Xhosa Wars

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The Xhosa wars, also know as the Kaffir wars or Cape Frontier Wars, were a series of nine wars between the Xhosa people and European settlers from 1779 and 1879 in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The wars were responsible for the Xhosa people's loss of most of their land, and the incorporation of its people.

1 First wars
2 Raids and cattle killing
3 The 6th Xhosa War, 1834-36
4 The 7th Xhosa War, 1846
5 The 9th Xhosa War, 1877-79
6 See also
7 References

[edit] First wars

The competition between the Boers and the Xhosa over good grazing land was intense, and skirmishes became wars. Though the Boers had guns and therefore an advantage, they failed because their strategy of pursuing the enemy didn't take into account the Boer desire to protect their families. When the British entered the Cape in 1806, British troops under Harry Smith were sent to help the Boer settlers, and in 1811 they began to clear the land of the Xhosa people. About four thousand British colons were stationed on the Great Fish River.

The Xhosa had been expelled from the district between the Great Fish River and the Sundays river known as the Zuurveld, which became a sort of neutral ground. For some time previous to 1811 the Xhosa, however, had taken control of the neutral ground and committed depredatations of the colonists. In order to expel them from the Zuurveld, Colonel John Graham took the field with a mixed force in 1811, and in the end the Xhosa were driven beyond the Great Fish River. On the site of Colonel Graham's headquarters arose town which bears his name.

A difficulty between the Cape Colony government and the Xhosa arose in 1817, the immediate cause of which was an attempt by the colonial authorities to enforce the restitution of some stolen cattle. On 22 April 1817, led by a prophet-chief named Makana, they attacked Graham’s Town, then held by a handful of white troops. Help arrived in time and the enemy were beaten back. It was then agreed that the land between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers should be neutral territory.

[edit] Raids and cattle killing

Main article: Nongqawuse

In the 1830s the Xhosa began stealing Boer and English cattle. This resulted in retaliation and in the war of 1834 to 1835 sixty thousand cattle were taken by colonists. In 1856 the Xhosa listened to the advice of Nongqawuse. The sixteen year old prophetess told of the return of the ancestors if the Xhosa killed all their cattle. This resulted in the near starvation of the Xhosa and only made them weaker.

[edit] The 6th Xhosa War, 1834-36

Catalyst for Piet Retief's manifesto and the Great Trek. In total 40 farmers (Boers) were killed and 416 farmhouses were burnt down. In addition 5 700 horses, 115 000 head of cattle and 162 000 sheep were plundered by Xhosa tribes people.

By the end of the war 7 000 people of all races were left homeless. Cape governor Benjamin d'Urban took far-reaching steps to prevent similar conflict in the future. These were however not to the liking of the British minister of colonies, Lord Glenelg, who revoked all the measures and accused the Boers of being the instigators of the conflict. As a result, the Boer community lost faith in the British justice system and often took the law into their own hands when cattle rustlers were caught.

[edit] The 7th Xhosa War, 1846

Known as the "War of the Axe". Tension continued to simmer between farmers and marauders. A Khoikhoi escort, manacled to a Xhosa thief, was murdered while transporting the man to Grahamstown to be tried for stealing an axe. A party of Xhosa attacked and killed the escort. The surrender of the murderer was refused, and war was declared in March of 1846. The Ngqikas were the chief tribe engaged in the war, assisted by the Tambukies. The Xhosa were defeated on 7 June 1846 by General Somerset on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. However, the war continued until Sandili, the chief of the Ngqika, surrendered. Other chiefs gradually followed this action, and by the beginning of 1848 the Xhosa had been completely subdued after twenty-one months of fighting.

[edit] The 9th Xhosa War, 1877-79

The last war was a feeble attempt by the Xhosa returning from diamond fields to regain control of their land. All Xhosa territory the became part of the Cape Colony.