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South Africa Medal (1880)
The South Africa Medal (1880), often referred to as the Zulu War Medal, is a campaign medal instituted in 1880 and awarded by the British Government to members of the British Army, Royal Naval Brigade and Colonial Volunteers who were involved in a series of South African tribal wars in the Cape of Good Hope, Colony of Natal and Transvaal between 1877 and 1879, most notably for the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Institution In 1854, Queen Victoria had given approval for the award of the South Africa Medal (1853) to members of the British Army who had served in any one of the three South African Xhosa Wars of 1834–36, 1846–47 and 1850–53 on the Eastern Frontier of the Cape of Good Hope. Between 1877 and 1879 a number of particularly difficult punitive expeditions were mounted by the British against Xhosa, Zulu and Basuto tribes in the eastern area of the Cape of Good Hope and northern Natal, as well as against the Bapedi of Chief Sekhukhune in the northern Transvaal. In 1880 a me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign, longer than those of any of her predecessors, constituted the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was Kensington System, raised under close supervision by her mother and her Comptrol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assegai
An assegai or assagai is a polearm used for throwing, usually a light spear or javelin made up of a wooden handle with an iron tip. Area of use The use of various types of the assegai was widespread all over Africa and it was the most common weapon used before the introduction of firearms. The Zulu, Xhosa, and other Nguni tribes of South Africa were renowned for their use of the assegai. ''Iklwa'' Shaka of the Zulu popularized the use of the shorter stabbing spear with a shaft and a larger, broader blade long in warfare, which was traditionally used primarily as a hunting spear. This weapon is otherwise known as the ''iklwa'' or ''ixwa'', after the sound that was heard as it was withdrawn from the victim's wound. The traditional spear was not abandoned, but was thrown from range at enemy formations before closing in for close quarters battle with the iklwa. This tactical combination originated during Shaka's military reforms. This weapon was typically used with one hand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tugela River
The Tugela River (; ) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of , and a drop of 1370 metres in the lower 480 km, it is one of the most important rivers of the country. The river originates in Mont-aux-Sources of the Drakensberg Mountains at an elevation of 3282 metres This has a very detailed description of the river's course. and plunges in five distinct free-leaping falls 947 metres down the Tugela Falls. The Mont-aux-Sources is also the origin of tributaries of two other major South African rivers, the Orange and the Caledon River. From the Drakensberg range, the Tugela follows a route through the KwaZulu-Natal midlands before flowing into the Indian Ocean. The total catchment area is approximately . Land uses in the catchment are mainly rural subsistence farming and commercial forestry. Tributaries The Tugela is fed by a number of tributaries coming off the Drakensberg, the largest being the Mzinyathi ("Buffalo") River ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Ulundi
The Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi () on 4 July 1879 and was the last battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. The British Army broke the military power of the Zulu Kingdom by defeating the main Zulu army and capturing and burning the royal kraal of . Prelude After the great Zulu victory at the battle of Isandlwana in January over Lord Chelmsford's main column and the failure of the first invasion of Zululand, the British launched a new invasion of Zululand. In April 1879 despite the Battle of Kambula and the Battle of Gingindlovu which had been costly defeats for the Zulus, the British were back at their starting point. News of the defeat at Isandlwana had hit Britain hard and a flood of reinforcements had arrived in Natal with which Chelmsford prepared a second invasion of Zululand. Lord Chelmsford was aware by mid-June that Sir Garnet Wolseley had superseded his command of the British forces. Chelmsford was ordered by Her Majesty's Government to " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Isandlwana
The Battle of Isandlwana (alternative spelling: Isandhlwana) on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British invaded the Zulu Kingdom, Zululand Empire in Southern Africa, a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of approximately 1,800 British, colonial and native troops with approximately 350 civilians. The Zulus were equipped mainly with the traditional assegai iron spears and cow-hide shields, but also had a number of muskets and antiquated rifles.Smith-Dorrien, Chapter 1B "It was a marvellous sight, line upon line of men in slightly extended order, one behind the other, firing as they came along, for ''a few of them had firearms'', bearing all before them." eyewitness account, emphasis added The British and colonial troops were armed with the modern Martini–Henry breechloader, breechloading rifle and two RML 7-pounder moun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Bartle Frere
Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a British Empire, British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in British Raj, India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner for Southern Africa (1877–1880), he implemented a set of policies which attempted to impose a British confederation on the region and which led to the overthrow of the Cape Colony's John Charles Molteno, first elected government in 1878 and to a string of regional wars, culminating in the Anglo-Zulu War, invasion of Zululand (1879) and the First Boer War (1880–1881). The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, Gladstone, recalled Frere to London to face charges of misconduct; Whitehall officially censured Frere for acting recklessly. Early life Frere was born at Clydach House, Llanelly, Clydach House, Clydach, Monmouthshire, the son of Edward Frere, manager of Clydac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transkei
Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River, [the river] Kei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Bantustan for the Xhosa people, and operated as a nominally independent parliamentary democracy. Its capital was Mthatha, Umtata (renamed Mthatha in 2004). Transkei represented a significant precedent and historic turning point in South Africa's policy of apartheid and "separate development"; it was the first of four territories to be declared independence, independent of South Africa. Throughout its existence, it remained an internationally unrecognised, diplomatically isolated, politically unstable ''de facto'' one-party state, which at one point broke relations with South Africa, the only country that acknowledged it as a legal entity. In 1994, it was reintegrated into its larger neighbour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fengu People
The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') are a group of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early-mid 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa. These refugees were assimilated into the Xhosa nation and were officially recognized by the then king, Hintsa. The word Fengu comes from the old Xhosa word which is "ukumfenguza" which in the old Xhosa dialect meant to wander. The Fengu people are of a confederation of clans from the Natal province near the Embo river, these clans include Miya, Ndlangisa, Gatyeni, Bhele, Tolo and Tshezi clans. During the 6th Frontier War, they were promised independence from the oppressive Xhosa government by the Cape Colony and it was proposed that they would be given their own land which would be called Fingoland, the southwestern portion of Eastern Xhosaland, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. History Formation and early history The name ''amaMfengu'' d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gcaleka
The Gcaleka House is the Great house of the Xhosa people, Xhosa Kingdom in what is now the Eastern Cape. Its royal palace is in the former Transkei and its counterpart in the former Ciskei is the Rharhabe, which is the right hand house of Phalo. The Gcaleka House was founded by Gcaleka kaPhalo, who became King of the Xhosa nation in 1775 and young brother of Rarabe kaPhalo. History The Xhosa Kingdom had been the most feared Kingdom even before the establishment of the two royal Gcaleka and Rharhabe Houses. The Xhosa royal blood line stretches from Ntu, whose heir was Mnguni, the father of Xhosa people, Xhosa. The whole division within the Xhosa people, Xhosa nation stretches to the time when King Phalo had both of his intended wives arriving on the same day, and for whom he had already paid lobola, one from the Mpondomise, Mpondo royal family and one from the Thembu royal family. As both brides were from royal houses of high standing, Phalo had caused a dilemma within the Xho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cetshwayo KaMpande
Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1884 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetywayo or Cetshwayo. Cetshwayo consistently opposed the war and sought fruitlessly to make peace with the British and was defeated and exiled following the Zulu defeat in the war. He was later allowed to return to Zululand, where he died in 1884. Early life Cetshwayo was a son of Zulu king Mpande and Queen Ngqumbazi, half-nephew of Zulu king Shaka and grandson of Senzangakhona. In 1856 he defeated and killed in battle his younger brother Mbuyazi, Mpande's favourite, at the Battle of Ndondakusuka. Almost all of Mbuyazi's followers were massacred in the aftermath of the battle, including five of Cetshwayo's brothers. Following this he became the ruler of the Zulu people in everything but name. However, he did not ascend to the throne as his father was still alive. Stories from that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basutoland
Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basotho (then known as Basuto) and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868 (and ruled by Cape Colony from 1871), the rule by Cape Colony was unpopular and unable to control the territory. As a result, Basutoland was brought under direct authority of Queen Victoria, via the High Commissioner, and run by an Executive Council presided over by a series of British Resident Commissioners. It was divided into seven administrative districts: Berea, Leribe, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mafeteng, Qacha's Nek and Quthing. Basutoland gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966 and was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho. History Background Between 1856 and 1868 the Basotho engaged in conflict with the Orange F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1882 Anglo-Egyptian War
The British conquest of Egypt, also known as the Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It established firm British influence over Egypt at the expense of the Egyptians, the French, and the Ottoman Empire, whose already weak authority became nominal. Background In 1881, an Egyptian army officer, Ahmed ‘Urabi (then known in English as Arabi Pasha), mutinied and initiated a coup against Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, in order to end Imperial British and French influence over the country. In January 1882 the British and French governments sent a "Joint Note" to the Egyptian government, declaring their recognition of the Khedive's authority. On 20 May, British and French warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria. On 11 June, an anti-Christian riot occurred in Alexandria that killed 50 Europeans. Colonel ‘U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
