DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE_TOPIC 3_HISTORY FORM 2

THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE

SOUTH AFRICA BEFORE THE COMING OF EUROPEANS

The Earliest Inhabitants of South Africa were The San (Bushmen) and the Khoikhoi then followed by Bantu people who inhabited South Africa.

THE SAN: The San people were short and had light brown skin. They had click sound in their language. They lived in highland areas of South Africa. Their main economic Activities were hunting and gathering. They had permanent settlement and they lived in caves.

KHOIKHOI: The Khoikhoi resemble the San but they are taller, Khoikhoi means “men of men” in their language. The San group helped the Khoikhoi to graze their animals. The frequent contact between San and Khoikhoi as they referred to one group of Khoisan.

THE BANTU: These made up the largest group, this was the early inhabitants of South Africa. They include the Iswana, Venda, Gueza, Zulu, Ndebele, Swazi, Shona, Xhosa and Ngoni. They lived a settled life and grew crops such as maize, beans and pumpkins. They used iron tolls and produced enough food which encouraged population growth. The surplus encouraged trade between the communities.

THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE

The Dutch or Boers came from Holland (Netherland) and firstly settled at the cape in Table Bay in April 1652 under the leadership of Jan Van Riebeek.

Dutch farmers called themselves - “BOERS”. When they settled at the cape they called themselves by the name of Afrikaners that meant the “whites of Africa” who developed language known as Afrikaans.

Dutch had a company known as United Dutch East India company (UDEIC). The company had trade with India and other Arabs in Asia. At the cape, they grew vegetables, fruits and kept animals such as cattle.They had barter trade with Khoikhoi exchanging tobacco and alcohol for the cattle.

REASONS FOR DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE

1. The cape was a good place where ships could stop to be refueled.

2. The cape had a good climate to support settlement of the whites. (Temperate and cool climate).

3. The Dutch wanted to produce vegetable and fruits for the ships which sailed to India.

4. The cape could provide fresh water for the sailors.

5. The cape could be a base of projecting their ships on Atlantic and Indian Ocean.

6. The cape was a center for caring sick people.

THE EFFECTS/IMPACTS OF THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE

(i) Enslavement of African, Boers established large plantations, so they needed labors to work to their fields so African were forced to provide their labor.

(ii) Displacement of the African communities, The Dutch displaced the native Africans from the fertile areas and took their livestock by force.

(iii) Occurrence of social segregation, The Dutch thought that they are superior so they mistreated and exploited the African and buying foundation for the Apartheid.

(iv) Expansion of European settlements, Dutch established settlement at the cape in 1685 and their families increased to 150 families.

(v) Introduction of new culture, The Boers introduced the Dutch culture to South Africa that involved their way of life which was totally different from that of African.

(vi) Political structure of the Khoikhoi was destroyed.

(vii) Dutch raided cattle from the Khoikhoi.

AFRICAN REACTIONS TO THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT

THE SAN: They resisted Dutch settlement by raiding the Boers cattle’s and Boers took revenge by the hunting down the San in order to wipe them out so many san people were killed.

THE KHOIKHOI: The Boers occupied the traditional Khoikhoi grazing land so many Khoikhoi were enslaved and forced to work on Boers farms in 1659, The Khoikhoi declared war on the Dutch famers and took the war then hundreds of cattle and sheep died.

THE BANTU: Bantu groups included the Zulu, Ndebele, Swazi, Ngoni, Tambu and Xhosa communities. They cultivated variety of crops such as sugarcane, melons, maize and beans. The level of production they had reached enabled them to accumulate surplus and trade began to be conducted among them. The Boers got the Great Fish River, they encountered the Xhosa who lived around that region. The Boers fought the major wars against the Xhosa. The Xhosa called these war “Wars of possession” but the Boers called them

“Kaffir wars”.

THE KAFFIR WARS OR WARS OF DISPOSSESSION.

These were series of wars carried out by the Xhosa from 1779 against Boers – at the great fish river.

The first three wars were in 1779, 1789 and 1803.

The fourth (known as Ndhalambi) happened in 1812

The fifth (known as Makanda) in 1819.

The sixth in 1834.

The seventh in 1846>

The 8^th (Malenjin – 1850 –1853)

The last resistance by the Xhosa (Mlakaza was an advisor to one of the Xhosa).

The Battle of Vegkop of 19^th October 1836.

Ndebele under Mzilikazi fought against the Boers in the Orange Free states.

The Battle of the Blood River on 11^th February, 1837.

ZULU UNDER Dingane fought against Boer settlement in natal.

Anglo Zulu war.

Zulu under Cetshowayo fought strongly and defeated the British at the Battle of Island lwana.

But later the British suppressed the Zulu during the battle of Ulundi 4^th July, 1879.

MFECANE MOVEMENTS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

The word ‘Mfecane’ originated from zulu word which means ‘crushing’. Mfecane was the period of wide spreading warfare, plundering, disturbances, destruction and migrations among the southern African tribes dominated the first half of nineteenth century. This was the period of serious upheaval among the Bantu-speaking groups in southern Africa, the period when emerging small chiefdoms were waging expansionism wars among themselves. This was in the high area which lies between the Drakensberg Mountains, Kalahari Desert and the Limpopo River. 

By the late eighteenth century, and early nineteenth century, the Ndwandwe, Mthethwa, and Ngwane were emerging as powerful kingdoms south of the Highveld. The powerful chiefdoms with chiefs ambitious to expand their possessions began the conquest and assimilation of neighboring groups. The all turmoil commenced around 1810’s when Zwide of Ndwande  andSobhuza of Ngwane fought over land along the Pongola River and Sobhuza was defeated after which he led his people further inland to the area that is known as Swaziland today. 

After defeating Sobhuza, Zwide came into conflict with Dingiswayo of Mthethwa over other resources like land and water. Both kingdoms became more centralized and militarized. The Zulu were still a small group among the Mthethwa by this time. The Ndwandwe appeared victorious again in 1818, Dingiswayo was killed, and his forces scattered. 

Shaka who was previously a warrior in the Dingiswayo’s army, had already ascended the chief of the Zulu under full support of Dingiswayo upon the death of Senzangakona his father in 1816. As the Mthethwa nation fell apart after Dingiswayo's death Shaka who became ambitious to create new strong kingdom, used the opportunity to defeat all the chiefdoms in the area. Zwiderealised that Shaka could become a threat and decided to stop him, thus became the Shaka’s great enemy, but was defeated in 1818 by the Zulu’s superior strategy and disciplined army. 

In 1926, under Zwide’s successor Sikhunyani , they challenged the Zulu forces again and were completely destroyed. Nguni speaking people, the Ndebele and many other tribes not ready to be ruled by Shaka emigrated. Thus Zulu became very vast strong kingdom in southern Africa. This period between 1810’s-1850’s is what is known as the period of Mfecane.

CAUSES OR REASONS OF MFECANE

(i) Population pressure, Zulu land is part of the Eastern corridor of South Africa between the Drakensburg Mountains and the Indian Ocean. Due to the favorable climate and absence of diseases such as malaria, its population tended to increase rapidly. As the population increased conflicts between those societies became common and intensified leading to the Mfecane.

(ii) Shortage of land, the people who occupied Zulu land were farmers, but the existing land was not enough due to population pressure, therefore the search for more land caused conflicts that later contributed to the outbreak of the Mfecane.

(iii) The role of Shaka, Shaka pursued an aggressive and expansionist policy to expand his Kingdom, Zulu state. He attacked many states in the attempt of expanding his state, this action created conflicts that contributed to the outbreak of the Mfecane.

(iv) Expansion of cape whites, there was the great desire by whites at the capes to expand in the interior in order to acquire more land. Therefore, the expansion of whites in cape worsened the shortage of land and thus crushes among the tribes in the interior.

(v) The control of trade at delagoa bay, trade in ivory with the Portuguese in Delagoa Bay was another factor provoked conflicts among them. Because of the desire to control trade some Nguni tribes began to attack others in order to control and acquire more tribute.

(vi) The coming of the Boers, during the Boer Trek, the Boers left Cape Town away from British control and moved into the interior of South Africa, the penetration of the Boers into the interior of South Africa intensified the pressure on land which led to conflicts that caused the Mfecane.

EFFECTS OF MFECANE

(i) It led to the loss of thousands of lives, as it was the warfare and crushes among the people, many chiefs and common people lost their lives in the course of fighting.

(ii) It caused depopulation in many communities, thousands more were uprooted from their homes and were forced to travel great distances.  Example of these were Ngoni and Ndebele.

(iii) Destruction of properties, refugees moving in larger groups fleeing Shaka’s army caused destruction in many areas they passed through.

(iv) Emergence of any new kingdoms, many migrating tribes went to establish strong states where they settled. For example, Zulu empire emerged as a very strong political entity with very wide range expansion base.

(v)  It led to the decline of many central and east African kingdoms, those kingdoms which could not stand against the military strength of the tribes from the south declined. Example of those kingdoms that were destroyed partly due to Nguni invasions were the Lozi, RozwiandTumbu.

(vi) Famine and hunger, although the mfecane in many ways promoted the political development of southern Africa, it also caused great suffering. Thousands died because of famine.

(vii) It led to the more European penetration into the interior,As many areas became depopulated, made it very easy for the Dutch famers (Boers) to easily take over the place when they were looking for new lands to establish homes. Great numbers of people were displaced and frightened communities left their own areas in places like the Orange Free State, Natal and the Transvaal occupied by whites.

EAST AFRICA UNDER OMAN’S RULE 1840

The Oman Arabs helped East Africans to defeat Portuguese along the coastal in 1698. Oman now became rulers. Therefore, people of East Africa were not free apart from defeating the Portuguese.

In 1741, Mombasa established her independence chief domain under Mazrui family; this was an order from Arabs family of Oman in origin the Mazrui family was conquered by Sultan Seyyid Said of Oman. From 1840 onwards, Sultan Seyyid Said becomes the master of the East African coast.

MOTIVES/AIMS OF OMAN ARABS IN EAST AFRICA

1) To have clear control/monopoly of trade existed at the coast especially Indian ocean trade.

2) They wanted to control all the city-states along the coast.

3) To stop the spread of Christianity led by Portuguese and maintaining Islamic culture.

WHY SULTAN SEYYID SAID SHIFTED HIS CAPITAL FROM MUSCAT OMAN TO ZANZIBAR

The following were the factors for sultan Seyyid Said to shift his capital from Muscat Oman to Zanzibar in 1840.

1) Good climatic condition supported the settlement of Arabs.

2) Fertile soil for agricultural purpose especially clove and coconut products.

3) Deep natural harbor in Zanzibar for importation and exportation of goods.

4) Trade activities examples controlling the Indian Ocean trade.

5) Abundant fresh water for irrigation and soiling.

6) To avoid conflict in his home after killing his brother Iman said.

IMPACTS OF OMAN ARABS (SULTAN) DOMINATION IN EAST AFRICA.

A: ECONOMIC IMPACTS

1. Increase of slave trade.

2. Land alienation.

3. East African people were exposed to international trade.

4. The expansion of trade.

5. Introduction of new cash crops example; coconut and cloves.

6. Establishment of feudalism where African become serfs and tenants

7. Exploitation of African resources.

B: SOCIAL IMPACTS

1. Death due to resistance against the Arabs

2. Spread of Swahili language.

3. Development of Swahili language. E.g. Addition of Arabic words like Sali, habari etc.

4. Spread of Islamic religion.

5. Slavery activities.