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

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Ellenberger and Cory; 45 by Dornan, of whom nothing could be learned, except that his article was published in a Rhodesian 1908 scientific journal: 46 and by Lagden, a retired senior British civil servant who spent sixteen years in Basutoland, headed up the SANAC, and wrote a book in 1909 to lobby for the exclusion of Basutoland from the Union on the grounds that the Basotho were ready for independence. 47 Of these four paternalists, only Lagden had absorbed the Zulu-centric version of the mfecane narrative and none of them adopted Macgregor’s generic term Difakane. Their reliance on secondary sources is evident from the repetitions in their narratives. This can be seen in Lagden, who blamed the Ngwane for the destruction of 30 chiefdoms and the killing of at least 100 000 people, and Dornan’s claim that the Ndebele ‘devastated the greater part of the countries now known as the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony’. 48 Rawson, Lagden’s reviewer, wrote that ‘the reforms begun by him 45 Orpen, Reminiscences of Life, vi-vii. It was first serialised in The Natal Advertiser, no dates given in the book. De Kock et al. (eds), Dictionary S. A. Biography (1968), I, 602-3. (CA) A302, 1, J.M. Orpen, letter to D.F. Ellenberger, 11 December 1905, 1-2. (CA) A302, Vol. 1 – J.M. Orpen Papers, Letters and Telegrams Received, 1874-1934, J.M. Orpen and D.F. Ellenberger correspondence, March 1905 - September 1906. My thanks to E. Maloka for directing me to this correspondence. (CL) J.M. Orpen Papers, MS 1029, MS 1205–1208, MS 1211-1212, J.M. Orpen and C.E. Cory correspondence, October 1920 - May 1921. He also published copiously - see Orpen, History of Basutos. J.M. Orpen, A Glimpse into the Mythology of the Maluti Bushmen (no place, no date). J.M. Orpen, Our Relations with the Imperial Government (Cape Town, 1879). J.M. Orpen, Some Principles of Native Government Illustrated: And the Petitions of the Basuto Tribe Regarding Land, Law, Representation and Disarmament to the Cape Parliament (Cape Town, 1880). Moloja, ‘Story of the Fetcani Horde'. J.M. Orpen, Bechuanaland (London, 1885). The Diet of Native Labourers (Salisbury, 1902). J.M. Orpen, The Native Question in Connection with the South Africa Bill or Union Constitution Act (Cape Town, 1909). J.M. Orpen, Natives, Drink, Labour: Our Duty (London, 1913). 46 S.S. Dornan, 'The Basuto - Their Traditional History and Folklore', Proceedings of the Rhodesian Scientific Association, 8 (1908), 65-67. Compare with Report of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science (Cape Town) 1903 onwards, and South African Journal of Science, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society from 1877-78. Dubow, Scientific Racism, 12-13. 47 Lagden, Basutos, I, viii, II, 640-47. De Kock et al. (eds), Dictionary S. A. Biography (1968), I, 457-58. Potgieter (ed), Standard Encyclopaedia (1972), VI, 520-21. See also Lagden, 'Basutoland’, 347-62. 48 Dornan, 'Basuto’, 73. 157
[Moshoeshoe] consisted of the introduction of humanity, justice, and, when possible, mildness, into a form of government which had of necessity to be autocratic and firm’ 49 and thus summed up the sentiments of all four writers. Only Orpen presented information contradictory to the dominant discourse. He concurred with Macgregor that, while there was a time of heightened violence, it did not amount to depopulation and cannibalistic activity. He spent twenty out of the thirty pages he devoted to the mfecane history on the impact of armed and mounted Griqua, Bastard and Kora raiding groups ‘robbing and massacring the Basutos and Bechuanas and selling their children to whites which led to hundreds being killed and thousands being thrown into poverty’. 50 His disagreement with the dominant mfecane discourse became apparent in this work when he concluded that these raiders caused more damage to the peoples of the greater Caledon Valley area than the invading states from Natal and the Tlokwa chiefdom together. 51 Three of the above writers merely repeated the mfecane narrative of previous authors and Orpen’s contradictory sub-discourse was overlooked. The book most influential for the projection of the mfecane narrative in the greater Caledon Valley area into the rest of the twentieth century is the text by Ellenberger. He was a qualified printer when he joined a theological seminary in Switzerland and after completion was made available to the S.M.E., which sent him to Basutoland in 1862. Until his retirement in 1905, he and his colleague, Mabille, were mainly involved in publishing and printing in Sotho. 52 Ellenberger’s work was closely connected with both his son-in-law, Macgregor, and the Basutoland government. In his ‘Foreword’, Sloley stated that he had urged Ellenberger since 1905 to write a history of Basutoland and that the final 49 H.E. Rawson, ‘The Basuto’, Journal of the African Society, 9 (January 1910), 160. 50 Orpen, Reminiscences of Life, 113. See also 110-130. 51 Lagden, Basutos, I, ix, 1, 9-10, 15-17, 19-21, 28-29, 40-42, 46-48, 65. Mabille, 'Basuto of Basutoland', 267. Dornan, ’Basuto’, 69-71, 90. Orpen, Reminiscences of Life, 101-02, 110-30. Orpen, Our Relations, 14. Lagden, Basutos, I, viii. 52 De Kock et al. (eds), Dictionary S. A. Biography (1977), III, 267-68. Potgieter (ed), Standard Encyclopaedia (1971), IV, 292-92. Nüesch, Schweizer Mission, 17, 25. Ellenberger, History of the Basuto. 158
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The Historiographical Development o
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General Histories 172 Chapter 6: Co
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his expulsion of several chiefdoms;
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The Graphics Services Unit, S. Abra
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The Library of the Rand Afrikaans U
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List of Maps Map 1 - Geographical R
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Chapter 1 Introduction Then you wil
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century was caused by the “mfecan
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produce a tradition, or what Michel
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which were to dominate Western thou
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was the "baggage" in the European w
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leader runs the risk of writing wit
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waged by nomadic tribes accompanied
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exaggerate in their talk, and we fe
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incorporated the remaining people i
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history’. 63 Consequently, libera
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Bantu settled in various blocks in
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‘From the 1970s it was the radica
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While Cobbing and the historians in
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illustrates, in part, the weddednes
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Map 2 - mfecane in the 1823 to 1838
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during this period, as it took the
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concepts of a theoretical equality
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tortuous, but information regarding
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However, this contradiction was not
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were murky and secretive, but were
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first assault out onto the highveld
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Map 3 - Thompson’s Map, 1827 This
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major implications for the later de
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Association”, for the British ann
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also applied to refugees from north
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Godlonton had come to the eastern C
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and the gallant settlers from their
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ecently abandoned mission station a
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travelled to Britain where he becam
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Make them [Zulu] out as blood thirs
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hand, to gather geographical, biolo
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despondency bordering on despair, o
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state at their various locations on
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cruel monster’ 127 along with oth
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Map 4 - mfecane in the 1839 to 1876
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depopulating all areas within their
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The writing of African history in t
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Map 5 - Harris’s Map, 1839 Harris
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Arbousset began the convention of g
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prove to their pro-mission readers,
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were the depopulators of the highve
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people became cannibals, first by n
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exercise, and the commission’s re
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him to reorganise the Mthethwa mili
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eastern Free State. There they were
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these authors followed their consci
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The second author, Shaw, had introd
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D’Urban’s, Godlonton’s and Ay
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of eight chiefdoms which, fleeing f
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Zulu” and the Natal African chief
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which there was a preponderance of
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state. Authors who focused only on
Page 117 and 118: Map 6 - mfecane in the 1877 to 1904
Page 119 and 120: The concept ”imperial”, as in t
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Page 125 and 126: Late Victorian Authors Numerous boo
Page 127 and 128: treatment of the Fynn papers, a sel
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Page 131 and 132: Articles on African history publish
Page 133 and 134: European editors. Thus, these texts
Page 135 and 136: State. 53 The aim of this article w
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Page 139 and 140: Babrow’s acknowledgment of Theal
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Page 143 and 144: approach to history in general and
Page 145 and 146: his use of some archival documents,
Page 147 and 148: initial shock of this assault fled
Page 149 and 150: etween fiction and fact. 98 An exam
Page 151 and 152: mfecane narrative. He regarded Shak
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Page 155 and 156: Chapter 5 The South African Period:
Page 157 and 158: economically stable until the onset
Page 159 and 160: latest British methodology of a-his
Page 161 and 162: Natal and Zululand During this peri
Page 163 and 164: Both were imbued with Theal’s rac
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Page 167: fortress attracting many chiefdoms.
Page 171 and 172: Macgregor was more the editor than
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Page 181 and 182: Winter, he joined the Pioneer Colum
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Page 185 and 186: Walker’s contribution to the mfec
Page 187 and 188: Afrikaner history. The few European
Page 189 and 190: Ellenberger resuscitated Arbousset
Page 191 and 192: Chapter 6 Conclusion If the white m
Page 193 and 194: Hodgson, Broadbent, Thompson, Shaw,
Page 195 and 196: than Shaka. The only surprising exc
Page 197 and 198: year after slavery was finally abol
Page 199 and 200: from Natal directly, like the Qwabe
Page 201 and 202: and were also present at the battle
Page 203 and 204: Godlonton and Arbousset. 42 These w
Page 205 and 206: including their livestock and somet
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Page 209 and 210: Shepstone’s four-wave theory, 66
Page 211 and 212: discourse, which was never able to
Page 213 and 214: Interior - 1829: Shepstone to Col.
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Frost, P.J. A Bibliography of Missi
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Seligman, R.A. and Johnson, A. (eds
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3.3 Orange Freestate (Republic) ‘
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Précis of Information Concerning S
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Bank, A. 'The Great Debate and the
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Eldredge, E.A. ‘Sources of Confli
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Maloka, E.T. 'Missionary Historiogr
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Stapleton, T.J. 'Oral Evidence in a
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Wylie, D. 'A.T. Bryant's Inexplicab
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'Instructions Addressed to the Dire
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'The Orange Freestate Forty Years A
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Atmore, A. and Marks, S. 'The Imper
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Brill, J. 'Een Gedenkskrift over de
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Cobbing, J. 'A Tainted Well: The Ob
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Ellenberger, D.F. 'History of the B
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Hamilton, C. 'An Appetite for the P
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Hyam, R. 'African Interests and the
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Kennedy, R.F. 'Historical Accuracy'
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Lewis, L. ‘Book Review of: An Acc
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Milne, J. 'Major Warden: Early Life
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Okoye, F.N.C. 'Tschaka and the Brit
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Reyburn, H.A. 'Piet Retief to Dunca
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Scully, W.C. 'Fragments of Native H
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Thompson, J.N. 'William Rowland Tho
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Vivian, 'Expedition Into Central Af
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Wylie, D. 'Proprietor of Natal: Hen
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Evangelical Missionary Society, on
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Beloff, M. Britain's liberal empire
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Bourne, H.R.F. Blacks and Whites in
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Bryant, A.T. Olden Times in Zululan
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Carlyle, J.E. South Africa and its
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Churchill, W.S. The River War ([ori
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Cory, G.E. The Rise of South Africa
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Dieterlen, H. Adolphe Mabille [1836
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Eldredge, E.A. 'Sources of Conflict
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Fraser, A. Boadicea's Chariot: The
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Gledhill, E. and J. In the Steps of
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Haggard, H.R. Cetshwayo and His Whi
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Henige, D.P. Oral Historiography (L
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Ireland, W. Historical Sketch of th
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Kiernan, V.G. The Lords of Human Ki
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Lehmann, E. and Reckwitz, E. 'The D
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Lucas, L. 'Historical Geography of
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Malan, J.H. Die Opkomst van 'n Repu
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Moffat, R. A Life's Labours in Sout
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Murray, H., Prof. Jameson and Wilso
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Orpen, J.M. Some Principles of Nati
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Plaatje, S.T. Mhudi: An Epic of Sou
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Reynolds, E. Stand the Storm: A His
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Saunders, C.C. The Making of the So
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Smith, K.W. From Frontier to Midlan
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Tatlow, A.H. Natal Province: Descri
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Thompson, G. Travels and Adventures
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Vail, L. ‘Ethnicity in Southern A
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Visagie, J.C. Die Trek uit Oos-Riet
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Webb, C. de B. The Mfecane, Centre
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Wright, J. 'Political Transformatio
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