The Historiographical Development of the Concept “mfecane” and ...

The most important changes in the historiography of the mfecane in this chapter
are no doubt the innovations by Theal. He separated African and colonial
history by placing them into separate chapters. He followed Holden and Shaw’s
still tentative Zulu-centric ideas and welded together the hitherto geographically
or ethnically separate mfecane accounts and integrated them into a Zulu-centric
mfecane narrative. He created a narrative that placed Shaka and his draconian
leadership at the centre of mfecane history. He conceptualised this history in
the following terms: Shaka created a merciless army that carved out an empire
in Zululand, exterminated the inhabitants of Natal, and caused many chiefdoms
to flee from that area. As a result of this disruption, the expelled states
instantaneously transformed themselves into Zulu-like military clones and
engaged in depopulating wars and depredations, which spread over most of the
sub-continent, leaving behind almost two million dead. As a result of this intra-
African warfare, the land was almost totally depopulated. As smallpox had
opened America up for European settlers, so the wars of Shaka, in Theal’s
mind, left behind an empty land and thus unlocked south Africa for progress,
which he defined as the settlement of the land by European colonists. 108 Thus,
boer emigrants from the Cape were seen as bringing peace, Christianity and
civilization to the survivors of the exterminated chiefdoms. Theal presented the
outcome of the wars of devastation as the ultimate justification for colonial
expansion in southern Africa. The consequence was that the victims of this
expansion were thus seen as having caused their own subjugation. Theal died
in 1919, leaving a weighty legacy to South African historians that continued to
assert strong influence on authors for a further half century - and continues to
do so with regard to the mfecane. 109
108 Saunders, South African Past, 40-41.
109 Theal, Progress of South Africa, 169-70. Theal, Short History, 330. Liebenberg, 'G M Theal
as Geskiedskrywer', 6. Babrow, 'Theal: Conflicting Opinions of Him', 10.
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