Ndwandwe

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The Ndwandwe clan are a subgroup of the Nguni people who populate sections of Southern Africa.

The Ndwandwe, with the Mthethwa, were a significant power in present-day Zululand at the turn of the nineteenth century. Under the leadership of King Zwide, the Ndwandwe nation destroyed the Mthethwa under their king Dingiswayo, and the power vacuum was filled by Shaka and his then small Zulu tribe. In a common front against the Ndwandwe, Shaka collected the remains of the Mthethwa and other regional tribes, and survived the first encounter of the Zulu Civil War with Zwide at the Battle of Gqokli Hill in 1818.

Zwide's defeat at the hands of the Zulu at the Battle of Mhlatuze River circa 1820 led to the disintegration of the Ndwandwe nation as Zwide's generals and sons led sections of the Ndwandwe northwards. One such group, under Soshangane, formed the Gaza Empire in present-day central Mozambique while another, under Zwangendaba, established rule as the waNgoni in present day Malawi. Others established themselves as chiefs of note in Swaziland and Zambia to create a Ndwandwe legacy of enduring power that is scattered across Southern Africa.

They speak a Nguni dialect and their nations’ official languages: English in Zambia and Zimbabwe and Portuguese in Mozambique.