How many wives did mzilikazi have

In the winter of the same year he moved down to a place not very far from the junction of the Umgusa and the Khoce Rivers Mwala Hill Locally the first kraal was known as Mkuna Marula tree Next was Spongweni, then his next kraal was the one where he died, Mhlahlandhlela; the district was known as Sigoteni. When the King came back with the regiment, all his people came from Ntabaenda to Ntabazinduna to greet him and then went back to their own kraals.

The Gibbeklexu were at Ntabaenda, they lived for a time there. Then liars went to the King and said that Gundwane had proclaimed Nkulumane King during his absence and before he came to Ntabazinduna. The doctors, not the witchdoctors but the Izinyanga [13] went out and got medicines and the Queen at her marriage had to drink the medicine they prepared and swear her vow, because she may possibly bear a King. Umoaka had two children only, Nkulumane and Lomadhlozi; she was the right-hand wife and she had the right-hand kraal, the kraal of the heir-bearer.

The mother of Lobengula was Fulata. Both belonged to the Gibbeklexu kraal. Fulata was the next wife [14] to Umoaka in order of precedence; Lobengula was her only child. When liars went to Mzilikazi with their story of Gundwane, Mzilikazi called up all his sons — all that might through accident become Kings — that is, the eldest sons of his various wives.

He was a well-knit boy, but not as old as the others and he had not yet been enrolled in a regiment. There must be something in the rumours that I have heard that you wish to usurp the throne.

I gather from this that the rumours I have heard are true. Then Mzilikazi banished Nkulumane. He told Hwabaai and Ncumbata [16] to take Nkulumane over the border down to the Limpopo and then take him down to Shepstone. Mzilikazi knew they had not killed him, but he wanted the people to think so.

Gundwane was sent for by the King and refuted the whole story and denied that he had anything to do with it. A large number of people were killed — all the Gibbeklexu kraal, but he did not kill Fulata as she died before this happened. Lobengula was taken down to Mwala Hill, which he calls Mhlahlandhlela. Five men killed Gundwane and then a larger body was sent to kill the others. Lobengula was not hidden away. The King gave orders that he was to be brought back and when he was enrolled in the Amashlogoshlogo he was at Mwala Hill.

Richardson says that apparently no one can name any. Later in the interview Ntabeni states that he knows nothing of the story that Lobengula was hidden in a grain bin.

While Mzilikazi was at Ntabazinduna, on top of the mountain, he had called up his indunas and allocated the various districts they were to occupy. Lobengula was kept at Eguzuleni by Gwabalanda, but it was not true that Gwabalanda kept Lobengula as his own son. He had instructions from Mzilikazi; he kept Lobengula herding for some time. He was first given the calves to herd and later the more responsible work of herding the grown cattle.

Gwabalanda kept him there until he was enrolled in the Amashlogoshlogo regiment. Lobengula enrolled in the Amashlogoshlogo and with them was stationed not very far from the original kraal below the junction of the Umgusa and Khoce rivers. The Amashlogoshlogo were popularly known as the Inyoniyamashlanga, the Zulu name for weaver-birds. Lobengula did not come into contact with white people then, only after he became King. The people were then looking for the return of Nkulumane as their King.

When Mzilikazi died I was very young, [18] but the death was only announced when the counsellors thought fit. They sent Lotje [19] and Mshlaba, son of Ncumbata and they started from here on horseback.

You can travel with switches, but you must not carry anything warlike. The Boers were very good to them. I am surprised that you should come down to get him, when before you delivered him to Shepstone, you took away his leopard skin kaross.

The emissaries return to Matabeleland without Nkulumane. Mshlaba and Lotje, [21] the leaders, the people who had been given the road, came right back and the Boers gave them back their horses and assegais. All agreed except Umbigo and Lomapela. They objected because they said the King had told them individually that Nkulumane was to be his successor….

It is true that the Zwangendaba refused to come to the funeral of Mzilikazi because of their hostility to Lobengula. They refused to come during the time the body was in the hut, but they turned up for the actual funeral.

It is not true that the Zwangendaba wanted Umbigo to be King. This was only a rumour; some of the Zwangendaba who did not want Lobengula to be King said it would be better if Umbigo became King. But Umbigo would not entertain the idea and said they must wait for Nkulumane. Lobengula was then at Spongweni. He sent a message to the Zwangendaba, Ingubo and Induba regiments saying he wanted to see them, and they refused to come.

Are they on their way to see me? Have they crossed the Bembesi River? Lobengula gathered his troops and camped right up against them on the Bembesi River. Then two men, Mhlatuzani and Somadaga, were sent to Umbigo [23] by Lobengula to say he was there and to ask Umbigo to come and see him. Umtigan, Nomabale and Ziguana were the three that went with him all mounted.

Lobengula rode right up to the kraal gate, put his gun between the upright poles of the gate and fired two shots… Sodutwana was badly wounded and another was killed on the spot. The kraal was fenced all around with a high stockade. Lobengula called his town Bulawayo because after he was made King, he collected all the survivors of those who were killed at Gibbeklexu — some who had escaped, and some descended from women who had left the kraal and he established them in a kraal where Government House now is.

It was then he changed the name of the people to koBulawayo. When he moved to the site of the present Government House, he took the name with him. By koBulawayo Lobengula was referring to the people of Gibbeklexu, so those who survived were called koBulawayo, but the name included everyone, those who were killed as well as those that survived….

When the meeting took place Ncumbata told the people that Nkulumane was dead. But Lotje and Mshlaba said this was not so, because they had heard in Natal that he was still alive. Nkulumane came up with the remnant of his people, who were scattered in the Zwangendaba fight, to the Gwanda district to Isizeza Hill and he established himself there, he even built huts.

Then he [Lobengula] sent down a big force to destroy them. The next morning the regiments were ordered by the Indunas to attack Nkulumane. The indunas were making a pretence of an attack really and when they reached the camp, they found the logs still burning, but Nkulumane and his people were gone.

Let us go back and tell Lobengula. When they returned, Lobengula ordered the induna Ntunzi to be killed because he had not carried out his orders and killed Nkulumane. Ntunzi was killed as soon as he returned, because he had warned Nkulumane to get out. Umtigan was killed years afterwards because of this incident. When Nkulumane left Matabeleland, the time he was banished, both his eyes were all right so far as I know.

I never heard that the Nkulumane who came up to claim the throne had something wrong with his eyes. Ncumbata died after the Zwangendaba battle and then Mshlaba succeeded him. Mzilikazi admired Moffat so much that he honoured him with the name of his own father, Mashobane, and called Moffat the King of Kuruman'.

Henceforth, ordered Mzilikazi, all traders and hunters had to enter his country on the road that led from his friend Moffat's mission at Kuruman. In the spring of , Dingane's Zulu regiments advanced on the Matabele. On the upper reaches of the Sand River, they fell on each other. Three Zulu regiments were wiped out before they fell back.

Early in , the Matabele razed the Rolong villages. Matabele raiding expeditions conquered the Hurutshe, whose capital Mosega became the king's most southern military headquarters guarding the route to Kuruman. At Tshwenyane, he built another military stronghold, and near the Great Marico River, he built the colossal settlement of eGabeni Kapain. In May , Mzilikazi was overjoyed when he heard that Moffat wanted to visit him again, this time accompanied by a group of explorers who were undertaking a scientific expedition led by Dr Andrew Smith.

Hoping to stay on good terms with the British and to learn more from them about the use of firearms, Mzilikazi gave the expedition permission to enter his country. The party's journey from Kuruman took them around the northern tip of the Magaliesberg, teeming with game. There, they encountered some Tswana survivors who had built grass huts on scaffolds within a gigantic tree as a safeguard against nocturnal visits of some rather bold lions.

It was identified in the s and can be seen on the farm Bultfontein at Boshoek, a farming area between Rustenburg and Sun City. The doting king feted Moffat. He allowed him to lecture him about his cruelty and ungodly ways. When Moffat said he was looking for timber for his new church at Kuruman, the king personally assisted him in finding good wood for his church, travelling with him in his wagon, enjoying the company of his esteemed friend and the surprising comfort of the mattress on his bed.

During this visit, Moffat gained Mzilikazi's permission for missionaries of the American Board to settle at Mosega. Soon after Moffat's visit, in , Mzilikazi welcomed William Cornwallis Harris, a captain in the Indian Army, who was hunting and sketching in Africa.

His paintings and his diary became prized Africana. Early in Louis Trichardt's company and the Van Rensburg trekkers moved into Matabele territory and were wiped out by fever and by hostile warriors. Hendrik Potgieter's party followed. They trekked north across the Vaal searching for a permanent place to settle. Captain Cornwallis Harris was still at the royal headquarters in August when Mzilikazi heard that the Voortrekkers were crossing the Vaal without his permission.

Moffat records that Mzilikazi saw this as a threat to the Matabele state. When he heard they were poaching his game, his warriors were ordered to expel them as bandits. Mzilikazi's warriors butchered the Erasmus party, but were repulsed by the Steyn and Botha families in their laagers.

The Liebenburgs were not so lucky, although the Matabele spared two girls and a boy who were carried off as gifts for Mzilikazi. Potgieter laagered the trekker wagons at Vegkop, between the Wilge and Renoster rivers, and waited for the Matabele to attack them. On 16 October , the Matabele, led by Mzilikazi's general Kalipi, encircled the wagons. At noon, they charged; only to be met, repeatedly, with a viciously accurate fusillade.

At length the Matabele called off the attack and retreated, taking with them all the trekkers' cattle. The Rolong eventually rescued the stranded trekkers and brought them to Thaba Nchu, where a large group of trekkers had assembled under Gert Maritz.

Meanwhile, Cornwallis Harris was exchanging gifts with the king and was discreetly refrained from mentioning that he had heard about the massacre of the trekkers. His party had not continued far on their journey when they came upon a section of the Matabele army returning from the battle at Vegkop. The meeting was tense until Harris explained they had been the personal guests of the king himself.

While the Matabele army was away in the north, Potgieter's trekkers fell upon Mosega at dawn on January 17th, , and destroyed it. Dingane, the Zulu king, seized the opportunity of attacking the weakened Matabele forces. But again, they were beaten off, though this time the Matabele suffered heavy losses.

Mzilikazi then decided to move to eGabeni. In a battle lasting nine days, they destroyed eGabeni as well as other Matabele camps along the Marico River. Fearing utter destruction at the hands of the Boers who had gained dominance in the Transvaal, Mzilikazi decided to move much further north. His people, now numbering some 15,, streamed out of the Marico valley, and after crossing the Limpopo River into the present Botswana, they split into two groups. It was nearly two years before Mzilikazi's group met up with the other section, who having arrived in about , had subjugated and incorporated the Shona, Kalanga and Rozwi.

Believing they had lost sight of Mzilikazi forever, they appointed as successor, Mzilikazi's senior son. Meanwhile, Mzilikazi had halted his journey and established himself in the centre of the old Rozwi kingdom, at Nyathi, giving his new headquarters in the Matopo Hills the Zulu name kwaBulawayo. When Mzilikazi heard that his councillors had appointed a successor, he summoned them to Bulawayo, accused them of treason and had them all executed. Then he ordered the execution of all his own sons.

But Fulatha, the daughter of a Swazi chief, managed to hide her son, Lobengula, who escaped death. Having killed his rivals, Mzilikazi reorganized his army and proceeded to subjugate the neighbouring tribes, most of whom in time adopted the Ndebele language and culture, which was in turn influenced by the conquered groups.

The remarkable friendship between Robert Moffat and Mzilikazi was resumed when Moffat visited the king at Nyathi in , and Moffat surveyed the old king's swollen body and palsied legs with shock. He was saddened to note that though the king still enjoyed the devotion and respect of his followers, he was no longer the mighty Bull Elephant, the fearsome ruler of the past.