AFRICANWARSAND WHITEINVADERS
Cape Colony were the principal disrupters of the African chiefdoms in
the modern Transvaal and Orange Free State. The first claim is palpably
false: scarcely any slaves were being exported from Delagoa Bay before
1823; subsequently there was a rise in slave exports, but that was a result,
not a cause, of the warfare in the area. The second claim draws attention to
a previously underestimated factor: Griquas did cause considerable havoc
in some parts of the highveld; nevertheless, the main agents of that disrup-
tion were Nguni emigrants from modern KwaZulu.V'
The Zulu kingdom was the end product of radical changes in northern
Nguni society that had begun in the late eighteenth century. It was a
militarized state, made and maintained by a conscript army of about forty
thousand warriors. Instead of the initiation system, which had integrated
young men into the discipline of their particular
chiefdoms, men were
removed from civil society at about the age of puberty and assigned to age
regiments, living in barracks scattered throughout
the country. During
their period of service they were denied contact with women and subjected
to intense discipline. They were employed on public works for the state, but