Makololo Tribe
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The Kololo or Makololo are a subgroup of the Sotho-Tswana people native to
Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...
. In the early 19th century, they were displaced by the Zulu, migrating north to
Barotseland Barotseland (Lozi language, Lozi: ''Mubuso Bulozi'') is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of north-western province, southern province, and parts of Lusaka Province, Lusaka, Central Province, Zambia, Central, ...
,
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
. They conquered the territory of the Luyana people and imposed their own language. In 1864, the Kololo kingdom was overthrown and some chiefs moved to Chikwawa District,
Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...
, with David Livingstone.


Name

The Kololo are also known as Makololo. When referring to Kololo people in plural, their
endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
is Bakololo, which includes the Bantu
clitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic ( , backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a ...
''ba-''. The Kololo appear to be named after Kololo, the wife of their first chief, Sebitwane. Another theory is that it is a Luyana word meaning "bald" referring to their conqueror's hairstyles.


History


Origins

The Kololo are said to have been displaced by the Zulu expansion under
Shaka 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 ...
in the early 19th century during a chain of events known as the
Mfecane The Mfecane, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing," "scattering," "forced dispersal," or "forced migration"), was a historical period of heightened military conflict and migration associated with state fo ...
. In 1823, the Kololo started a migration north through
Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
to
Barotseland Barotseland (Lozi language, Lozi: ''Mubuso Bulozi'') is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of north-western province, southern province, and parts of Lusaka Province, Lusaka, Central Province, Zambia, Central, ...
. In what is now southern Botswana, they defeated a number of societies before suffering a catastrophic defeat to the Bangwaketse at Dithubaruba in 1826. After losing all their cattle they moved north east and raided again, but subsequent defeats led them north to Okavango Delta where they again suffered major losses but were able to defeat the Batawana people in 1835. This victory enabled them to replenish their population and cattle holdings, although they moved north after several years.


Sebetwane dynasty in Barotseland

At some point in the late 1820s or in the 1830s, a group of Makololo led Sebetwane, which had migrated in a series of steps from their home area close to
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 Basot ...
, crossed the
Zambezi River The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...
at
Kazungula Kazungula is a small border town in Zambia, lying on the north bank of the Zambezi River about west of Livingstone on the M10 Road. At Kazungula, the territories of four countries (Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia) come close to mee ...
. After plundering the Batoka plateau, Sebetwane's group was driven west by the Matabele from the south and the Mashukulumbe or
Ila people The Ila people are an ethnic group in The Republic of Zambia who make up 0.8 percent of the total population. The Ila are closely related in language and culture to their more numerous Tonga neighbours in Southern Province. The Ila people mainl ...
from the north. In the Bulozi floodplain, they encountered
Lozi people The Lozi people, also known as Balozi, are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They have significant populations in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Lozi language, Silozi, is used as the formal language in e ...
from the Kingdom of
Barotseland Barotseland (Lozi language, Lozi: ''Mubuso Bulozi'') is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of north-western province, southern province, and parts of Lusaka Province, Lusaka, Central Province, Zambia, Central, ...
, who at the time had been seriously weakened by a
war of succession A war of succession is a war prompted by a succession crisis in which two or more individuals claim to be the Order of succession, rightful successor to a demise of the Crown, deceased or deposition (politics), deposed monarch. The rivals are ...
following the death of king
Mulambwa Santulu Mulambwa Santulu (born Maimbolwa Santulu) was the 10th ''litunga'' (king) of Barotseland who ruled from 1780 to 1830.. He is famous for introducing a series of reforms such as a new constitution into the Lozi Kingdom. He has been called "Mulambw ...
between his sons
Silumelume ''Mulena Yomuhulu Mbumu wa Litunga'' Selumelume Muimui (or Silumelume) was a Chief of Barotseland in Africa. Family and life Silumelume was a son of the King Mulambwa Santulu and thus grandson of King Mwanawina I. Lozi people believed that he ...
and
Mubukwanu ''Mulena Yomuhulu Mbumu wa Litunga'' Mubukwanu (died c. 1840) was a High Chief of the Lozi people, King of Barotseland in Africa. He quarrelled with his brother Silumelume. Biography Family Mubukwanu was a son of the Chief Mulambwa Santu ...
. By 1845, Sebetwane had conquered Barotseland and became king. He died in 1851 shortly after meeting David Livingstone, and was succeeded, first, by his daughter
Mamochisane Mamochisane ( fl. 1851) was a Makololo Queen who ruled over many people, but especially the Lozi in Barotseland, today's Western Zambia, in 1851. She was later a wife of King Sipopa Lutangu. Biography Mamochisane was a daughter of the King S ...
, who soon abdicated in favour of her younger half-brother Sekeletu. After about 20 years, the Makololo dynasty of Sebetwane in Barotseland came to an end in 1864. This was the result of the Makololo war of succession (1863–1864), which broke out after the death of ''morêna'' Sekeletu of Barotseland, between Mamili/Mamile (Sekeletu's confidant and close associate) and Mbololo/Mpololo (Sekeletu's uncle, Sebetwane's brother). The war ended when the northern Lukwakwa faction led by Njekwa captured the Makololo faction's strongholds in the south, allegedly putting to death all potential 'pure Makololo' claimants to the throne, and inviting Sipopa Lutangu (
Mubukwanu ''Mulena Yomuhulu Mbumu wa Litunga'' Mubukwanu (died c. 1840) was a High Chief of the Lozi people, King of Barotseland in Africa. He quarrelled with his brother Silumelume. Biography Family Mubukwanu was a son of the Chief Mulambwa Santu ...
's son, Mulambwa's grandson) to become the new king. Conventional historiography regards the 1864 accession of Sipopa Lutangu as "the 'Restoration' of the Lozi monarchy and the start of the 'Second Kingdom'", but Flint (2005) argued that the Lozi and Makololo peoples were ethnolinguistically close and had 'effectively merged' in the decades following the accession of Sebetwane, demonstrated by the fact that both groups spoke the 'Sikololo' or 'Silozi' language by 1864. Sipopa was 'on good terms with the Makololo hierarchy' and married Sebetwane's daughter
Mamochisane Mamochisane ( fl. 1851) was a Makololo Queen who ruled over many people, but especially the Lozi in Barotseland, today's Western Zambia, in 1851. She was later a wife of King Sipopa Lutangu. Biography Mamochisane was a daughter of the King S ...
upon his accession. There are claims that all Makololo men were killed and only Makololo women and children survived, but there is evidence of Makololo men living in Barotseland after 1864, so Flint (2005) concluded that this assertion is a 'lie'. Moreover, after decades of intermarriage and cultural blending between two groups who were already very closely related, it would have been virtually impossible 'to weed out who was Makololo and who was not'.


Visit of David Livingstone

Sekeletu provided British explorer David Livingstone with many porters for his transcontinental journey from
Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...
on the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
to
Quelimane Quelimane () is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative Capital (political), capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais (or "River of the Good Signs"). The riv ...
on the Indian Ocean, made between 1854 and 1856. Around 100 of these men were left at
Tete Tete may refer to: * Tete, Mozambique, a city in Mozambique *Tété (born 1975), a French musician *Tetê (born 2000), a Brazilian footballer *Tete Montoliu (1933–1997), Spanish jazz pianist **''Tete!'', an album by Tete Montoliu *Tete Province ...
in 1856 when Livingstone made his way to Quelimane and then to Britain. Livingstone returned to Africa to start his second Zambezi expedition in 1858. On reaching Tete, he was reunited with the porters he left there in 1856 and attempted to repatriate them all to Barotseland. However, by this time Sekeletu was facing increasing opposition from the Lozi majority, and around 16 of them decided to remain on the middle Zambezi. Those Makololo remaining were used from 1859 onward, by Livingstone and by missionaries of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), as porters and armed guards to support their activities in the Shire valley and Shire Highlands including the freeing of slaves, and were paid in guns, ammunition and cloth. The Makololo decided to remain in the Shire valley when the missionaries left in January 1864. After the 1864 departure of the UMCA mission, which left behind supplies of arms and ammunition, the Makololo maintained themselves by hunting elephants for ivory and attracted dependents seeking protection, many of whom were freed slaves. They and their armed dependents established chieftaincies in the present-day Chikwawa District. Originally, ten Makololo became chiefs or headmen and five Makololo chiefs still exist today.J. McCracken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, Woodbridge, James Currey, pp. 41-2.


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kololo people Ethnic groups in Botswana Sotho-Tswana peoples in South Africa