Gazaland is the historical name for the region in southeast
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
, in modern-day
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
and
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
, which extends northward from the
Komati River
The Komati River, also known as the Inkomati River or Incomati River (in Mozambique, from Portuguese Rio Incomati), is a river in South Africa, Eswatini and Mozambique. Originating in north-western Eswatini, it is joined by the Crocodile Riv ...
at
Delagoa Bay
Delagoa is a marine ecoregion along the eastern coast of Africa. It extends along the coast of Mozambique and South Africa from the Bazaruto Archipelago (21°14’ S) to Lake St. Lucia in South Africa (28° 10' S) in South Africa's Kwazulu-Nat ...
in Mozambique's
Maputo Province
Maputo is a province of Mozambique; the province excludes the city of Maputo (which comprises a separate province). The province has an area of and a population of 1,968,906 (2017 census). Its capital is the city of Matola.
Geography
Maputo ...
to the
Pungwe River
Pungwe River ( or ''Rio Púnguè'') is a long river in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It rises below Mount Nyangani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and then flows southeastwards through the Manica and Sofala provinces of Mozambique. The Pungwe e ...
in central Mozambique.
History
It was a district of the former
Portuguese East Africa
Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...
. Its name was derived from a
Swazi Swazi may refer to:
* Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa
* Swazi language
* Eswatini
Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked count ...
chief named
Gaza
Gaza may refer to:
Places Palestine
* Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip
** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip
Mandatory Palestine
* Gaza Sub ...
, a contemporary of
Shaka Zulu
Shaka kaSenzangakhona (–24 September 1828), also known as Shaka (the) Zulu () and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reform ...
. It covered most of present-day
Gaza
Gaza may refer to:
Places Palestine
* Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip
** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip
Mandatory Palestine
* Gaza Sub ...
and
Inhambane
Inhambane (also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People'')) is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and, according to the 2017 cen ...
provinces, and the southern portions of
Manica and
Sofala
Sofala , at present known as Nova Sofala , used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. The first recorded use of this port town w ...
provinces.
Refugees from various clans oppressed by
Dingane
Dingane ka Senzangakhona Zulu (–29 January 1840), commonly referred to as Dingane, Dingarn or Dingaan, was a Zulu prince who became king of the Zulu Kingdom in 1828, after assassinating his half-brother Shaka Zulu. He set up his royal capita ...
(Shaka's successor) were welded into one tribe by Gaza's son
Soshangane
Soshangana Ka Gasa Zikode (), born Soshangana Nxumalo, was the founder and first monarch of the Gaza Empire, which, at its peak, spanned from the Limpopo River in southern Mozambique to the Zambezi River in the north. He ruled the Gaza state fro ...
, his followers becoming known as
Shangaan
Soshangana Ka Gasa Zikode (), born Soshangana Nxumalo, was the founder and first monarch of the Gaza Empire, which, at its peak, spanned from the Limpopo River in southern Mozambique to the Zambezi River in the north. He ruled the Gaza state fro ...
or Mashangane. A section of them was called
Maviti or Landeens (i.e. couriers), a designation which persisted as a tribal name. Between 1833 and 1836 Soshangane made himself master of the country as far north as the Zambezi and captured the Portuguese posts at Delagoa Bay,
Inhambane
Inhambane (also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People'')) is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and, according to the 2017 cen ...
,
Sofala
Sofala , at present known as Nova Sofala , used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. The first recorded use of this port town w ...
and
Sena
Sena may refer to:
Places
* Sanandaj or Sena, city in northwestern Iran
* Sena (state constituency), represented in the Perlis State Legislative Assembly
* Sena, a Medieval Catalan exonym for Siena, Italy
* Sena, Dashtestan, village in Bushehr P ...
, killing nearly all the inhabitants.
The Portuguese reoccupied their posts, but held them with great difficulty, while in the interior Soshangane continued his conquests, depopulating large regions. Soshangane died about 1856, and his son
Umzila
King Mzila Nxumalo, Mzila kaSoshangane Nxumalo, Umzila, Muzila, or Nyamende was the son of Soshangane kaZikode, the founder of the Gaza empire, which at the height of its power stretched from southern Mozambique to the Limpopo River. He defeated ...
, receiving some help from the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay in a struggle against a brother for the chieftain-ship, ceded to them the territory south of the Komati River. North of that river as far as the Zambezi, and inland to the continental plateau, Umzila established himself in independence, a position he maintained till his death (c .1884). His chief rival was a
Goa
Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
n named
Manuel António de Sousa
Manuel António de Sousa (10 November 1835 - 20 January 1892), also known as Gouveia, was a Portuguese merchant and military captain of Goan origin.''Boletim Geral do Ultramar. XXXVII - 427 e 428''. Lisboa, 1961. pp. 445-447
Biography
Manue ...
, also known as Gouveia, who came to Africa about 1850. Having obtained possession of a crown estate ''(prazo)'' in the
Gorongosa District, he ruled there as a feudal lord while acknowledging himself a Portuguese subject. Gouveia captured much of the country in the Zambezi valley from the Shangaan, and was appointed by the Portuguese captain-general of a large region.
Exploration
Probably the first European to penetrate any distance inland from the Sofala coast since the Portuguese gold-seekers of the 16th century was
St Vincent Whitshed Erskine
St Vincent Whitshed Erskine (1846 - 1918), Surveyor General of South Africa, was an early explorer in Gazaland and was the first European to travel down the length of the Limpopo river to its mouth.
Family
Erskine was born on 7 February 1846 i ...
, who explored the region between the Limpopo and Pungwe (1868-1875). Portugal's hold on the coast had been more firmly established at the time of Umzila's death, and
Gungunyana
Ngungunyane, also known as Mdungazwe Ngungunyane Nxumalo, N'gungunhana, or Gungunhana Reinaldo Frederico Gungunhana, (c. 1850 – 23 December 1906) was a king of the Gaza Empire and vassal of the Portuguese Empire, who rebelled, was defeated by G ...
, his successor, was claimed as a vassal, while efforts were made to open up the interior. This led in 1890-1891 to collisions on the borderland of the plateau with the newly established
British South Africa Company
The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...
, and to the arrest by the company's agents of Gouveia, who was, however, freed and returned to Mozambique via Cape Town. The border between the British and Portuguese colonies was set by the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of June 11 1891. An offer made by Gungunyana (1891) to come under British protection was not accepted. In 1892 Gouveia was killed in a war with a native chief. Gungunyana maintained his independence until 1895, when he was captured by a Portuguese force and exiled, first to Lisbon and afterwards to the Azores, where he died in 1906. With the capture of Gungunyana opposition to Portuguese rule largely ceased.
Gold mines
In the early 20th Century, Gazaland was one of the chief recruiting grounds for laborers in the
South African gold mines.
See also
*
Gaza Empire
The Gaza Empire (1824–1895) was an African empire established by Soshangane and was located in southeastern Africa in the area of southern Mozambique and southeastern Zimbabwe. The Gaza Empire, at its height in the 1860s, covered all of M ...
*
Gaza Province, Mozambique
*
Manicaland, Zimbabwe
*
Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Notes
References
*
{{Coord missing, Zimbabwe
History of Zimbabwe
History of Mozambique
Historical regions of Africa