The Jere Ngoni Kingdom was a precolonial state in modern-day Malawi that was founded in the mid-19th century as a result of the Mfecane.
History
The founding of the Jere Ngoni Kingdom was precipitated by the Mfecane, a period of widespread instability and state formation in Southern Africa, caused by pre-existing trends of political centralisation which were catalysed by the effects of international trade, environmental instability, and European colonial expansion.1 An early state was the Ndwandwe led by Zwide; after Zwide defeated Dingiswayo's Mthethwa c. 1816, the Mthethwa state disintegrated and some groups were incorporated into Ndwandwe. Zwide next engaged the expanding Zulu led by Shaka, but was defeated in battle c. 1819. Following this defeat, Zwangendaba (one of Ndwandwe's Indunas) led his group on a long-distance migration northwards, and they became known as the Jere Ngoni (separate from the Maseko Ngoni). Zwangendaba initially settled around the Mkomati River (north of Delagoa Bay), but fled north after clashing with other rulers such as Soshangane, Nxaba, and Mzilikazi. Zwangendaba entered onto the Zimbabwean Plateau and raided the Rozvi Empire for several years, before crossing the Zambezi in 1835. He left some troops behind with a relative of his (Nyamazana) who later killed the Rozvi king.23: 265 In 1840 Zwangendaba's forces massacred many Tonga for allegedly causing him illness, and they captured many Chewa and Tumbuka. The Ngoni later reached the Ufipa Plateau, where in the late 1840s Zwangendaba died.2
After Zwangendaba's death the Ngoni split into several groups amid civil war over succession, and his son M'mbelwa led the largest contingent to settle in modern-day Mzimba District in Malawi c. 1850. The Ngoni incorporated numerous local groups into the state, and often raided villages on the fringes of the state for captives, cattle, and food, causing widespread disruption in the region over the following decades.2 The state was later incorporated into the British Central Africa Protectorate.
References
References
- Eldredge, Elizabeth A. (1992). "Sources of Conflict in Southern Africa, C. 1800-30: The 'Mfecane' Reconsidered". The Journal of African History. 33 (1): 1–35. ISSN 0021-8537.
- Thompson, T. J. (1981). "The Origins, Migration and Settlement of the Northern Ngoni". The Society of Malawi Journal. 34 (1): 6–35. ISSN 0037-993X.
- Beach, David (1980). "The Rozvi and the Changamire state". The Shona & Zimbabwe 900–1850: An Outline of Shona History. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-435-94505-3.
Further reading
Further reading
- Bryant, Alfred T. (1964). A History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Tribes. Cape Town: C. Struik. p. 157.
- Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). pp. 1050–1055.