One of the most remarkable early European visitors to the Magaliesberg region was the Scottish missionary Robert Moffat. He was born on 21 December 1795 in Ormiston, Scotland. His parents were not wealthy, and at the age of 13, he was apprenticed to a gardener. It was hard, physical labour, which no doubt developed in Moffat a toughness which stood him in good stead later in life. In the evenings Moffat attended classes, during which he not only learnt Latin, but was also given instruction in blacksmithing and playing the violin.
By 1815, Moffat had found employment as a gardener in the village of High Leigh, Cheshire, England. It was here that he came into contact with Methodist evangelists, and readily accepted their message. Moffat went through a life-changing conversion experience, and committed himself to a life of missionary service. In September 1816, he was formally commissioned as a missionary of the London Missionary Society (LMS), and was sent to South Africa.
After three years in Namaqualand, he returned to Cape Town, where he married his fiancée Mary Smith. The young couple travelled first to Griquatown, where their daughter Mary (later to marry David Livingstone) was born. From there they moved to the LMS station at Kuruman in the northern Cape (see main image).
The Kuruman mission was established to minister to the Batlhaping (one of the Tswana communities). Moffat was a very practical man, who not only preached to the people (he had learnt to speak Setswana), but also taught...
The history of the Ndebele people, also referred to as the Matabele, began with the rise of Mzilikazi (born about 1790) as a leader of one of branches of the Khumalo clan under the Zulu king, Shaka (Rasmussen 1978, p. 10). In 1822, Shaka sent Mzilikazi, with an impi, on a cattle-raiding expedition against the Sotho chief, Ranisi (Sominisi). This expedition was successful, and large numbers of cattle were seized. However, Mzilikazi decided that rather than giving the cattle to Shaka as he should have done, he would keep them and take the opportunity to become an independent leader with his own following. It was necessary, however, for Mzilikazi to take his followers and their cattle as far away as possible from Shaka and his impis for fear of retribution. Mzilikazi knew that the Zulu king would punish the young leader who had rebelled against him.
Mzilikazi, painted by English hunter and explorer Captain William Cornwallis Harris in 1836. From Harris 1999 [1844], opposite half title page.
Mzilikazi thus led about 300 of his followers north-west away from Zululand, into what is today Mpumalanga (Rasmussen 1978, p. 26). For the next few years, Mzilikazi led his Ndebele (called the Matabele by...
Drawing primarily on careful analysis of oral traditions, scholars are in general agreement that most Tswana communities are offshoots of the Bahurutshe, who moved southwards through what is today Botswana and established themselves along the Madikwe (Marico) River, probably in about 1500 AD (see Carruthers 2014, p. 213). The Bakwena were one of the most prominent offshoots from the Bahurutshe. By the late 17th century, there were several branches of the Bakwena, and one of their chiefs named Modimosana moved eastwards with his people into the area west of the Magaliesberg (see Breutz 1953, p. 108). Oral tradition indicates that Kgosi Modimosana had four sons: Ramanamela, Mmatau, Maake and Mmatlhaku (Breutz 1987, p. 268). By the beginning of the 18th century, Mmatau's son Sekano had become kgosi of the community (now known as the Bakwena ba Modimosana ba Mmatau), and they had settled at Molokwane along the upper reaches of the Selons River (Breutz 1953, p. 108).
Over time, Molokwane became a huge stone-walled settlement. The people living there followed the normal Tswana practice of laying out each kgoro (ward or village) according to the "central cattle pattern", with the cattle kraals of the kgoro surrounded and protected by the living areas of the people. At Molokwane, however, there were large numbers of dikgoro which merged to form what was effectively a large town. From the air, the extensive stone-walling at Molokwane is still clearly visible today.
By the late 18th century, the community was ruled by Kgosi Kgaswane, son...
In Episode 1 of this series (click here to read), mention was made of the agro-pastoralists (farmers who grew crops and kept livestock) who moved into the Magaliesberg region in about 225 AD. Scholars have categorised them as people of the "early iron age", as they possessed and made use of the technology needed for smelting and forging iron in order to make tools and weapons. They did not, however, build the more sophisticated settlements which were characteristic of the middle and late iron ages.
It is something of a mystery as to what became of these early iron age people. The dating techniques used by archaeologists indicate that they were present in the Broederstroom area up until about 450 AD. There is then a large gap in the archaeological record, and the next evidence of iron age peoples in the Magaliesberg region is dated at about 1100 AD. The most likely explanation (e.g. by Prof Tom Huffman) seems to be that the early iron age people moved away from the Magaliesberg, and that the middle iron age settlements are evidence of a second wave of immigrants who moved southwards from areas further north in Africa. Some scholars, however, including Prof Revil Mason, have maintained that the middle iron age people were direct descendants of those of the early iron age, and that we have not yet found the evidence of their continuous occupation of the Magaliesberg region from 450 AD to 1100 AD.
It is unknown when exactly human beings first arrived in the Magaliesberg, but stone tools from the area date back hundreds of thousands of years. There are, however, three important archaeological sites in the Magaliesberg where radio-carbon dating has revealed fascinating evidence of the way early occupants lived at least 6 000 years ago. These sites are Kruger Cave, west of Olifantspoort (excavated by Prof Revil Mason - see main image), and Jubilee Shelter and Cave James, east of Silkaatsnek (excavated by Prof Lyn Wadley). All of these sites are extremely vulnerable to damage, and for this reason their exact locations are not disclosed.
The research of Professors Mason and Wadley, and other archaeologists, has shed significant light on the way of life of these people who lived in the Magaliesberg region thousands of years ago. They grew no crops and kept no livestock. They relied entirely on hunting of wild animals and gathering of edible parts of wild plants for their food. These Magaliesberg hunter-gatherers have often been referred to as "San", "Bushmen" or "Khoisan", but for various reasons, all of these terms are problematic. The reality is that we simply do not know what these people called themselves, or what they were called by other people who moved into the area later on. The term "hunter-gatherers" works well as a description which is closely tied to the way that they lived.
The excavation of Kruger Cave by Prof Mason yielded large numbers of small, finely worked stone...
