Dithakong is the name of a place east of

Kuruman Kuruman is a small town with just over 53,000 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is known for its scenic beauty and the Eye of Kuruman, a geological feature that brings water from deep underground. The abundance of water ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, which had been a major destination for several of the earliest nineteenth century expeditions from the Cape to the interior of the subcontinent. In colonial literature the name is often rendered in such ways as Litakun, also Litakoo or Lattakoo.

The nineteenth century Tswana town

At the time of the 1801 Truter-Somerville Expedition Dithakong was an important BaTlhaping (BaTswana) capital under Kgosi ('Chief') Molehebangwe. Significant accounts of this first expedition were left by, amongst others, William Somerville and John Barrow, with well-known watercolour illustrations by Samuel Daniell. Kgosi Mothibi, son of Molehebangwe, had succeeded as leader of the BaTlhaping by the time that

William Burchell __NOTOC__ William John Burchell (23 July 1781 – 23 March 1863) was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author. His thousands of plant specimens, as well as field journals from his South African expedition, are held by Ke ...

visited there in 1811. The early traveller accounts refer to an impressively large town consisting of mud houses, traces of which have yet to be located archaeologically.Morris, D. 1990. Dithakong. In Beaumont, P. & Morris,D. 1990. ''Guide to archaeological sites in the Northern Cape''. Kimberley: McGregor Museum The Battle of Dithakong in 1823 was part of the conflict and upheavals ending a period of strife referred to in the interior as the

Difaqane The Mfecane ( isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict ...

, and is subject to debate following Cobbing's critique of once orthodox views of the

Mfecane The Mfecane ( isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict ...

as a period of conflict generated by Zulu expansion.

The Battle of Dithakong

The battle of Dithakong was fought between Manthatisi hordes and Batlhaping with the help of the

Griqua Griqua may refer to: * Griqua people * Griqua language or Xiri language * Griquas (rugby) Griquas (known as the Windhoek Draught Griquas for sponsorship reasons since April 2022) are a South African rugby union team that participates in the a ...

. The epic battle that took almost seven hours was recorded by Robert Moffat on 23 June 1823 where the BaThlaping found themselves threatened by thousands of Batlokwa/Basotho of Mmanthatisi – the Phuting and the Hlakwana. The tribes fought each other for dwindling supplies of cattle and corn. They were armed, hungry and intent on raiding the BaThlaping’s cattle. This conflagration was rolling westwards – in the direction of

. Reverend Moffat rushed from Kuruman to

Griquatown Griekwastad is a country town in South Africa. It is sometimes still called Griquatown (the meaning of the town's name in Afrikaans), a name which is now considered historical. The town is in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa by road we ...

to persuade the Griqua to assist the BaThlaping. Reverend Waterboer in Griquatown, assisted by other Griqua leaders (Barend Barends from Danielskuil and

Adam Kok Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

II from Campbell) rode northwards with about 200 men. They were accompanied by BaTlhaping warriors. About 200 Griqua horsemen, armed with guns, faced the massed ranks of the

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

armed with spears and cowhide shields. The BaTlhaping age regiments were held in reserve as the Griqua launched their attack. The Basotho suffered terrible casualties were forced to flee, a devastating and a first loss for Mmantahtisi after obliberating almost 29 tribes since leaving

Harrismith Harrismith is a large town in the Free State province of South Africa. It was named for Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century British governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. It is situated by the Wilge River, alongside the N3 highway, a ...

at the start of

! Dithakong was later subjected to bombardment by colonial forces (under

Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

) suppressing a Tswana uprising in 1878.

The earlier stone walled settlement

On adjacent hills are stone walled ruins, also referred to as Dithakong (in fact the name means 'place of ruins'), about which Somerville enquired in 1801. The BaTlhaping claimed not to have known who had made or lived in this earlier town. Archaeological investigations have established Tswana affinities in this earlier settlement (itself showing more than one episode of development) which includes features indicative of frontier complexity at this south-western edge of Tswana expansion.

Modern Dithakong

Dithakong today is a local centre in the Joe Morolong (formerly Moshaweng) Municipality of the John Taola Gaetsewe District Municipality. Dithakong is the birthplace of Matthews Batswadi, the first black South African athlete to be awarded national sporting colours, known as Springbok Colours, after the institutionalisation of Apartheid by the Nationalist Party government following its election victory in 1948. Batswadi was born in the village in 1949 and has lived there ever since retiring from work at the Beatrix Gold Mine in the Free State and from active competition in 1986. He was awarded Springbok Colours in 1977 after racial discrimination was removed from the constitution of the then controlling body, the South African Amateur Athletics Union, thereby allowing blacks to receive national sporting colours.Richard Mayer, ''Three Men Named Matthews - Memories of the Golden Age of South African Distance Running and its Aftermath.'' (Johannesburg: Red Lion Press, 2009), pp. 37-38

References

External links

* {{John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality Populated places in the Joe Morolong Local Municipality