THE RISE OF SOSHANGANE

 King Shaka of the Zulus, sent Soshangana (Manukosi) to conquer the Tsonga
people in the area of present-day Mozambique. Soshangana found a fertile
place inhabited by scattered communities of peace-loving people, and he
decided to make it his home rather than return to Shaka.
 The Shangaan were a mixture of Nguni (a language group which includes
Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa), and Tsonga speakers (Ronga, Ndzawu, Shona,
Chopi tribes), which Soshangane conquered and subjugated.
 Soshangane insisted that Nguni customs be adopted, and that the Tsonga
learn the Zulu language. Young Tsonga men were assigned to the army as
'mabulandlela' (those who open the road).
 He imposed Shaka's military system of dominion and taught the people the
Zulu ways of fighting, and made them wear skins and ostrich feathers on their
heads. He did not change the style of architecture, the round huts with their
patterned thatch roofs, because they were beautiful.
 Soshangana gave his name to the Shangaan people. During the Evening
Festival, the song "Ndwandwe" refers to his colloquial name and pays
homage to him.
 Soshangane's army overran the Portuguese settlements in Mozambique, at
Delagoa Bay, Inhambane and Sena, and during the next few years, he
established the Nguni kingdom of Kwa Gaza, which he named after his
grandfather, Gaza.
 The Gaza Kingdom comprised parts of what are now south-eastern
Zimbabwe, as well as extending from the Save River down to the southern
part of Mozambique, covering parts of the current provinces of Sofala,
Manica, Inhambane, Gaza and Maputo, and neighbouring parts of South
Africa.
 Life however was not all peaceful for the new nation. Shaka was angry and
sent troops to attack Soshangana under the command of Dingane and
Mhlangana, but the army suffered great hardship because of hunger and
malaria, and Soshangane had no difficulty, towards the end of 1828, in driving
them off.
 During the whole of this turbulent period, from 1830 onwards, groups of
Tsonga speakers moved southwards and defeated smaller groups living in
northern Natal; others moved westwards into the Transvaal, where they
settled in an arc stretching from the Soutpansberg in the north, to Nelspruit
and Barberton areas in the southeast, with isolated groups reaching as far
westwards as Rustenburg.
 Internal quarrels led to Shangaan people dispersing as far as Congo.
Soshangana fought the Portuguese in 1833 and 1834. When he died in 1858
no-one was told about his death for a year, and when word got out there was
a great struggle for power between his two sons.
 After the death of Soshangane in 1856, his sons fought over the chieftainship.
Soshangane had left the throne to Mzila, but Mawewe felt that he should be
chief. Mawewe attacked Mzila and his followers, causing them to leave
Mozambique and flee to the Soutpansberg Mountains in the Transvaal.
 Mzila stayed with João Albasini at Luonde. Albasini, who had been appointed
by the Portuguese Vice-Consul to the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) in
1858, employed many of the Tsonga men as 'indhuna' (headman), and
defenders of his fort-like home at the foot of the Piesangkop near the modern
town of Makhado (formerly known as Louis Trichardt).
 Aided by Albasini and traders at Lourenço Marques, Mzila gained the upper
hand, returning and defeating Mawewe in 1862. Mawewe fled to Swaziland,
where he sought the help of King Mswati I, finally settling in northern
Swaziland on the border with Gaza land. Nghunghunyane, who succeeded
Mzila, was defeated by the Portuguese in 1895, which caused the collapse of
the Gaza kingdom.
 By this stage, there was much trade with the Portuguese colonialists and
many had opened shops in the interior. Shangaan men went to work on the
gold mines of Johannesburg to earn money. They maintained their traditions
and their high standard of dancing made them famous on the reef.
 Mzila's son, Nghunghunyane, took over when he died in 1884, and is
remembered by present-day Shangaans as their best-loved leader and their
last true chief. He fought against the Portuguese colonialists, and was taken
 capture. He arranged for his family to be freed, but he remained hostage and
died.
 Today, the Shangaans live in areas mainly between the Kruger National Park
and the Drakensberg mountains, in South Africa's Mpumalanga and Northern
Province. Their sister tribe, the Tsongas, inhabit most of southern
Mozambique.