Mfecane - Consequences For The Sotho-Tswana Peoples

Consequences For The Sotho-Tswana Peoples

Moshoeshoe I gathered the mountain clans together in an alliance against the Zulus. Fortifying the easily defended hills and expanding his reach with cavalry raids, he fought against his enemies with some success, despite not adopting the Zulu tactics, as many other clans had done. The territory of Moshoeshoe I became the kingdom of Lesotho.

Sebitwane gathered the Kololo tribe somewhere near modern Lesotho and wandered north across what is now Botswana, plundering and killing many of the Tswana people in the way. The Kololo finally settled north of the Zambezi River in Barotseland, where they conquered the Lozi people.

The Tswana were pillaged by two large invasionary forces set on the move by the Mfecane. The first were the Kololo, led by Sebitwane, who reached what is now Botswana in 1826. The second was the passage of Mzilikazi and the Matabele across Tswana territory in 1837. Neither of these invasionary forces established a state within Tswana territory; both continued north instead.