TOPIC 1: INTERACTIONS AMONG THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA.

Interaction refers to spend time with other people in a way that you have an effect on each other. For
example, you listen to someone and you ask question where you do not understand. Before colonialism,
African communities had social and economic interactions.

SOCIAL INTERACTION
Social interaction took place through migration, religion, war, music, medicine and marriage.

1. Migration. The movement of people from one place to another may cause interaction among the people.
East Africans belong to four main language groups, namely the Khoisan, the Cushites, the Nilotes and the
Bantu. Oral tradition shows that the earliest inhabitants of East Africa were of Khoisan origin. Their
speech is described as having had ‘click’ sounds. It was similar to the language of the present-day
Khoikhoi and San of Southern Africa. These pioneer groups were nomadic hunters and gatherers.

These early groups interacted with the larger Cushite, Bantu and Nilotic communities that began settling
in East Africa from the 1st century AD. In the process, most of the early inhabitants were absorbed by the
larger groups. This could explain why only a few of them remain. These remnants include the Sandawe
and Hadzabe of Tanzania, and the Okiek (Dorobo) of Kenya.

2. War. The engagement of African communities in war from time to time. They fought in order to
avenge a previous attack or defeat, to get trade commodities such as slaves as a way of obtaining slaves,
increase their herds of livestock, to get fertile land, expand their kingdoms and test their military strength.

3. Religion. Played a crucial role in all African societies. People of community met together to worship.
Religious beliefs were taken seriously and affected every phase of life. There was a variety of religious
activities in pre-colonial Africa. These included rites, purification rituals, naming ceremonies and prayers
to bless warriors before they went to war.

4. Marriage. Marriage occupied a position of great importance in African communities. Every member
of the society sought to build their own family. People were allowed to have children only within the
institution of marriage. These children carried on the ways of the community. In this way, the size of the
population increased and the community was strengthened.

ECONOMIC INTERACTION.

African communities also interacted due to economic factors such as crafts, trade, farming and
pastoralism.

1. Agriculture. Many African communities practiced agriculture, and different types of interaction took
place in the process. In the process, different farming methods, tools and crops were passed on from one
community to the other. The Kwavi and Maasai, who were initially a pure pastoral society, eventually
became cultivators as a result of interaction with agricultural societies. As societies continued to expand,
they required better farming tools. The use of iron tools such as hoes, knives and axes, in turn, led to
increased interaction among societies.

2. Trade. Trade enabled various societies to interact such as pastoralists, cultivators and artisans came
into contact because of trading activities. Various patterns of trade existed in different regions of Africa
for centuries. The form of barter trade was the most dominant mode of transaction in pre-colonial Africa.
The trade network was based on the need to access what a society did not produce. For example,
pastoralists exchanged their animal produce for vegetables, grains and other items from neighbouring land
tilling societies.

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3. Crafts (metalworking); African societies used various kinds of metals to make tools, weapons, utensils
and ornaments. Some of the widely metals were iron, bronze, gold, copper and tin. Many communities
respected people who engaged in metalworking. Many Bantu speakers, for instance, considered the iron
smelter as a leader by virtue of coordinating the work of other men. So the metalworking produced
important commodity in regional trade hence societies came into contact with another communities
demanding for commodities. Gold was used in the ancient kingdoms of Ghana, Egypt and Zimbabwe and
in Meroe in western Sudan.

IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC INTERACTIONS

(i) Development of trading centres; The places where trade occurred developed as market centres,
examples of such pre-colonial trading centres include Tabora and Ujiji in the interior of Tanzania,
Mumias, Kibwezi and Machakos in Kenya and Kano, Timbuktu and Jenne in Western Africa.

(ii) Improvement of agricultural production; Economic interaction encouraged improved agricultural

production, leading to food security.

(iii) Permanent settlement; Farming encouraged societies to settle in one place in order to tend their
crops.

(iv) Emergence of urban centres; Mining centres also emerged as important urban centres. These include
Taghaza in the Sahel where salt was mined as well as Meroe in Western Sudan, which developed as a
result of ironworking.

(v) Mixing of languages; This took place between different societies in the course of economic
interactions. For example, Kiswahili resulted from the interaction of the Bantu with Arabs.

(vi) Intermarriages; When people moved from their original areas and established settlements in new
areas, they got married with the natives and established new social relations. Intermarriage strengthened
the relationship among them and therefore avoided social conflicts.

(vii) Population increase; The places, which were attractive for people’s settlement, became highly
populated. In those regions, immigration was common than emigration. Those places also offered a
conducive environment for natural population increase. For instance, the interlacustrine regions, where
land was fertile and provided high yield, became very attractive for the people to settle. It also attracted
population growth due to large supply of foodstuffs.

THE COMING OF NGONI.

The origin of Ngoni.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the great Zulu warrior known as Shaka began his career of conquest
and established powerful Zulu empire in the area today known as Natal in South Africa. The area initially
had been occupied by a cluster of small independent Ngoni tribes. Therefore, the Ngoni people originated
from the Natal region of South Africa.

The Ngoni invasion in Eastern Africa can be traced to the period of turmoil and chaos in the Natal region
of South Africa. This period was called Mfecane meaning the crushing or the time of troubles.

CAUSES OF NGONI MIGRATION.

The following are some of the factors that contributed to this confusion, which forced the Ngoni to
migrate;

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(i) Growth of population; As population increased and the economy expanded among the South African
societies, social organization became more complex. Class conflicts over the control and distribution of
the social products increased. In this process, some groups split away to find new habitats and eventually
their own social organizations. Among the groups which split and dispersed were the Ngoni who settled
in Central and East Africa.

(ii) Severe shortage of land; Due to growth of population, the Ngoni societies experienced a severe land
shortage, which also resulted into shortage of pastures. Land became scarce and there was an increasing
scramble for it by strong states leading to conflicts and family disputes. Due to this situation, migration to
the new areas was inevitable.

(iii) The rise of Shaka; The rise of Shaka as a leader of the Zulu nation, contributed greatly to the Ngoni
migration. He was a political, ambitious and an aggressive ruler who believed in the expansion of the
Zulu. He waged frequent wars against his neighbouring Ngoni. Those groups which feared the Zulu
expansion moved northwards in search of new settlements. The Ngoni’s army consisted of highly
disciplined men armed with short stabbing spears known as Assegai, clubs, sharp small axes and tough
cow-hide shields. Ngoni decided to split in order to escape the frequent attack of Shaka.

(iv) The presence of Europeans in the region; Boer expansion to the northern part was a threat to Ngoni
since the Ngoni’s economy depended much on land, they wanted to expand Southwards, but their
expansion was difficult due to Boers’ expansion northwards. This caused Ngoni to split and settled in
Central and East Africa.

THE EFFECT OF NGONI MIGRATION.

Without doubt, the Ngoni migration disrupted political, economic and social life almost in every place
they passed through. It affected not only South Africa, but also Central and East Africa. These effects are
discussed below.

SOCIAL EFFECTS.
(i) Family migration; During the Ngoni’s conquest, many people were dislocated from their original
homelands. Whenever the Ngoni settled in any new territory, the indigenous people were forced to migrate
to new areas for settlement. The Ngoni were interested in fertile regions with reliable rainfall. Therefore,
all areas with such characteristics were confiscated by the Ngoni.

(ii) Depopulation; The Ngoni invasions led to the loss of many lives and destruction of properties in East
Africa. They set entire villages on fire as they raided for livestock and killed their enemies ruthlessly.

(iii) Spread of Ngoni language; The language of the Ngoni was spread to East and Central Africa by
Ngoni invaders.

(iv) Destruction of properties; The Ngoni destroyed properties such as buildings, food reserves, herds
and crop farms in Central and East Africa during their movements. Most of the Ngoni fighters had the
habit of destroying properties. These measures were taken deliberately so as to weaken the people they
conquered.

(v) Introduction of new culture; The Ngoni invasion resulted into formation and introduction of new
culture. They destructed all ways of keeping law and order to the societies where they settled. The subdued
people were absorbed into the new communities with a new language, customs, traditional beliefs, etc.
basically, this led to the emergence of plural societies.

POLITICAL EFFECTS.

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(i) Formation of defensive states; Many communities formed alliances with their neighbours in order to
defend themselves against the Ngoni. Several weak states were organized into powerful states.

(ii) Introduction of new fighting techniques; With the coming of the Ngoni to Central and East Africa,
societies began to employ new military techniques such as short stabbing spears, hand to hand fighting
and cow horn formation. For example, about 30 Hehe states led by Munyigumba adopted the Ngoni war
methods. These methods were later used to fight against the invaders.

(iii) Emergence of new fighting group; In the 19th century AD, there were many rugaruga (Ngoni
mercenaries) in Central and Western Tanzania. The rugaruga were made up of criminals, juvenile
delinquents, caravan deserters, runaway slaves and other outcasts. These warriors were fighting for
payment.

(iv) The Ngoni created new and innovative leadership; The history of the 19th century witnessed a new
leadership in East and Central Africa. A typical example includes the leaders such as Mirambo,
Munyigumba, Nyungu ya Mawe etc. each of them recognized newly available military techniques,
discipline and structure of political organization. They quickly adopted and internalized the Ngoni military
organization, which was later employed during the building of great empires.

(v) Emergence of state of fear and insecurity; The Ngoni mobilized frequent attacks on many societies
of South Africa, Central and East Africa. The once peaceful societies were in constant fear of being
attacked and conquered. The Ngoni raided caravans, destroyed many village communities and waged
constant wars. They conducted killings, destruction, stealing and plundering in various areas.

ECONOMIC EFFECTS.

(i) Destruction of trading activities; The Ngoni brought war to a peaceful area and disrupted societies
and trade. The Ngoni came to East and Central Africa when long distance trade had already been well
established and developed. It was the Ngoni who came and added to the chaos by causing severe sufferings
and destruction in Central and East Africa. For example, in East Africa the Nyamwezi and Yao traders
became disorganized during that era due to the Ngoni invasion.

(ii) Introduction of new technological skills; New technological skills were introduced, especially in
ironworking as the long spears were replaced by short stabbing spears.

(iii) Destruction of agricultural activities; Due to insecurity, agricultural activities were disrupted. This
caused food shortage hence famine and hunger to most East and Central African societies.

(iv) Economic stagnation; A lot of valuable time was wasted as young people prepared for war. There
was therefore shortage of labour for economic activities such as agriculture, hunting and fishing. Also the
Ngoni warriors destroyed both human life and livestock. Thus they made some societies weak
economically.

(v) Introduction of new crops; The Ngoni brought various crops which were not found in East and
Central Africa where they settled.

SHORT SUMMARY ON MFECANE

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For extra understanding of Ngoni Migration, Mfecane as Historical phenomena on the emergence of such
displacement of large group of people in East, Central and southern Africa, cannot be undermined. For
such privilege, hereby, a short story of it, from the causes, to some effects.
The history of South Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was dominated by two themes.
The first was penetration of the interior by Europeans (which we shall discuss next periods); a process
which was already happening by the beginning of the eighteenth century, but which accelerated greatly
during the Boer Trek of 1835.

The second was the revolution which took place among the African communities leading to the rise of
powerful centralized states by the 1820s. This revolutionary upheaval (disturbance) is what is known by
the Ngoni speaking people as Mfecane ("meaning crushing"). It is also known by the South speakers as
Difecane which meaning "hammering."

The movement known as Mfecane originated in the South-Eastern part of the Drakensberg Mountains,
among the emerging northern Nguni kingdoms of the Mthethwa, Ndwandwe and Ngwane. The most
likely roots of this movement are basically slowed from increased competition for the limited resources
of the region. These factors led to population pressure, which in turn led to a land problem. The Mfecane
took place from 1832, lasting for about 20 years. As a result, the Nguni people were forced to flee (move)
to Central and Eastern Africa.

Origin of Mfecane War

By the beginning of the eighteenth century the Ngoni-speaking people had been in this region (in the
South-Eastern part of the Drakensberg Mountains, which today is known as Kwazulu Natal) for many
centuries. They had gradually adapted themselves to the physical environment and evolved a mixed
economy combining agriculture with pastoralism. Their land lay between the Drakensberg mountains and
the Eastern coast went as far South in the present Natal as the Fish River.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century changes in the area had given rise to three big kingdoms
namely: The Mthethwa kingdom of Dingiswayo, the Ngwane (later swazi) kingdom of Sobhuza and the
Ndwandwe kingdom of Zwide. All these kingdoms showed a changed situation; a situation of confusions.

Factors for the Emergence of Mfecane

(i) The root cause of Mfecane lies in the gradual transformation of Southern African societies from
communal to feudal social relations. Toward the end of the 18th century, the population of Nguni
speaking people was increasing fast. Hence, there were rapid economic, social and political changes
which led to the development of Nguni societies into small kingdoms such as Mtwetwa, Ngwene,
Ndwandwe and Zulu which marked the first state of the Mfecane.
(ii) Expansion of Boer settlements in South Africa. Expansion of the Boer inland from Cape Town in the
eighteenth century and the subsequent blocking of the natural line of Nguni advancement South East,
produced strains among Nguni tribes who found they could only enlarge their territory at the expense
of their neighbors.
(iii) Population pressures. The pressures were a result of the population growth during the eighteenth
century evidenced by the process of recurrent "tribal" splitting and formation of new units. Although
this process was taking place among all Bantu speaking people (groups), it was particularly more
pronounced in the coastal areas west of the Drakensberg inhabited by the northern Nguni speakers.
This was because the region enjoyed the highest rainfalls in South Africa, had good soil for crop
production and for high quality pasture. To move anywhere from this region was to go to drier and
less fertile land inhibited by less friendly people.
(iv) Barriers created by the Boer expansion. The situation was that the population increase could no longer
be absorbed by territorial expansion and instead the pressure of ownership of land had increased and

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 warfare had become more frequent and severe.
(v) The effect of the international trade on the northern Nguni states. From as early as 1544 European
Delagoa Bay grew and up to the eighteenth century, especially, this trade expanded as the Portuguese,
British and Dutch traders were all competing in selling beads and brass wire in exchange for ivory.
States like those of Alubi, Ndwandwe and Ngwane had been conducting trade through Tsong
middlemen. But on the rise of large states, the leaders of these states tried to establish direct contact
of efforts towards this direction.
(vi) Personal qualities of the leaders of these states. The achievements of these states, together with the
upheavals caused by them can be explained in terms of leadership qualities of individuals such as
Dingiswayo, Shaka and Mzilikazi.

Contribution Made by Mfecane to the Process of State Formation

(i) Formation of a Zulu state under King Tshaka.

(ii) The migrating societies became centralized, such as the Nguni group led by Zwangendaba.
(iii) The society (ies) through which they passed were forced to form strong organization (alliances)
such as the Hehe, Sangu, and Nyamwezi.
(iv) Improved military techniques and weapons were introduced and adopted. For instance, the short
stabbing spear that was used to strengthen armies in the Rugaruga Mirambo kingdom.
(v) Some societies which are today known as the Shona and Ndebele, which were not eager to move
a far, established their kingdoms in Central Africa.

Effects of Mfecane

(i) The Mfecane had a great influence on the history of South Africa. Large parts of the country
in Natal, the Transvaal and Free State were largely depopulated because people fled to safer areas
such as the Transkei, the edge of the Kalahari, the South part of Drankensberg and the present day
Lesotho. In consequence, these areas could not cope with the sudden influx and became
overpopulated. Therefore, many people were forced to flee from their original homes so as to seek
new land elsewhere.
(ii) Using his strong standing army King Tshaka was able to unite many Nguni societies. As a result of
this unification a powerful Zulu empire was established.
(iii) While Zulu expansion was taking place, other Nguni societies under various leaders were fleeing
from Tshaka and creating strong empires/kingdoms, such as the Swazi Kingdom under King
Sobhuza of the Ngwane group in 1840.
(iv) After the Mfecane, the Black peoples were living in an area shaped like a horseshoe. The Tswana
and Pedi lived in the west and the Venda, Shangaan, Tsonga and Swazi lived in the north. The Zulu
lived in the eastern part of the country, so did the Sotho and the inhabitants of both Transkei and
Ciskei. The whites took advantage of this situation by moving into the empty areas and in this way
the ethnic map of South Africa was changed completely
(v) Many people died during the Mfecane. Violence and starvation were rampant because the livestock
were stolen and people could not stay long enough in one place to cultivate crops. Although hundreds
of thousands of people lost their lives, it also gave rise to the formation of big new nations such as
the Sotho. The tribes of leaders such as Dingane, Shaka, Mzilikazi and Soshangane were
significantly strengthened and changed.
(vi) Mfecane is also remembered for its creative effects which led to the formation of large states in
South, central, and East Africa. Apart from the Zulu state itself, other states included the Swazi, the
Gaza, the Ndebele, the Sotho, the Kololo, and the Trans-Zambezi Ngoni states.
(vii) In some areas, communities were subjected to conditions of acute suffering through starvation and
extreme poverty due to Mfecane movements.

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