page_title: History of Eswatini
section_title: Settlements and concessionaires (1868–1899)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Eswatini / Settlements and concessionaires (1868–1899)
caption_attribution_description: Sketch Map of South Africa showing British Possessions July 1885
context_page_description: Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age have been found in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Prehistoric rock art paintings date from c. 25,000 B.C. and continuing up to the 19th century can be found in various places around the country.
  The country now derives its name from a later king named Mswati II. Jn, named for Ngwane III, is an alternative name for Swaziland the surname of whose royal house remains Nkosi Dlamini. Nkosi literally means "king". Mswati II was the greatest of the fighting kings of Swaziland, and he greatly extended the area of the country to twice its current size. The Emakhandzambili clans were initially incorporated into the kingdom with wide autonomy, often including grants of special ritual and political status. The extent of their autonomy, however, was drastically curtailed by Mswati, who attacked and subdued some of them in the 1850s. With his power, Mswati greatly reduced the influence of the Emakhandzambili while incorporating more people into his kingdom either through conquest or by giving them refuge. These later arrivals became known to the Swazis as Emafikamuva.
context_section_description: Swazi contact with European peoples began when Dutch Trekboers reached the western hinterland of Swaziland in the 1840s.
  By 1845 about 300 Boer families had settled in Ohristad with more families in Lydenburg. Two deeds of sale dated 1846 and 1855 indicate the sale of Swazi territory to the  Dutch republics for a sum of 170 cattle. These deeds at face value seemed to surrender the whole of the
  Swazi territory to the Dutch. Following the death of King Mswati II in 1868, a period of regency followed with Queen Regent
  Tsandzile Ndwandwe until 1875. The South African Republic in 1868 attempted to annex Swaziland by a proclamation. Mbandzeni, following the death of his half brother, the crown prince Ludvonga in 1872, was chosen by inkhosikati LaMgadlela Khumalo as her adopted son and hence a crown prince. However threats existed from prince Mbilini who had married one of Ntengu Mbokane's daughters, and Mbandzeni's half brother and one of the sons of Mswati who was a pretender to the throne and allied with the Zulu
  King Cetshwayo. However, he never became successful. The British prevented any attacks from Cetshwayo, who had been crowned by Sir Theophilus Shepstone in 1873. In addition, the Transvaal Boers wanted to assert their authority over Swaziland by supporting Mbandzeni. Indeed, in Mbandzeni's coronation Rudolf, the Resident Magistrate of Ladysmith and former landdrost of Utrecht in the company of about 350 burghers and 70 wagons, attended the ceremony. During this period, Britain annexed the Transvaal (1877 to 1881). In 1879, the same year as the Zulu war, Mbandzeni aided the British who were now controlling the Transvaal to defeat Sekhukhune and to dismantle his kingdom. In return for his assistance, Swaziland's independence was to be guaranteed perpetually and Swaziland would be protected from Boer and Zulu encroachment.
  In 1881 the Pretoria Convention established nominal British suzerainty over the re-established Transvaal State; article 24 guaranteed the independence of Swaziland, its boundary and Swazi people in their country as recognised by both Britain and the Transvaal. Under this convention, the Swazi territory was reduced in size, leaving Swazi people as residents of the Transvaal territory in present-day Mpumalanga province in South Africa. The  London Convention of 1884's article XII continued to recognise Swaziland as an independent country with Mbandzeni as its King. However, in the years between 1885 and 1889, as more concessions were granted, the population of
  Europeans in Swaziland increased. Unease with some concessionaires led to Mbandzeni to request British intervention. In addition to this, Boer encroachments, especially in 1887, increased the intensity of these requests. The situation in the country continued to deteriorate as some raids, cattle rustling and stealing of children from Swazi villages by Boers continued. Britain refused intervention on the grounds that there was presence of European residents not of British extraction and concessions held at the time by the South African Republic in areas such as tax collection, postal services which should be in the control of a State government.
  On 18 December 1889 after Mbandzeni's death, the Swazi Government, represented by the Queen Regent Tibati Nkambule and the Swazi Council made a proclamation  appointing Sir Theophilus Shepstone and two other officers representing the South African Republic and Britain and a provisional council to oversee administration of the country especially concession and affairs of European residents of the country. A concessions court was established to see which concessions were valid and which were dubious.
  The organic proclamation was followed by the London convention of 1894 which settled the matter over Swaziland. The Swazi proclamation supporting this convention was resisted for a while since its proposal in 1893 and was signed by the Queen Regent and Swazi Council in December 1894. In this convention, the status of Swaziland, its people and the Kings were recognised as in the 1884 convention. However, for the a
caption: Southern Africa in 1885.
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