Ngwane III was King of

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

from 1745 to 1780. He is considered to be the first King of modern Eswatini. For his name the people were called ''bakaNgwane'' and the country was called ''kaNgwane'' or ''lakaNgwane''. Ngwane was the son of

Dlamini III Dlamini III (also known as Ladzandzukane and Sidvwaba Silutfuli) was a king or ''tiNgwenyama'' of the Swazi people who led them approximately between 1720 until 1744. He was the father to Ngwane III the first King of modern Swaziland. He is conside ...

and Queen

LaYaka Ndwandwe LaYaka Ndwandwe was the Queen Regent of Swaziland briefly in 1780 after the death of Ngwane III until Ndvungunye became the king of Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; ...

. Dlamini was succeeded by Ngwane III his son with Queen LaYaka Ndwandwe. He took over the Dlamini chieftaincy and established settlements south of the Pongola River, later moving them to the north of the river banks. This makes Ngwane and his followers the founders of modern Swaziland. Ngwane ruled his Kingdom from the south east of Swaziland in the present

Shiselweni Shiselweni is a region of Eswatini, located in the south of the country. It has an area of 3,786.71 km² and a population of 204,111 (2017). Its administrative center is Nhlangano. It borders Lubombo in the northeast and Manzini Region in t ...

district and his headquarters were called

Zombodze Zombodze is a village in Shiselweni, Eswatini. Its population as of the 2007 census was 16,067. Zombodze is a royal village; many Swazi royals are buried on the burial hill there. King Mswati III Mswati III (born Makhosetive; 19 April 196 ...

at the foot of the Mhlosheni hills. It was at Zombodze that the Nguni ceremony ''

incwala Incwala () is the main ritual of kingship in the Eswatini, Kingdom of Eswatini. This is a national event that takes place during the summer solstice. The main participant in incwala is the King of Eswatini; when there is no king there is no incw ...

'' was celebrated for the first time.

Kingship

Ngwane III is an important figure in the history of

and he is regarded the first King of modern Eswatini. He succeeded his father Dlamini III as chief of the early Swazi who had settled near the Pongola River and Lubombo Mountains. He managed to conquer land south of the

Pongola River The Phongolo River is a river in South Africa. It is a tributary of the Maputo River. It rises near Utrecht in northern KwaZulu-Natal, flows east through Pongolo, is dammed at Pongolapoort, and crosses the Ubombo Mountains; then it flows north ...

. He wasn't able to hold this land, but it is this land which is still seen as an important part of modern Swaziland. Later he settled on the northern side of the Pongola and subsequently moving his royal capital to

, within the borders of present-day Eswatini. Zombodze became the heartland of the Ngwane kingdom, and

, the Nguni ceremony of ''First Fruits'' was celebrated for the first time there. Ngwane thus became the eponym of his country and his people. The country became known as ''kaNgwane'', means "the country of place of Ngwane" and his people as ''bakaNgwane''. This name is still used today and the

Swazi people The Swazi or Swati ( Swati: ''Emaswati'', singular ''Liswati'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, inhabiting Eswatini, a sovereign kingdom in Southern Africa. EmaSwati are part of the Nguni-language speaking peoples whose or ...

use this name to refer to themselves as a people. Ngwane III reigned until 1780 when his son,

Ndvungunye Ndvungunye (also known as Zikodze (Zwane), Mavuso II) was King of Swaziland from 1780 until his death in 1815 after succeeding his father, King Ngwane III following a very brief regency of Ndlovukati LaYaka Ndwandwe. Very little has been record ...

, became King after a regency of Queen

.
worldstatesmen.org

Kingship

References

See also