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GAZALAND

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 545 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GAZALAND , a See also:

district of Portuguese See also:East See also:Africa, extending See also:north from the See also:Komati or Manhissa See also:river, Delagoa See also:Bay, to the Pungwe river. It is a well-watered, fertile See also:country. Gazaland is one of the See also:chief recruiting grounds for See also:negro labour in the See also:Transvaal See also:gold mines. The country derives its name from a Swazi chief named See also:Gaza, a contemporary of Chaka, the Zulu See also:king: Refugees from various clans oppressed by Dingaan (Chaka's successor) were welded into one tribe by Gaza's son Manikusa, who took the name of Sotshangana, his followers being known generally as Matshangana. A See also:section of them was called Maviti or Landeens (i.e. couriers), a designation which persists as a tribal name. Between 1833 and 1836 Manikusa made himself See also:master of the country as far north as the See also:Zambezi and captured the Portuguese posts at Delagoa Bay, See also:Inhambane, See also:Sofala and Sena, killing nearly all the inhabitants. The Portuguese reoccupied their posts, but held them with See also:great difficulty, while in the interior the Matshangana continued their ravages unchecked, depopulating large regions. Manikusa died about 186o, and his son Umzila, receiving some help from the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay in a struggle against a See also:brother for the chieftain-See also:ship, ceded to them the territory See also:south of the Manhissa river. North of that stream as far as the Zambezi and inland to the See also:continental See also:plateau Umzila established himself in See also:independence, a position he maintained till his See also:death (c. 1834). His chief See also:rival was a Goanese named Gouveia, who came to Africa about 1850. Having obtained See also:possession of a prazo in the Gorongoza district, he ruled there as a feudal See also:lord while acknowledging himself a Portuguese subject.

Gouveia recovered from the Matshangana and other troublers of the See also:

peace much of the country in the Zambezi valley, and was appointed by the Portuguese See also:captain-See also:general of a large region. From 1868 onward the country began to be better known. Probably the first See also:European to penetrate any distance inland from the Sofala See also:coast since the Portuguese gold-seekers of the 16th See also:century was St See also:Vincent W. See also:Erskine, who explored the region between the See also:Limpopo and Pungwe (1868-1875). See also:Portugal's hold on the coast had been more firmly established at the See also:time of Umzila's death, and Gungunyana, his successor, was claimed as a See also:vassal, while efforts were made to open up the interior. This led in 1890-1891 to collisions on the borderland of the plateau with the newly established See also:British South Africa See also:Company, and to the See also:arrest by the company's agents of Gouveia, who was, however, set at See also:liberty and returned to See also:Mozambique via Cape See also:Town. An offer made by Gungunyana (1891) to come under British See also:protection was not accepted. In 1892 Gouveia was killed in a See also:war with a native chief. Gungunyana maintained his independence until 1895, when he was captured by a Portuguese force and exiled, first to See also:Lisbon and afterwards to See also:Angola, where he died in Igo6. With the See also:capture of Gungunyana opposition to Portuguese See also:rule largely ceased. In See also:flora, See also:fauna and See also:commerce Gazaland resembles the neighbouring regions of Portuguese East Africa. (q.v.).

See G. McCall Theal, See also:

History of South Africa since 1795+ vol. v. (See also:London, 1908).

End of Article: GAZALAND

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