Editing History of South Africa (section)

===Factional conflicts===
====Wars against the Xhosa====
In early South Africa, European notions of national boundaries and land ownership had no counterparts in African political culture. To Moshoeshoe the BaSotho chieftain from Lesotho, it was customary tribute in the form of horses and cattle represented acceptance of land use under his authority.<ref>Paul Germond, ''Chronicles of Basutoland'', Morija (Lesotho): Morija Sesuto Books, 1967, pp. 144f, 252–53</ref><ref>Elizabeth Eldredge, ''A South African Kingdom'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 48–9, {{ISBN|052144067X}}</ref> To European settlers in Southern Africa, the same form of tribute was believed to constitute purchase and permanent ownership of the land under independent authority.

As European settlers started establishing permanent farms after trekking across the country in search of prime agricultural land, they encountered resistance from the local Bantu people who had originally migrated southwards from central Africa hundreds of years earlier. The consequent frontier wars became known as the [[Xhosa Wars]] (which were also referred to in contemporary discussion as the [[Kaffir (racial term)|Kafir]] Wars or the Cape Frontier Wars<ref>{{cite journal|title=Surgeon-General SIR CHARLES MacDONAGH CUFFE, K.C.B., LL.D|journal=BMJ|volume=2|issue=2859|year=1915|pages=589|issn=0959-8138|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.2859.589-b|pmc=2303193}}</ref>). In the southeastern part of South Africa, Boer settlers and the Xhosa clashed along the Great Fish River, and in 1779 the First Xhosa War broke out. For nearly 100 years subsequently, the Xhosa fought the settlers sporadically, first the Boers or Afrikaners and later the British. In the Fourth Xhosa War, which lasted from 1811 to 1812, the British colonial authorities forced the Xhosa back across the Great Fish River and established forts along this boundary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eastern Cape Wars of Dispossession 1779-1878 {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/eastern-cape-wars-dispossession-1779-1878 |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref>

The increasing economic involvement of the British in southern Africa from the 1820s, and especially following the discovery of first diamonds at Kimberley and gold in the Transvaal, resulted in pressure for land and African labour, and led to increasingly tense relations with Southern African states.<ref name=":1" />

In 1818 differences between two Xhosa leaders, Ndlambe and Ngqika, ended in Ngqika's defeat, but the British continued to recognise Ngqika as the paramount chief. He appealed to the British for help against Ndlambe, who retaliated in 1819 during the Fifth Frontier War by attacking the British colonial town of Grahamstown.

====Wars against the Zulu====
[[File:Cetshwayo-c1875.jpg|thumb|200px|King [[Cetshwayo kaMpande|Cetshwayo]] (ca. 1875)]]In the eastern part of what is today South Africa, in the region named Natalia by the Boer trekkers, the latter negotiated an agreement with Zulu King [[Dingane kaSenzangakhona]] allowing the Boers to settle in part of the then Zulu kingdom.  Cattle rustling ensued and a party of Boers under the leadership of [[Piet Retief]] were killed.

Subsequent to the killing of the Retief party, the Boers fought against the Zulus, at the Ncome River on 16 December 1838. The Boers took a defensive position with the high banks of the Ncome River forming a natural barrier to their rear with their ox waggons as barricades between themselves and the attacking Zulu army in the clash known historically as the [[Battle of Blood River]].<ref>Ngubane, Jordan K. ''An African Explains Apartheid''. New York: Praeger, 1970. pp.40–41</ref><ref>Donald R Morris, ''The Washing of the Spears'', London: Cardinal, 1973, p.148-50 {{ISBN|0 351 17400 1}}</ref>

In the later annexation of the Zulu kingdom by imperial Britain, an [[Anglo-Zulu War]] was fought in 1879. Following Lord Carnarvon's successful introduction of federation in Canada, it was thought that similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might succeed with the African kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa.

In 1874, Henry Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to bring such plans into being. Among the obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand and its army. Frere, on his own initiative, without the approval of the British government and with the intent of instigating a war with the Zulu, had presented an ultimatum on 11 December 1878, to the Zulu king Cetshwayo with which the Zulu king could not comply. Bartle Frere then sent [[Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford|Lord Chelmsford]] to invade Zululand. The war is notable for several particularly bloody battles, including an overwhelming victory by the Zulu at the [[Battle of Isandlwana]], as well as for being a landmark in the timeline of imperialism in the region.

Britain's eventual defeat of the Zulus, marking the end of the Zulu nation's independence, was accomplished with the assistance of Zulu collaborators who harboured cultural and political resentments against centralised Zulu authority.<ref>Dacob Dlamini, [http://www.rdm.co.za/politics/2015/07/27/jacob-zuma-a-spawn-of-collaborators-trying-to-right-old-wrongs "Jacob Zuma a spawn of collaborators trying to right old wrongs"], ''Rand Daily Mail'', 30 July 2015. Accessed 31 July 2015.</ref> The British then set about establishing large sugar plantations in the area today named [[KwaZulu-Natal Province]].

====Wars with the Basotho====
[[File:King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho with his ministers.jpg|thumb|King Moshoeshoe with his advisors]]
From the 1830s onwards, numbers of white settlers from the Cape Colony crossed the Orange River and started arriving in the fertile southern part of territory known as the Lower Caledon Valley, which was occupied by Basotho cattle herders under the authority of the Basotho founding monarch [[Moshoeshoe I]]. In 1845, a treaty was signed between the British colonists and Moshoeshoe, which recognised white settlement in the area. No firm boundaries were drawn between the area of white settlement and Moshoeshoe's kingdom, which led to border clashes. Moshoeshoe was under the impression he was loaning grazing land to the settlers in accordance with African precepts of occupation rather than ownership, while the settlers believed they had been granted permanent land rights. Afrikaner settlers in particular were loath to live under Moshoesoe's authority and among Africans.<ref>David B Coplan, ''Unconquered Territory: Narrating the Caledon Valley'', Journal of African Cultural Studies, Vol 13, No 2, December 2000, p.192</ref>

The British, who at that time controlled the area between the Orange and Vaal Rivers called the [[Orange River Sovereignty]],  decided a discernible boundary was necessary and proclaimed a line named the Warden Line, dividing the area between British and Basotho territories. This led to conflict between the Basotho and the British, who were defeated by Moshoeshoe's warriors at the battle of Viervoet in 1851.

As punishment to the Basotho, the governor and commander-in-chief of the Cape Colony, George Cathcart, deployed troops to the Mohokare River; Moshoeshoe was ordered to pay a fine. When he did not pay the fine in full, a battle broke out on the Berea Plateau in 1852, where the British suffered heavy losses. In 1854, the British handed over the territory to the Boers through the signing of the [[Sand River Convention]]. This territory and others in the region then became the Republic of the Orange Free State.<ref>Information department, Government of Lesotho, [https://web.archive.org/web/20061107030932/http://www.lesotho.gov.ls/about/default.php ''About Lesotho'']. Accessed 1 May 2015</ref>

A succession of wars followed from 1858 to 1868 between the Basotho kingdom and the Boer republic of [[Orange Free State]].<ref>Roger B Beck, ''History of South Africa'', Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 2000, p.74 {{ISBN|0-313-30730-X}}</ref> In the battles that followed, the Orange Free State tried unsuccessfully to capture Moshoeshoe's mountain stronghold at [[Thaba Bosiu]], while the [[Lesotho|Sotho]] conducted raids in Free State territories. Both sides adopted scorched-earth tactics, with large swathes of pasturage and cropland being destroyed.<ref>George McCall Theal, ''History of South Africa'', Vol IV, "War with the Basuto", London: Allen & Unwin, 1919, p. 225-79</ref> Faced with starvation, Moshoeshoe signed a peace treaty on 15 October 1858, though crucial boundary issues remained unresolved.<ref name="Beck 2000, p. 74">Beck 2000, p. 74</ref> War broke out again in 1865. After an unsuccessful appeal for aid from the British Empire, Moshoeshoe signed the 1866 treaty of Thaba Bosiu, with the Basotho ceding substantial territory to the Orange Free State. On 12 March 1868, the British parliament declared the Basotho Kingdom a British protectorate and part of the British Empire. Open hostilities ceased between the Orange Free State and the Basotho.<ref>James S Olson, Robert S Shadle (eds.) ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'', Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut 1996, p.118 {{ISBN|0-313-27917-9}}</ref> The country was subsequently named [[Basutoland]] and is presently named [[Lesotho]].

====Wars with the Ndebele====
[[File:G.S. Smithard; J.S. Skelton (1909) - The Voortrekkers.jpg|thumb|Boer ''Voortrekkers'' depicted in an early artist's rendition]]In 1836, when Boer V''oortrekkers'' (pioneers) arrived in the northwestern part of present-day South Africa, they came into conflict with a Ndebele sub-group that the settlers named "Matabele", under chief Mzilikazi. A series of battles ensued, in which Mzilikazi was eventually defeated. He withdrew from the area and led his people northwards to what would later become the Matabele region of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).<ref>''A history of the Voortrekkers Great Trek 1835 – 1845'',
[http://www.voortrekker-history.co.za/mzilikazi_great_trek.php#.VVXcZ46qqko Mzilikazi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622070736/http://www.voortrekker-history.co.za/mzilikazi_great_trek.php#.VVXcZ46qqko |date=22 June 2015 }}. Accessed 15 May 2015</ref>

Other members of the Ndebele ethnic language group in different areas of the region similarly came into conflict with the Voortrekkers, notably in the area that would later become the Northern Transvaal. In September 1854, 28 Boers accused of cattle rustling were killed in three separate incidents by an alliance of the Ndebele chiefdoms of Mokopane and Mankopane. Mokopane and his followers, anticipating retaliation by the settlers, retreated into the mountain caves known as Gwasa, (or Makapansgat in Afrikaans). In late October, Boer commandos supported by local [[Kgatla tribe|Kgatla]] tribal collaborators laid siege to the caves. By the end of the siege, about three weeks later, Mokopane and between 1,000 and 3,000 people had died in the caves. The survivors were captured and allegedly enslaved.<ref>Isabel Hofmeyr, ''We Spend Our Years as a Tale that is Told: Oral Historical Narrative in a South African Chiefdom''. Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg: 1993, pp.109–111</ref>

====Wars with the Bapedi====
The Bapedi wars, also known as the [[Sekhukhune|Sekhukhune wars]], consisted of three separate campaigns fought between 1876 and 1879 against the [[Pedi people|Bapedi]] under their reigning monarch [[Sekhukhune|King Sekhukhune I]], in the northeastern region known as [[Sekhukhuneland]], bordering on [[Swaziland]]. Further friction was caused by the refusal of Sekhukhune to allow prospectors to search for gold in territory he considered to be sovereign and independent under his authority. The First Sekhukhune War of 1876 was conducted by the Boers, and the two separate campaigns of the Second Sekhukhune War of 1878/1879 were conducted by the British.<ref>H W Kinsey,[http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol025hk.html "The Sekukuni Wars"], ''South African Military History Journal'',
Vol 2 No 5 – June 1973. Accessed 28 June 2015</ref>

During the final campaign, [[Sekhukhune|Sekukuni]] (also spelled Sekhukhune) and members of his entourage took refuge in a mountain cave where he was cut off from food and water. He eventually surrendered to a combined deputation of Boer and British forces on 2 December 1879. Sekhukhune, members of his family and some Bapedi generals were subsequently imprisoned in Pretoria for two years, with Sekhukhuneland becoming part of the Transvaal Republic. No gold was ever discovered in the annexed territory.<ref>SA History Online, [http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/king-sekhukhune ''King Sekhukhune'']. Accessed 29 June 2015</ref>