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The Gaza Empire (1824–1895) was an African empire established by Soshangane and was located in southeastern Africa in the area of southern Mozambique and southeastern Zimbabwe. The Gaza Empire, at its height in the 1860s, covered all of Mozambique between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers,Newitt, Malyn D.D. The Gaza Empire. Microsoft Encarta Reference Library, 2005. DVD known as Gazaland.
Soshangane died in 1856 and there was a bitter struggle for power between his sons Mawewe and Mzila. With help from the Portuguese, Mzila eventually gained power in 1861 and ruled until 1884. Soshangane's grandson, Gungunyana, took over the Gaza Empire from his father Mzila and moved the capital southward to Manjacaze, putting him in closer proximity with the Portuguese.Safra, Jacob E. The New Encyclopædia Britannica. 15th Edition ed. Volume 13, Knowledge In Depth. U.S.A.: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2007.
With the prolonged drought, the rise of Gaza, the dominance of the slave trade, and the expansion of Portuguese control in the Zambezi Valley, the once-mighty African chieftaincies of the Zambezi region declined. In their place, valley warlords established fortified strongholds at the confluence of the major rivers, where they raised private armies and raided for slaves in the interior. The most powerful of these warlords was Manuel António de Sousa, also known as Gouveia, a settler from Portuguese India, who by the middle of the 19th century controlled most of the southern Zambezi Valley and a huge swath of land to its south. North of the Zambezi, Islamic slave traders rose to power from their base in Angoche, and the Yao chiefs of the north migrated south to the highlands along the Shire River, where they established their military power.
For centuries, the Nguni peoples are thought to have lived in scattered patrilineal chiefdoms, cultivating cereal crops such as millet and raising cattle. The current geographic distribution of Nguni peoples largely reflects the turbulent political developments and population movements of the 19th century. In the 1820s the cattle-herding Zulu, led by their king Shaka, embarked on an aggressive campaign of conquest and expansion known as the mfecane. Shaka's large and well-armed armies conquered a number of neighboring peoples, and sent others fleeing. Some Nguni groups adopted the Zulu's methods of warfare and used them to subjugate the peoples in whose territory they ultimately settled.Nave, Ari. Nguni. Microsoft Encarta Reference Library, 2005. DVD
Soshangane extended his control over the area between the Komati River (Incomati) and the Zambezi rivers, incorporating the local Tsonga and Shona peoples into his Kingdom. The waves of armed groups disrupted both trade and day-to-day production throughout the area. Two groups, the Jele under Zwangendaba and the Ndwandwe (both later known as Nguni) under Soshangane, swept through Mozambique. Zwangendaba's group continued north across the Zambezi, settling to the west of contemporary Mozambique, but Soshangane's group crossed the Limpopo River into southern.Safra, Jacob E. The New Encyclopædia Britannica. 15th Edition ed. Volume 13, Knowledge In Depth. U.S.A.: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2007
Another army, under the command of Dingane and Mhlangana, was sent by Shaka to deal with Soshangane, but the army suffered great hardship because of hunger and malaria, and Soshangane had no difficulty in driving them off, towards the end of 1828. During the whole of this turbulent period, from 1830 onwards, groups of Tsonga speakers moved southwards and defeated smaller groups. Oxford Encyclopedia of World History. 'Mozambique'.Oxford University Press Inc. New York, 1998
Despite their eviction from the highlands, the Portuguese gradually extended their control up the Zambezi Valley and north and south along the Mozambican coast. In 1727, they founded a trading post at Inhambane, on the southern coast, and in 1781 they permanently occupied Delagoa Bay. However, Soshangane's army overran these Portuguese settlements during the time of the Gaza Empire.
The empire under Soshangane has been criticized for involvement in the slave trade between the year 1830 and 1897, and human rights violations over the indigenous peoples of Mozambique and Zimbabwe.Harries, P. (1981), Slavery Amongst the Gaza Nguni: Its Changing Shape and Function and its Relationship to Other Forms of Exploitation, in JB Peires (ed.), pp. 210-229. The Shangaan tribe has recently also been accused of enforcing tribalism over the Tsonga people of South Africa.VivLifestyle (2017), 'Why does Munghana Lonene FM insist on labeling us as “Vatsonga-Machangani”?', accessed 11 October 2017, from http://vivmag.co.za/archives/13078
The descendants of Gungunyana currently reside in South Africa, including de jure king Eric Mpisane Nxumalo whose application for recognition by the Nhlapo Commission was rejected in 2012. Claims of the kingdom's authority over the Tsonga people of South Africa have also been rejected by Tsonga traditional leaders in South Africa.
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