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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Tempest in a Teapot? Nineteenth-Century Contests for Land in South Africa's Caledon Valley and the Invention of the Mfecane
Author:Etherington, NormanISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:The Journal of African History
Volume:45
Issue:2
Period:July
Pages:203-219
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:ethnic relations
Zulu polity
customary law
land law
history
traditional polities
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
History and Exploration
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Law, Human Rights and Violence
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4100464
Abstract:The unresolved debate on the 'mfecane' in southern African history has been marked by general acceptance of the proposition that large-scale loss of life and disruption of settled society was experienced across the whole region. Attempts to quantify either the violence or mortality have been stymied by a lack of evidence. What apparently reliable evidence does exist describes small districts, most notably the Caledon Valley. In contrast to Julian Cobbing, who called the 'mfecane' an alibi for colonial-sponsored violence, this article argues that much documentation of conflict in the Caledon region consisted of various 'alibis' for African land seizures and claims in the 1840s and 1850s. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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