WARS & REBELLIONS
VOORTREKKER - ZULU CONFLICT 1837 -1838
TSHANENI WITH SKULLS IN FOREGROUND
click for enlargement
The
Battlefields of KwaZulu Natal The Zulu Civil War 1883-1888 |
NOTE
THE NUMBERS ON THE LEFT COINCIDE WITH THE NUMBERS ON THE BATTLEFIELD ROUTE
MAP |
Note: It is illegal to remove
any artefacts from Battlefields without written authority from the Provincial Heritage Authority, Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali |
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WARS & REBELLIONS VOORTREKKER - ZULU CONFLICT 1837 -1838 |
At the end of the Anglo Zulu war of 1879 the British government decided to divide the Zulu Kingdom into a number of Districts and to govern each district they placed Zulu Chiefs who they believed would be loyal to them. King Cetshwayo by this time had been incarcerated in the Castle in Cape Town. Many of these chiefs were of course not the traditional chiefs of the areas they now found themselves governing and discontent began to grow. One of the chiefs who did find himself in control of his own people was Chief Zibhebhu, Chief of the Mandlakazi and it was not long before he began to flex his obvious muscle and make moves to become the dominant power in the Kingdom and the British did little to curtail him. Matters came to a head when Queen Victoria finally relented to the pleas of King Cetshwayo to allow him to return to Zululand, where he was granted a small patch of land in central Zululand. | TSHANENI WITH SKULLS IN FOREGROUND click for enlargement |
TRANSVAAL WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1880-1881 THE
ZULU CIVIL WAR |
Very quickly the old Zulu ruling faction of the uSuthu began to gather around him and this resulted in clashes between the uSuthu and the Mandlakazi with the latter getting the upper hand, finally defeating the uSuthu at the Battle of Ondini. Cetshwayo escaped and placed himself at the mercy of the British Resident Melmoth Osborne but died some months later of a massive heart attack. Cetshwayo’s son DiniZulu however evaded capture and finally with the assistance of Lukas Meyer and some 150 odd Boers confronted Chief Zibhebhu and the Mandlakazi on the Mkuze River and in the desperate and bloody Battle of eTshaneni (Ghost Mountain) 5th June 1884 the uSuthu, supported by the Boers defeated Chief Zibhebhu and the Mandlakazi. Never the less friction and fighting was to continue for another four years. The partition of Zululand by the British is still one of the major causes of conflict in the Zulu Kingdom. |
 TSHANENI (GHOST MOUNTAIN) TODAY |
39 |
Battle
of eTshaneni (Ghost Mountain) 5th June 1884 A major battle of the war where the uSuthu, supported by the Boers under Lukas Meyer, defeated Chief Zibhebhu and the Mandlakazi. A guide is needed. |