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Dingane's attack on Lourenço Marques in 1833

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Gerhard Liesegang
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Extract

The reasons for Dingane's attack on Lourenço Marques in 1833 may have been (a) the policy of expansion pursued by governor Ribeiro, which Machakane of Matola and perhaps Dingane himself may have tried to check, (b) lack of caution in treating Dingane, (c) perhaps also inability to meet Dingane's demands (this may have been due to economic difficulties after the partial breakdown of the slave trade in 1830), (d) the fact that Ribeiro probably maintained relations with Soshangana (which has been stressed by Lobato). Dingane seems to have regarded the governor as one of his subjects, although the Portuguese did not regard themselves as his subjects but as depending on MoÇambique.

In the period 1830–1838, the Zulu seem to have been more important for Lourenço Marques than any other Nguni group, as they were dominating many of the territories near it. In that period the Zulu empire included people of a language different from that of the majority, who do not seem to have been integrated into the Zulu nation through the national regimental system in the same way as Nguni groups subjected by the Zulu. In 1831–4 Zulu armies fighting near Lourenço Marques consisted of a few hundred Zulu warriors assisted by groups of auxiliaries (probably totalling 2,000–3,000 men) furnished by the local chiefs.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 1969 , pp. 565 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

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29 A.H.U. MaÇo 14, G. Ribeiro to GCG Brito, no. 38, 30 Oct. 1830, summarised partly in Santana, , II, 439.Google Scholar

30 Santana, , II, 425.Google Scholar

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32 Ibid. 438. Ribeiro's envoys had returned on 6 August.

33 The soldier who had brought this present was killed three years later. (Santana, , 1, 224).Google Scholar

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38 Ibid. 212.

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52 That Zulu were present is repeated by Ribeiro's successor Vasconcellos: A.H.U. Pasta 1(1834–5), Pegado to Margiochi, no. 9, 17 February 1835, incI. reports dated 8 and 9 Oct. 1834. Hewetson, who accompanied the Zulu missionary, F. Owen, wrote from Delagoa Bay on 20 May 1838, ‘Dingaan, the Zoolu tyrant, attacked this place, and killed the late governor, about five years ago’ (Missionary Herald, Cambridge, Mass., xxxv (1839), 110).Google Scholar

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56 A contingent from Magaia was expected too but did not come forward. The troops which took possession of LourenÇo Marques in 1833 were called together in the same way (Santana, , 1, 222, 226;Google ScholarNobre, , MS 15, 66–68).Google Scholar

57 Santana, , 1, 226Google Scholar (Nobre, , MS, p.69).Google Scholar

58 Dingane wanted 2,691 ‘manilhas de pescoÇ’ and I 500 packages of beads ‘of their kind’ (A.H.U. MoÇ. Pasta I, 1834−5, Pegado to Margiochi, 17 Feb 1835, incl. no.2 letter from Vasconcellos and Soares.) In Sept. 1833 Nobre had given 522 manilhas and 200 packages of beads. (Santana, , I, 221.)Google Scholar

59 A.H.U. MoÇ. MaÇo I A, Marinho to Bomfim, 16 Nov. 1840, incl ‘Acontecimento do dia 3 de junho do corrente anno [1835]’.

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61 In 1835 the Swazi or Unguani were still tributary to the Zulu (Gardiner, , Journey, 167–8).Google Scholar In 1836, 1837, and 1838 the Zulu were fighting against them; in 1840 the Swazi killed Dingane. (sMiss. Herald, xxxiii (1837), 121; xxxvi (1840), 385, 503;Google ScholarBryant, , Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (London, 1929), 321–4).Google Scholar

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63 Augusto, de Castilho, O districto de LourenÇo Marques no presente e no futuro, 2nd ed. (Lisbon: Mattos Moreira, 1881), 46.Google Scholar