The Xhosa Wars, also known as the Cape Frontier Wars, were a series of nine wars between the Xhosa people and European settlers, from 1779 to 1879, in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. They are also known as "Africa's 100 Years War", with the different conflicts seen as a series of flare-ups in one long war of attrition - the longest in the history of colonialism in Africa.
The wars saw the beginning of the use of firearms by the Xhosa armies. However they nonetheless saw the Xhosa lose most of their land, and their incorporation into the British Empire. While the wars are mostly seen as being a simple two-sided conflict between European and Xhosa, the reality with its shifting alliances was both fluid and complex. On the European side, relations between the British Empire and the Cape Colony's local settler government were sometimes strained and even broke down on occasion. On the Xhosa side, several groups that are now classed as being Xhosa, such as the Mfengu nation, actually fought on the side of the Cape Colony.
Read more about Xhosa Wars: First Wars, Causes and Developments, Fourth War (1811–1812), Fifth War (1818–1819), Sixth War (1834–1836), Interlude: Stockenström's Treaty System, Seventh War (1846–1847), Cattle-killing Movement (1856–1858)
Famous quotes containing the word wars:
“... the trouble is that most people in this country think that we can stay out of wars in other parts of the world. Even if we stay out of it and save our own skins, we cannot escape the conditions which will undoubtedly exist in other parts of the world and which will react against us.... We are all of us selfish ... and if we can save our own skins, the rest of the world can go. The best we can do is to realize nobody can save his own skin alone. We must all hang together.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)