African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 387: Chapter 64: Lively South Africa

”The Zulu are coming! Quickly, gather together!”

”Woo...”

It was unclear how many times this month, Transvaal Republic General Andries angrily roared.

This time, it was once again a small contingent of the Zulu Kingdom launching the attack, armed with firearms like the Ndebele people and assaulting the Boers.

By the time the Boers managed to gather, the Zulu army, with a horn sounding, skillfully started to retreat.

Andries could only watch helplessly as the Zulu army retreated, wanting to pursue but no one dared to give this order, because they knew the Zulu were a cunning lot, surely plotting something sinister.

For the Boers, life was becoming increasingly difficult, mainly due to the burgeoning pressure of national defense and the ever-intensifying provocations of the small Zulu Kingdom. With the British nearby, the Boers found it hard to inflict significant damage on the Zulu Kingdom, becoming increasingly conservative in their tactics.

The hatred between the Boers and the Zulu people was forged from their first meeting; neither were the original masters of this land. The Boers moved north, while the Zulu moved south, leading to a head-on collision in the Natal region.

The original inhabitants of the Natal region, the Ndebele people, were thoroughly defeated by East Africa. Although the Ndebele and Zulu are of the same origin, the invasion of the Zulu Kingdom led to a bloody war between them in the Natal region.

Initially, the outcome was uncertain, but the northward-moving Boers delivered a fatal blow to the Ndebele people.

The Boers faced the Ndebele, who bordered the Cape Colony. A series of successful attacks soon followed.

Not long after the war began, they allied with hostile tribes to mount a daring raid on the Ndebele capital, capturing many of the elderly, women, children, and livestock.

The Ndebele King was engaged in conflict with the Zulu Kingdom at the time and was dispirited by this sudden blow. Resolving to evade the dual threat of the Zulu and the Boers, he led the entire clan, old and young, across the Limpopo River to the north.

This movement resulted in the founding of the Zimbabwe Matebele Kingdom. Compared to the Zulu and Boers, the Ndebele were indeed the unluckiest, as their freshly established Kingdom also encountered the southward movement of the East African Kingdom, delivering their final blow, turning the entire tribe into captives.

After the Ndebele initiative retreat, Boer colonists established their first Natal region settlement on the land left by the Ndebele and appointed a governor and militia commander.

Natal Governor Retief wrote to the Zulu Kingdom King Ding Gang in the north, requesting permission for the Boers to open farms and settle near the Zulu border. Ding Gang replied that if Retief helped the Zulu retrieve 700 cattle stolen by nomads, he would agree to the Boer request.

Retief acted as agreed to help the Zulu King recover the lost cattle, leading to the signing of a land settlement treaty at the capital Mkangangandlovu. However, during the celebratory feast, the Zulu King suddenly attacked, ordered his guards to disarm Retief and his followers, and they were all speared to death.

The well-prepared Zulu field army immediately launched a comprehensive attack on the Boers’ undeveloped settlements. All Boer farms and forts were destroyed, several camps attacked at night, and even their sole seaport, Durban, was captured. Approximately over five hundred women, elderly, and children were killed, leaving the surviving settlers terrified and unwilling to fight.

At this critical moment, Boer farmers wrote to the Cape Colony’s militia commander Pillotolius, asking him to take on the leadership responsibility of opposing the Zulu Kingdom and lead the Boer militia remaining in the Cape to aid the Natal region.

Coincidentally, internal strife erupted in the Zulu Kingdom, as Ding Gang’s brother, Mupanda, fearing for his safety, broke away with 17,000 soldiers. This allowed Pillotolius to focus on dealing with Ding Gang while treating Mupanda as a war ally.

The decisive battle took place at the Enkong River. Pillotolius’s troops, equipped with an old naval cannon and a field cannon, continuously fired grapeshot to repel every wave of attack.

A small group of Zulu attempted to bypass the Enkong River to attack from behind but was similarly met with continuous gunfire from colonial forces.

Since Boers often hunted for meat to supply their Black Slaves, almost everyone was an expert marksman. Even their slave followers were highly skilled in firearm use.

Moreover, the rifle’s range was double that of the Zulu spear, killing waves of Black Knights in the Enkong River.

By dusk, the Boers’ ammunition was nearly depleted. Pillotolius, in a desperate gambit, led 300 Boer cavalry to launch a counter-charge against the Zulu.

Led by Pillotolius, the Boer’s vigorous charge shattered the exhausted Zulu Black Knights, who couldn’t mount any effective offensive again.

More Zulu warriors were driven into the Enkong River and killed, turning the entire river red with blood, creating the legendary ”Battle of Blood River” that entered the history books.

Three thousand fell on the battlefield, while the Boer colonists suffered only one casualty. The once-proud Zulu Kingdom could only retreat in frustration.

This Battle of Blood River determined the control of the Natal region, causing the previously dominant Zulu Kingdom to fall into a passive state.

The Boer convoy reached the capital of the Zulu Kingdom, discovering that Ding Gang had long led the city’s military and civilian populace in a hasty retreat north. They supported Zulu Prince Mupanda to ascend the throne as King, allowing Boers to settle in the Natal region, and paid 10,000 kilograms of ivory as compensation to Pillotolius. Subsequently, they pursued the fleeing King Ding Gang, who was killed by his guards after escaping into Swaziland.

However, the Boers’ good times were short-lived. Despite defeating the Zulu Kingdom, the British took an interest in the Natal settlement.

The British used the Boer’s infringement on Zulu rights as a pretext to invade the Natalia Republic. Defeated in 1843, the Boers pressed inland once again, finally breaking through the Zulu Kingdom’s defenses, and in 1852, established the Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State.

As the two tigers fought, the British profited, and supported by the British, the Zulu began to regain strength, frequently launching counterattacks against the Transvaal Republic.

The Transvaal Republic was almost subject to daily harassment by the Zulu Kingdom; small skirmishes never ceased, and the core army of the Transvaal Republic had to focus on the southeast to resist Zulu provocations.

Regarding the vast East African Kingdom to the north, at first, the arrival of the Germans startled the Transvaal Republic, but over time, it became apparent that the Germans had no hostile intentions and instead engaged in trade, slowly easing tensions. However, deep down, the Boers feared the Germans might act like the British, prompting them to support their former defeated enemies, the Ndebele people, which would ultimately lay the groundwork for their demise.