A selection of African historical facts and commentary

Here you will find a comprehensive selection of historical accounts from various themes of African History. Two series are represented here, the History of Malawi and the History of the amaNdebele nation. Both make extensive coverage and are detailed historic studies. Besides this there are a number of brief sketches of African cultural and imperial history that represent a comprehensive and growing platform. I hope you enjoy them.

Contact me for information on any travel ideas or plans you have to visit Africa.

ZAPU in the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle

This entry is part 19 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareAs the armed wing of ZAPU withdrew to ponder lessons learned, the detained leadership within Rhodesia settled into what seemed likely to be a sustained period of restriction. For Joshua Nkomo the prospect was particularly dreary. Somewhere between the claims of his apologists of untainted zealotry, and his protagonists insistence on his innate corruptibility, lies [...]

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The Emergence of the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle

December 18, 2011
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This entry is part 18 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareThe immediate consequence of the split in the nationalist movement was violence on a level hitherto unseen. This was a fight to the death, an equalisation and an unequivocal exposure of the deep ethnic and personal fissures that had lain unseen beneath the surface as the cordial first phase of the struggle came to an [...]

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Black Political Awakening in Rhodesia

November 7, 2011
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This entry is part 17 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIn the short history of Zimbabwe ZAPU, or the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union, has tended to be regarded as a predominantly amaNdebele party, which latterly has certainly been the case, but at its founding it was a continuation of the determinedly multi-racial and multi-ethnic nationalist credo that defined the formation of the revived African National [...]

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Joshua Nkomo

October 15, 2011
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This entry is part 16 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIn 1949 a meeting was held at the Recreation Hall in Salisbury at which a new president was elected for the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress. This introduced to the centre stage of local politics the founding father of black nationalism and the first authentic voice of the people of Southern Rhodesia. The event within [...]

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Rhodesia: The Post-War Land Removals

September 14, 2011
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This entry is part 15 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIn the post-war period the long delay in implementing the mass removals that had been implicit in the land Apportionment Act, and many unofficial conventions since, had steadily accelerated as the demobilisations that followed peace in Europe saw large numbers of European men and their families flooding into the colonies. Vast tracts of land in [...]

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A brief history of Rhodesia

August 13, 2011
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ShareThe colony of Rhodesia was born on 13 September 1890 with the arrival in the vicinity of present day Harare, then Fort Salisbury, of some 500 hand-picked volunteers who made up the British South Africa Company Pioneer Column. This represented the culmination of several years of political manoeuvre and capital adventure in the great game [...]

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The amaNdebele and modern African imperial history

August 12, 2011
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This entry is part 14 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareThe educated rather than the raw native very often becomes a nuisance to his white neighbours…Report of the Land Commission The end of the First World War did indeed usher in a change in British imperial policy. A general revaluation of the moral certainties of old coincided with the emergence of a class of educated [...]

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The aftermath of the Matabele Rebellion

August 6, 2011
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This entry is part 13 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareMatabeleland should be treated as a portion of Mashonaland lately occupied by the Matabele – Leander Starr Jameson The trust placed in Cecil John Rhodes by the amaNdebele leaders was the trust of desperation, and it was by no means absolute, and bearing mind that Rhodes was a proven master of negotiation the terms of [...]

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The Matabele Rebellion

July 20, 2011
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This entry is part 12 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareHow can the white men punish them? Where are the white police? There are none left in the country.[i] The uprising was mooted to begin on the evening of the full moon of March 28 1896, no hint whatsoever of which reached the ears of white settlers and administrators in the territory. Even long time [...]

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Rhodesia, the white man and the land

July 12, 2011
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ShareIt is on the land that the African lives and it means everything to him. The African cannot depend for his livelihood on profits made through trading. We cannot depend on wages. We must go back every time to the only social security we have – the piece of land. The land stolen must be [...]

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The Matabele War

Thumbnail image for The Matabele War June 30, 2011
This entry is part 11 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareThe invading force of settler volunteers represented an unimpressive army which, without an unequal portion of confidence, would have been overwhelmed by the knowledge that it marched without supply lines, communications or support, and beyond any meaningful assistance or reinforcement. If it did not conclusively defeat the amaNdebele in the early skirmishes – about half [...]

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The End of the Matabele Road

Thumbnail image for The End of the Matabele Road June 2, 2011
This entry is part 10 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIn an atmosphere of great apprehension and mistrust the Rudd Concession was signed, upon which Rudd took to his horse and sped south to Kimberly where he placed the document in the hands of an immensely gratified Cecil John Rhodes. Thomson and Maguire remained behind in Matabeleland, although neither were held in particular esteem among [...]

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The death of Mzilikazi and the arrival of the white man

Thumbnail image for The death of Mzilikazi and the arrival of the white man May 14, 2011
This entry is part 9 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareThe Matabele Mission died in due course of depletion and internal discord, proving only that no man or woman in Matabeleland would dare to commit to anything that competed with the stern residue of Mzilikazi’s rule. However the political importance of the mission was that it introduced the younger generations of Moffat and Khumalo to [...]

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Lobengula

Thumbnail image for Lobengula May 12, 2011
This entry is part 8 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareThe young prince who had so narrowly escaped death at the hands of his father settled into life as a youth in amaNdebele society in a way little different from any other. The date of Lobengula’s birth is obscure, but if, as has been widely recorded, he was the subject of Mzilikazi’s wrath soon after [...]

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Crossing the Limpopo

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This entry is part 7 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareFor the victorious Boer horsemen the sight of the amNdebele streaming north through the mountain passes of the Dwarsberg must have carried with it more than a sense of simple satisfaction. In the tradition of conquest and counter conquest theirs was now the principal claim to a fine country, and the greatest obstacle standing in [...]

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Mzilikazi, the Zulu, the Griquas and the Boer

Thumbnail image for Mzilikazi, the Zulu, the Griquas and the Boer April 9, 2011
This entry is part 6 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

Share As Robert Moffat’s wagons slipped over the southern horizon and disappeared Mzilikazi turned back towards enKungwini to face arguably the greatest series of challenges to the long term survival of the amaNdebele that he had confronted thus far. The first of these was the long awaited settling of scores with the Zulu that came [...]

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Robert Moffat and Mzilikazi Meet

Thumbnail image for Robert Moffat and Mzilikazi Meet April 6, 2011
This entry is part 5 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareCoinciding more or less with Mzilikazi’s Bakwena Campaign approval was given by the government of the Cape Colony to a scheme aimed at extending the trade of the colony outwards to the scattered peoples of the interior. Licences were issued and help offered to those who wished to embark on trading expeditions north of the [...]

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Robert Moffat

Thumbnail image for Robert Moffat March 29, 2011
This entry is part 4 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIn the year 1816 the rather anonymous arrival in Cape Town of a 21 year old missionary echoed similar daily arrivals and departures in a town that had by then been established as an international sea port for more than 160 years. Robert Moffat, a Scotsman and recent inductee into the service of the London [...]

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Ndebele Exodus from Zululand

Thumbnail image for Ndebele Exodus from Zululand March 25, 2011
This entry is part 3 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIt was an apprehensive Mzilikazi who slowly emerged from the Ngome forests and cautiously led his people northwards out of Zululand. Incrementally the vulnerable body of women, children and fighting men probed forward, frequently pausing to take stock, fearing at the same time an attack from behind and a hostile reception from the fore. Slowly [...]

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Mzilikazi

Thumbnail image for Mzilikazi March 22, 2011
This entry is part 2 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareIt has often been proved by history that the formula for greatness lies in being born in the right place and at the right time, and such was certainly the case with Mzilikazi kaMashobane. Mzilikazi was a man whose particular symmetry of violence, statesmanship and ambition might easily have been consigned to irrelevance had his [...]

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An introduction to the History of the amaNdebele

Thumbnail image for An introduction to the History of the amaNdebele March 18, 2011
This entry is part 1 of 19 in the series History of the amaNdebele

ShareOf the many great events of pre-colonial history in Southern Africa, perhaps the most dramatic has been the rise and dispersal of the Nguni line of the Bantu family. Several branches of this family exist, but of those that broke away from the main rootstock, and established satellite communities beyond the borders of South Africa, [...]

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A parting of the ways

Thumbnail image for A parting of the ways March 17, 2011
This entry is part 9 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareThe day for Africa is yet to come. Possibly the freedmen may be an agency in elevating their fatherland. David Livingstone. John Chilembwe’s impending visit to the United States generated enormous interest among his friends, family and congregation. Booth had so emphasised the redeeming potential of black America that expectations were very high. Why Joseph [...]

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Some Great old Pictures of Salisbury

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ShareMy friend Paul Naish of Durban SA send me this wonderful collection of old pictures of Salisbury, Rhodesia, many years ago. Its hard to imagine sometimes what life must have been like then. The nation was administered by a commercial company, and the institutions and traditions of a shortlived corner of the Empire were developing…

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A very black boy with a gleaming smile…

Thumbnail image for A very black boy with a gleaming smile… March 3, 2011
This entry is part 8 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

Share His life was gentle, and the elements so mix’d in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world, ‘This was a man!’ – William Shakespeare Julius Caesar With the plaintive note ‘Dear Mr. Booth, you please carry me for God. I like to be your cook boy’[1], John Chilembwe transitioned [...]

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The Little Prancing Proconsul…

Thumbnail image for The Little Prancing Proconsul… February 25, 2011
This entry is part 7 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareThe precarious state of occupation of the east coast by the Portuguese was acutely observed by the incoming British Consul to Moçambique Sir Harry Johnson (at that time Moçambique was defined by the Island of Moçambique, the administrative capital of Portuguese East Africa, and not necessarily the greater area of what later became the colony/nation [...]

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The Imperial Tussle: Missionaries give way to a Protectorate in Nyasaland

Thumbnail image for The Imperial Tussle: Missionaries give way to a Protectorate in Nyasaland February 7, 2011
This entry is part 6 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareThe arrival on the lake of the British missionaries pitched the Portuguese on the coast into a fit of apprehension tinged with paranoia lest this be the vanguard of a concerted British strategy to rob them of their interests in the interior. Tensions between Lisbon and London had been steadily building since the days of [...]

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The Portuguese and the Missionaries: A Battle for the soul of Nyasaland

Thumbnail image for The Portuguese and the Missionaries: A Battle for the soul of Nyasaland January 21, 2011
This entry is part 5 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareWith the withdrawal of the ill fated Universities Mission to Central Africa, a curtain of silence fell over the Lakes region behind which the work of the slave trade was left to proceed largely unmolested. Livingstone’s appeals against the trade had not gone unheard in Britain, but ten years would pass before he would be [...]

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Missionary Politics: The Universities Mission to Central Africa

Thumbnail image for Missionary Politics: The Universities Mission to Central Africa January 16, 2011
This entry is part 4 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareAs a missionary – that which he maintained until his death that he was – David Livingstone was a dismal failure. His only convert was Sebituane, the scheming Chief of the Makololo who embraced Christianity in the hope of British protection against the marauding amaNdebele. As an explorer – which Livingstone swore he was only [...]

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David Livingstone and the discovery of Lake Nyasa

Thumbnail image for David Livingstone and the discovery of Lake Nyasa January 4, 2011
This entry is part 3 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareThe road to development, peace and Christian enlightenment in Nyasaland, as it was in most other facets of British interface in Africa, was paved with good intentions. The original architect of that road was David Livingstone. No man had more profoundly noble intentions than he, but one of the many tragedies of the John Chilembwe [...]

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A Night of Killing: The Story of John Chilembwe

Thumbnail image for A Night of Killing: The Story of John Chilembwe December 28, 2010
This entry is part 2 of 9 in the series History of Malawi

ShareThe evening of the 23rd of January 1915 settled on the Shiré Highlands of the Nyasaland Protectorate without obvious mishap or portent. January, traditionally the wettest month of the year, could on occasions be drenched by upwards of 10 inches of rainfall, however, on this particular evening, the sky was sheer, the moon high and [...]

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