The Afro-European Wars In South Africa, 1780 - 1880

431 Pages·2016·11.92 MB·English

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.