The Black History Book by D.K. Publishing

Author:D.K. Publishing
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Tags: Illustrated, Non-Fiction, Africa, Historical, Reference
ISBN: 9780241555620
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Ltd
Published: 2021-10-06T23:00:00+00:00

British troops burn a Xhosa village and kill its inhabitants during the final war to seize the last Xhosa territory, illustrated in a contemporary engraving.

British occupy the land

The British first seized Cape Colony from the Dutch in 1795, and began their extended occupation of the area in 1806. With greater military power than that of the Dutch, they could also summon reinforcements from Britain or India if necessary. For hand-to-hand fighting, where most casualties occurred, they relied on their African allies, the Mfengu from the Eastern Cape.

In 1812, the British started to push the Xhosa back, driving them out of the Zuurveld, a buffer zone between the Gamtoos River and the Great Fish River. During a further war (1818–19), when Xhosa prophet-chief Makana vowed to “turn bullets into water”, British forces again prevailed. They then declared the Zuurveld neutral territory but installed 5,000 British colonists along the Great Fish River.

Forced out of their territories by the British into the land of other African populations, the Xhosa resorted to frontier cattle raids to survive, incurring a violent and decisive British response from 1834 to 1836.

A new treaty brought relative peace but further tensions over land resulted in the next war in 1846. After this conflict, the British annexed previously neutral territory between the Keiskamma River and the Great Kei River to create the Crown Colony of British Kaffraria.

Resentful of their occupiers, the Xhosa mounted a fierce rebellion in 1850 but were again defeated.

“The last nail in the coffin of the old way of life for the Xhosa people.”

Mtutuzeli Matshoba

on the Xhosa cattle killing of 1856–57

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