page_title: South African Wars (1879–1915)
section_title: Xhosa
hierarchical_section_title: South African Wars (1879–1915) / Belligerent forces / Xhosa
caption_attribution_description: Mfengu (Fingo) gunmen on the Cape frontier. Image of a painting from the mid 1800s.
context_page_description: Ethnic, political and social tensions among European colonial powers, indigenous Africans, and English and Dutch settlers led to open conflict in a series of wars and revolts between 1879 and 1915 that would have lasting repercussions on the entire region of southern Africa. Pursuit of commercial empire as well as individual aspirations, especially after the discovery of diamonds and gold, were key factors driving these developments.
  The various wars of this era are usually studied separately, as independent conflicts. They include the first and second Anglo-Boer War, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Sekhukhune Wars, the Basotho Gun War, the 9th Frontier War and others.
  However it is instructive also to see them as outbreaks in a far larger wave of change and conflict affecting the subcontinent – beginning with the "Confederation Wars" of the 1870s and 80s; escalating with the rise of Cecil Rhodes and the struggle for control of gold and diamond resources; and leading up to the Second Anglo-Boer War and the Union of South Africa in 1910.
context_section_description: The Xhosa people were a group of Bantu-speaking chiefdoms driven out of the Zuurveld grasslands by the British colonists in 1811. In 1819, the Xhosa attacked the frontier village of Graham's Town with 10,000 warriors but were defeated and lost even more land. In 1834, the Xhosa again invaded the colony but were again driven back and lost more land to the British.
  These wars between the Xhosa and Dutch and British colonists took place along the east coast of Cape Colony between the Great Fish and Great Kei rivers. In 1811, the British began a policy of clearing the land of Xhosa people to make way for more British colonists. Nearly an entire year of fighting (1818–19) ensued.
  Following the battle, around 4000 British colonists migrated to the area along the great Fish River. The further the colonists pushed east, the more resistance they met. Spoils of the war of 1834 to 1835 were 60,000 cattle which the colonists took over. From 1846 to 1853 was a longer struggle. In the war of 1877 to 1879, the colonists took over 15,000 cattle and around 20,000 sheep. In the aftermath, all Xhosa territory was lost to the colonists of the Cape Colony.
caption: The Fengu people were legendary sharpshooters and essential allies of the Cape Colony. They later assimilated with the Xhosa nation.
exif: {}