IV.

End of the Mfecane

In most areas, the situation stabilized by the 1840s, when newly formed chiefdoms had became large and powerful enough to defy their neighbors with success. It is impossible to calculate the number of people who were forced to move or were killed during the mfecane, but there is no doubt as to the extent of the devastation and the degree of suffering endured. By the 1830s unremitting Zulu and Ndebele raids had depopulated some regions to such an extent that Voortrekkers entering the area believed that they were discovering previously uninhabited lands on which they could settle at will. In this way, the mfecane helped stimulate the advance of white settlers into the interior. However, strong new states such as the Sotho, Zulu, or Swazi kingdoms were often able to deflect or contain the white advance. Paradoxically, therefore, while helping bring about white dominion over southern Africa, the mfecane also created the African kingdoms that outlived it.