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Mzilikazi (meaning the path of blood) (ca. 1790 - 9 September 1868) was a Southern African king who founded the Ndebele (sometimes also called the Matabele) kingdom in what is now Zimbabwe. He was born near Mkuze , Zululand (now part of South Africa) and died at Ingama , Matabeleland (near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe). Many consider him to be the greatest Southern African military leader after the Zulu king Shaka.He took his tribe, the Khumalo , on an 800 km long journey from Zululand to what is now called Zimbabwe. Along the way he showed considerable statesmanship, as he was able to weld his own people and the many tribes he conquered into a large and ethnically diverse but centralized kingdom.
He was originally a lieutenant of Shaka, but in 1823 he had a quarrel with him and rebelled. Rather than face ritual execution, he fled northwards with his tribe. He first travelled to MozambiqueMozambique is a country in Southern Africa, bordering South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It is a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the Commonwealth of Nations. Its capital and largest city is Maputo, located but in 1826Events February 11 University College London is founded, under the name University of London''. April 1 Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine. June 14- 15 The Auspicious Incident: Mahmud II, sultan of Ottoman Empire, crushes the last mutiny he moved west into the TransvaalThe Transvaal was one of the provinces of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. The province no longer exists, and its territory now forms all, or part of, the provinces of Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. History The Transvaal region is known to due to continued attacks by his enemies.
Further attacks first caused him to move west again to present-day BotswanaThe Republic of Botswana Lefatshe la Botswana is a landlocked nation of southern Africa. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent on September 30, 1966. It is bordered by South Africa to t and then later northwards to what is now ZambiaRepublic of Zambia ( In Detail) National motto: One Zambia, One Nation Official language English Capital Lusaka President Levy Mwanawasa Independence October 24 1964 Area Total % water Ranked 38th 752,614 kmē 1% Population Total (2003) Density Ranked 77th in 1837Events January 10 DePauw University founded in Greencastle, Indiana January 26 Michigan is admitted as the 26th U. State February 8 Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate February 11 Americ. He was unable to conquer the indigenous Kololo nation there, so travelled southeast to what became known as Matabeleland (situated in the southwest of present-day Zimbabwe) and settled there in 18401840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 3 One of the predecessor papers to the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, The Port Phillip Herald is founded by George Cavanaugh. January 10 Uniform penny postage.
After his arrival, he organized his followers into a military system with regimentalA regiment is a military unit, typically consisting of around 500-700 soldiers. The term came into use in Europe around the end of the 16th century, when armies evolved from a collection of retinues following knights to a more formally organized structure kraals, similar to those of Shaka, which became strong enough to repel the Boer attacks of 1847 - 1851 and to force government in the South African Republic sign a peace treaty with him in 1852.
While Mzilikazi was generally friendly to European travellers, the discovery of gold in Matabeleland in 1867 brought a flood of settlers which he was unable to control and that led to the eventual downfall of the kingdom under his successor, Lobengula.
1790 births
1868 deaths
