Fengu people

The Fengu people are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group who predominately live in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Today, the Fengu have become part of the Xhosa people, the second-largest language group in South Africa. In the Xhosa language, the Fengu are known as the Mfengu or amaMfengu, a name that means “wanderers.” The Fengu were once aligned with South Africa’s Zulu people, but they, and many other groups, became displaced during a period of warfare and political upheaval in the nineteenth century. Because they had no central tribal authority, the displaced Fengu were able to adapt to South Africa’s changing political climate. They sided with the British in several conflicts with the Xhosa, later switching allegiances in the face of British mistreatment. The modern Fengu people have mostly been assimilated into the Xhosa people and other neighboring ethnic groups.

Background

The earliest-known inhabitants of South Africa were the Khoekhoe and San peoples, who migrated there more than two thousand years ago. At about the same time, groups of Bantu-speaking people began to migrate southward from West and East Africa. The Bantu were a loosely affiliated group who shared a similar language and culture. By about one thousand years ago, several groups of Bantu-speakers migrated into what is today eastern South Africa. Over time, the Bantu groups would make up the majority of South Africa’s Black population.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to arrive in South Africa, establishing a supply colony at Cape Town in 1652. Over time, the colony grew, and within a few years, Dutch, German, and French settlers began arriving and claiming land for themselves. The Dutch-run settlements expanded throughout South Africa well into the eighteenth century. By the start of the nineteenth century, the British had grown to become the dominant sea power in the world and had begun to establish a powerful empire. In 1795, they seized Cape Colony from the Dutch and officially annexed the colony in 1806. Many of the original Dutch, German, and French settlers, known as Boers, began to migrate into the South African interior to escape British rule. Eventually, they established two independent republics: the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. They maintained their independence until the early twentieth century, when Boer forces were defeated by the British in two wars and both republics were absorbed into the new Union of South Africa.

Overview

The major ethnic divisions among South Africa’s Bantu-speaking peoples are the Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga, and the Venda. Of the four, the Nguni are the largest group, making up two-thirds of the region’s Black population. The Nguni are also divided into four subgroups based on language: the Zulu people, the Xhosa, the Swazi, and the Ndebele. Prior to the early nineteenth century, the predecessors of the Fengu—the Bhaca, Bhele, Hlubi, and Zizi peoples—were originally associated with the Zulu people.

Historically, the Bantu-sparking people lived in separate tribal groups that were only loosely affiliated with one another. In the early nineteenth century, drought and famine caused severe hardships in southern Africa, forcing many tribes to move closer together where they competed for resources. In the midst of this crisis, the more warlike tribal groups began consolidating power into militaristic kingdoms. By 1820, a Zulu warrior named Shaka had conquered his surrounding rivals to form the Zulu kingdom.

Shaka’s campaign started a chain reaction that led to outbreaks of violence and the forced migration of millions of people. The displaced groups often turned on their neighbors in a fight for control of the region’s limited resources. The twenty-year period of upheaval is known as the Mfecane, a Zulu term meaning “the crushing.” Death toll estimates from the Mfecane range from one hundred thousand to nearly two million.

The displaced Bhaca, Bhele, Hlubi, and Zizi people fled westward, where they were given protection by the Xhosa, who labeled them amaMfengu, or “wanderers.” With no centralized tribal identity, the Fengu became adept at fitting in with their surroundings. After years of being looked down upon by the Xhosa, the Fengu aligned themselves with the British in 1835 in the first of several frontier wars with the Xhosa. Because of their loyalty, the Fengu were granted land by the British, with many becoming prosperous farmers and businessowners.

In 1856, a young Xhosa girl who was seen as a prophetess, told her people that she had a vision that they should kill their livestock. If they did, she said, the white man would be driven from their land and the Xhosa kingdom and their cattle would be reborn. The people killed their cattle and destroyed their crops, but the result was a devastating famine that killed tens of thousands. The Fengu were able to buy some of the surviving Xhosa cattle and sell them. They also had extra stores of grain, which they were able to provide to the Xhosa.

In 1877, the Fengu again aided the British in another frontier war. However, after the victory, the British forced the Fengu army to give up its weapons. The Fengu saw this as a humiliation, and, coupled with the increasingly authoritarian actions of the British, caused the Fengu to align themselves with the Xhosa.

During the ensuing decades, the Fengu penchant for adaptability allowed them to easily transition from their original farming-based roots to more modern occupations. They embraced Christianity and Western culture more readily than other indigenous peoples. Although they requested, and were denied, their own state upon the Eastern Cape lands they were granted by the British, the Fengu proved skilled at Western-style politics. Many of the first Black leaders of the Eastern Cape Colony had some Fengu heritage.

In the modern era, the Fengu have intermarried and been assimilated into the nation’s other cultures. While most now identify as Xhosa, others are seen as Zulu or boast a mixed racial background.

Bibliography

“AmaMfengu.” Xhosa Culture, 2021, xhosaculture.co.za/history/amamfengu/. Accessed 14 July 2021.

Bikitsha, Manduleli. “AmaMfengu.” South African History Online, May 2019, www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive‗files/AmaMfengu%20Debate%20-%20Manduleli%20Bikitsha.pdf. Accessed 14 July 2021.

Binckes, Robin. Zulu Terror: The Mfecane Holocaust, 1815–1840. Pen & Sword, 2019.

Cartwright, Mark. “Bantu Migration.” World History Encyclopedia, 11 Apr. 2019, www.worldhistory.org/Bantu‗Migration/. Accessed 14 July 2021.

Makoni, Sinfree B. “A Critical Analysis of the Historical and Contemporary Status of Minority Languages in Zimbabwe.” Language Planning in Africa: The Cameroon, Sudan and Zimbabwe, edited by Nkonko Kamwangamalu, Richard B. Baldauf Jr., and Robert B. Kaplan. Routledge, 2013, pp. 213–231.

“South Africa.” CIA World Factbook, 7 July 2021, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/south-africa/#people-and-society. Accessed 14 July 2021.

“South Africa Profile—Timeline.” BBC News, 4 Apr. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094918. Accessed 14 July 2021.

“Xhosa.” South African History Online, 27 Aug. 2019, www.sahistory.org.za/article/xhosa. Accessed 14 July 2021.