AFRICANWARSAND WHITEINVADERS
Whites and Africans apart. Ngqika died in 1829. Some of his contempo-
raries regarded him as a collaborator, but he is honored in modern Xhosa
tradition as a leader who stood up to the white invaders.>
During the 1820S, newcomers arrived on both sides of the border to
accelerate the erosion of Xhosa autonomy. On the colonial side, the 1820
Settlers from Britain took occupation of the Zuurveld and soon persuaded
the government to abandon its effort to prevent people from crossing the
border. By the end of the decade, British traders and missionaries were
purveying new commodities and new ideas throughout Xhosaland, and
several hundredXhosa
were sampling life in the colony by working for a
few months at a time for white farmers. Meanwhile, thousands of African
refugees were flooding into Xhosaland from Natal. Known as Mfengu,
they had, as we shall see, been dislodged from their homes by the Zulu
army. The Mfengu were accepted by the Xhosa, but since they arrived
without property and had no local kin they had low status in Xhosa
society. Consequently, the Mfengu were particularly susceptible to the
ideas and practices of the traders and missionaries and prone to be disloyal
to their Xhosa patrons.f