RORKES DRIFT - VICTORIA CROSSES OF MONMOUTH

[Gloworm]

I know its frowned upon and I wouldn't condone it, but what a place to do a metal detector sweep with some real gear, imagine the stuff it would yield!!

Hi Gil, many years ago on the trip from Durban back to Joburg, I decided to go to Rorkes Drift. You really had to want to get there as (if memory serves me right) it was approximately 50 miles on dirt roads and I was in a VW Golf!
The trip was worth it to me and I looked around the museum and grounds, white stones were laid out where the maize sacks and redoubt had been.
Wandering further afield I found an unfired.455/577 cartridge and an empty case amongst the rocks. I still have both.
I don’t know if they date back to the battle but they sit in my collection as a reminder of a worthwhile trip to a place of legend from my childhood reading of the events.

[Daan Kemp]

What's your take on the assertions that all these tribes moved down into southern Africa after the arrival of the Dutch?

The Zulu created a vacuum stretching from their capital easily 300km away. All the tribes they encountered were exterminated with the women and children assimilated except the Sotho that had an impregnable fortress in the highlands. The Matebele moved about 600km away and were still aware that the Zulu could attack them any day. The Shangaan in Mozambique were another offshoot. There were, of course, other such happenings in Southern Africa, that makes interesting reading. Tswana, Sotho, Griekwa, Mfengu, etc.

The Mfecane caused tribes to move away, thus the Dutch, Boer and British in their slow movement north meeting the Xhosa in their slow movement south, preceded by the Hottentot and Bushmen.

[Daan Kemp]

What's your take on the assertions that all these tribes moved down into southern Africa after the arrival of the Dutch?

Not assertions. The time from about 1810 to 1840 was one of lots of movement by many different tribes for different reasons, mainly move away or be exterminated. Historical fact.

The southern part was relatively empty, the Hottentot close to the Cape and the nomadic Bushmen widely spread. The country was very empty. The big meeting was the British colony moving north meeting the Xhosa moving south.

The Zulu created a vacuum stretching from their capital easily 300km away. All the tribes they encountered were exterminated with the women and children assimilated, or moved away, causing other tribes to move, creating a ripple effect. The Matebele moved about 600km away and were still aware that the Zulu could attack them any day. The Shangaan in Mozambique were another Zulu escapee offshoot. There were, of course, many other such happenings in Southern Africa, that makes interesting reading - Tswana, Sotho, Griekwa, Mfengu, etc.

The Mfecane caused tribes to move away, thus the British colony moving slowly north consisting of Dutch/Boer and British colonists, met the Xhosa in their slow movement south.

[MSW2]

What's your take on the assertions that all these tribes moved down into southern Africa after the arrival of the Dutch?

As Daan Kemp noted, historical fact. And the descendants of the Dutch settlers in the Cape later on, in 1838, actually bought a tract of land from the then Zulu king Dingane (between the Tugela river and Port St Johns where the Zulu people had gotten to first) and were murdered for their trouble.
The Khoisan (Bushman) people were here long before white or black showed up so if anyone can 'claim' this country, it will be them.

[Ovidio]

In Crossing the Buffalo River, there is a quite interesting introductory part explaining in quite some details all these stories.
Very interesting read!