NGONI MIGRATION_TOPIC 1_HISTORY FORM 2

THE COMING OF THE NGONI

Who were the Ngoni?

   

The Ngoni were Bantu-Nguni speaking people of Northern Zululand in South East Africa. They were originally Ndwandwe people under Zwide’s leadership. But when Shaka defeated Zwide, one part of his group in 1840s moved to East Africa into two groups of the Maseko and Tuta under Zwangendaba. They moved to Tanzania from Natal and Swaziland between 1840s due to “Mfecane” (time of trouble). They are currently settled in southwest Tanzania around Songea town.

MOVEMENT AND SETTLEMENT OF THE NGONI TO EAST AFRICA

They began their movement from South-East Africa in Northern Zulu land under the leadership of Zwangendaba in 1820. The Ngoni migration took place in the 19th century, and was the last major movement of Bantu people into East Africa

There were three groups of the Ngoni in East Africa as:-

(i) The Ngoni Tuta 

(ii) The Ngoni Ngwangara 

(iii) The Ngoni Maseko

They then crossed river Zambezi and river Limpopo and moved northwards in search of new land. Later in 1835, they divided into two groups. The one group under the leadership of Zwangendaba passed west of Lake Malawi and settled at Ufipa in 1840. They were attracted to this area here because of the many herds of cattle around.

Zwangendaba led the biggest Ngoni group that entered in East Africa. They crossed the Zambezi River, moved through Malawi and Zambia until they reached the fipa plateau in around 1840’s. Zwangendaba died here in around 1845, and his followers splint up into five sections.

Three sections returned south to Zambia and Malawi while the other two such as Tuta and Gwangara sections remained at ufipa. Another group under the leadership of Induna Maputo (Maseko Ngoni) passed East of Lake Malawi and settled at Songea. When Zwangendaba died around 1845, the Ufipa Ngoni disagreed and split into five groups. Whereby the two groups remained in East Africa such as Tuta and Gwangara Ngoni, three groups moved out of East Africa that is to say, one group moved to Malawi and the two moved back to Zambia.

The Tuta Ngoni, the smallest group left in Ufipa, moved northwards fighting and crashing with the Holoholo near Lake Tanganyika, they disrupted the trade route between Tabora and Ujiji. In the1850s, they invaded the Nyamwezi capturing many and incorporating them in their ranks. They finally settled at Kahama South of Lake Victoria. The Gwangara Ngoni under the leadership of Zulugama moved eastwards to Songea where they met the Maseko Ngoni. The two groups fought and the Maseko Ngoni were defeated and pushed out of Songea in 1860’s.

Some Maseko moved back to Mozambique while others moved to Kilombero valley where they became known as the Mbunga. Another splinter group moved to Newala, Masasi and Tunduru. From Songea the Ngoni raided widely, finally settling southern Tanzania among the Bena, Hehe and Sangu. The Ngoni migration, which started around 1820s, had ended by the year 1860s.

 CAUSES OF THE NGONI MIGRATIONS

1. The mfecane war. This was the period of political instability and upheavals in South Africa, which led to the creation of political alliances among the displaced communities. It covered the period 1820 – 1834 which referred as war of crushing the people.

 The war was narrated by the Ngoni as Ufuaru that meant the crushing and it was named as Difaune. As a result of this contradiction wide warrior divided into two groups one was Under shoshangane created Gaza Empire in Mozambique and Zwangendaba migrated northern wards through central Africa into present day Tanzania.- One group under MputaMaseko crossed Zambezi River and passed to Eastern side of Lake Malawi (Nyasa) finally settled in present day Songea district.

- Zwangedaba lead another groups reached and settled in Ufipa, and in the areas of Lake Nyasa in 1840.Hence Zwangedaba died in 1845.

- The Ndebele under mzirikazi found their settlement in present day Zimbabwe.

- The Kololo under Swebatwane migrated north and built Lozi kingdom a centralized state.

- The Ngoni people were predominantly agriculturalists and pastoralists; in order to protect their traditional way of life they decided to move northwards to central and Eastern Africa.

2. Boer expansion. Since the Ngoni’s economy depend much on land they wanted to expand southwards but due to presence of Boers it become difficult to them as they could not extend to west because Kens rub mountain or to East because of Indian Ocean hence they involved north wards.

3. Dictatorial rule of Shaka: The Zulu ruler was cruel in nature as he severely tortured people and those who failed to respond to his order were killed. Due to this, some people decided to seek refuge by migrating to other areas.

4. Overpopulation: This was caused by the fertility of soils and the reliability of rainfall between Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean.

5. Pastoralism reason: Some Ngoni people owned large herds of cattle and northwards looking for pasture and water for their animals. Therefore, they wanted to look for more fertile land for their cattle. They also experienced famine and drought that led to lack of food and water.

5. The influence of their leaders: Men like Zwangendaba, Maputo and Zulugama provided good leadership. This encouraged them to move onwards.

6. Overstocking: It could also have been due to overstocking of their animals as they were having spirit of cattle rustling, i.e. they had great desire to steal -other people’s cattle. For example, they went on driving away and confiscating other people’s cattle duri--ng their conquest and expansionist wars.

7. Increased knowledge of military tactics by the age regiments: These were powerful military forces and dedicated to professional war, which was their livelihood. They believed that they could have other territories through migration.

EFFECTS OF NGONI INVASION OR MIGRATION IN EAST AFRICA

POSITIVE EFFECTS

(i) Ngoni migration accelerated state formation in East Africa. The invasion gave rise to the formation of bigger political units for defensive purposes. Some societies re-organized themselves after the Ngoni invasion, forming strong armies reforms to strengthen their societies so as to resist their invasion. For example, Hehe and the Segu.

(ii) The Ngoni invasion led to the rise on outstanding leaders to prominence. These included Mirambo, NyunguyaMawe and Mkwawa, who used the Ngoni military tactics to build their states.

(iii) Introduction of new culture. However, there was spread of Ngoni customs and culture.  They enriched the cultures of the people of Southern Tanzania, for example, people copied Ngoni traditional dances and annual festivities.

(iv) It led to the introduction of new weapons e.g. assegai, cowhides and shields.

(v) It led intermarriages between the Ngoni and the natives. There were intermarriages between Ngoni and Nyamwezi, which subsequently led to improved relationships between the invaders and indigenous people and an increased population.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

(i) It led the loss of lives; this leading to depopulation in some areas where they got warriors this was especially in southern Tanzania. This was due to the killing of people in the expansionist wars e.g. the Mariti remnants of Rugarugas killed so many people.

(ii) It led to displacement of some tribes from their original homeland. That means the natives of the areas where Ngoni settled like the Yao were forced to settle in unfavorable areas.

(iii) It intensified slave trade in East Africa. Firstly, they themselves engaged in capturing people and selling as slaves. Again, people running away from the Ngoni invaders were once captured by Arab slave traders and sold off as slaves.

(iv) It led the destruction the of the east African people economy. In this case, the long distance trade and even agriculture was disrupted. For example, since people were running away from the invaders, they disrupted the normal farming, leading to famine. Then they grabbed the natives’ cattle. Furthermore, the caravan routes from Bagamoyo to Ujiji and through Tabora were insecure.

(v) It led the destruction of property and villages.  Ngoni were moving in large groups destroying crops and other properties wherever they crossed. Villages that tried to resist were in most cases burnt down.

(vi) It led famine and hunger. There was widespread famine due to the scotched-earth policy of fighting circumstances, crop could neither be planted nor harvested, and people were forced to abandon farming.

(vii) It led to increased warfare among the African societies, including those areas that had been peaceful before.