of course, fails to convey a total picture of the resistance. The resistance began with theKhoisanin the southern tip of South Africa and gradually spread to the Bantu territories on the east coast and on the Highveld. By the beginning of the 1850fs practically all the native groups of South Africa were involved. It seems to me that one cannot grasp the dynamics of that resistance unless one adopts a total view approach. The only documentary that attempts this approach is D.F.C. Moodie's A History of the Battles and Adventures of the British, the Boers and the Zulus in Southern Africa (2 vols.) Frank Cass, Cape Town, 1968. Although its title mentions only the British, the Boers and Amazulu, in * fact the work covers substantial sections of the Basotho, Bapedi and Amaxosa resistance. Apart from the fragmentary nature of its contents, however, Moodie*s work is marred by his uncontrolled bias against the natives* Apart from the fact that it furnishes the researcher with a record of the battles fought between Africans and Europeans the work gives neither balanced nor complete historical view of the South African resistance.
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