Sarili Ka Hintsa
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King Sarhili ( about 1810 -
1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
) was the King of
Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...
nation from
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until his death in
1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
at Sholora, Bomvanaland. He was also known as "Kreli", and led the Xhosa armies in a series of frontier wars.


Early life and family

Sarili was the oldest son of the Great
Hintsa ka Khawuta Hintsa ka Khawuta (1780 – 12 May 1835), also known as ''Great'' or ''King Hintsa'', was the king of the Xhosa Kingdom, founded by his great ancestor, King Tshawe. He ruled from 1820 until his death in 1835. The Xhosa Kingdom, at its peak, durin ...
and Nomsa kaGambushe Tshezi. Sarili had nine wives including Nohuthe, Nondwe of the abaThembu and Bayo of the amaGwali. His first heir died in
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at the age of 12 and the next in line was his son
Sigcawu ka Sarili Sigcawu ka Sarili was the King of the Xhosa nation from 1892 until his death in 1902. His father was Sarili ka Hintsa and mother Queen Nobuthe. Sigcawu had three sons ((Siphendu Gwebecimele))Salukaphathwa Gwebi'nkumbi Sigcawu and Daliza Sigcawu ...
from his second wife Nohuthe. His daughter Novili Nomkafulo became the great wife of Ngangelizwe Qeya, the 6th paramount chief of the
abaThembu The AbaThembu (''abaThembu ababhuzu-bhuzu, abanisi bemvula ilanga libalele'') are a Xhosa-speaking Bantu people who were under the Thembu Kingdom. According to Bantu oral tradition, the AbaThembu migrated along the east coast of Southern Africa ...
. Another daughter Nowisile became the wife of Chief
Falo Mgudlwa Chief Falo kaMgudlwa (Falo son-of-Mgudlwa) was a Chief of AmaJumba Clan, of the amaThembu people near Qhumanco, Ngcobo. His household was based at Lucwecwe. Family The Mgudlwa line was established by Falo's father, the Chief Mgudlwa kaJumba ( ...
of the amaJumba Thembu and the adoptive mother of the future Thembu national poet
Mbombini Molteno Sihele Mbombini Molteno ka Sihele (Mbombini Molteno son of Sihele) was a Xhosa Councillor and warrior, as well as the national poet (''"imbongi"'') and cultural custodian of the amaThembu people of South Africa during the late 19th and early 20th centuri ...
. Another daughter became the wife of Mhlontlo of the Mpondomise and another became the wife of Chief Gwadiso of the Khonjwayo.


Reign (1835-1892)

Sarhili ascended without any dispute to his birth right. However, the young king had a difficult start, because King Hintsa's power had mostly fallen to his Great Councillors and so Sarhili struggled to assert himself in his own right. When Sarhili left his father's Great Place (the residence of the King), as custom,to establish himself, he began trying to fight the Sotho to no avail.He then tried to conquer the upper Kei region in 1839 that was occupied by what was itself a Xhosa state, the Thembu, but led by Mtirara, he was defeated and retreated. In July 1843, Sarhili tried again this time with the official army of the Xhosa Kingdom and succeeded in seizing Thembuland. King Sarhili then set up his Great Place at Hohita, the capital of Xhosaland. Throughout his reign, Sarili entered into intermittent conflict against the expanding
Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
He was a skilled diplomat who was respected and loved, even by those of the prominent whites of the Cape who knew him well. He typically sought to maintain Gcaleka independence by avoiding direct confrontation with the Cape Colony. This strategy initially worked, but as a nationalist and paramount chief of all the Xhosa, he was later drawn into conflict with the Cape by the neighbouring Ngqika Xhosa. His Kingdom's indirect aid to the Ngqika during the Seventh and Eighth Frontier Wars (1846–1853) was discovered and led to a temporary British invasion of Gcalekaland.


The Great culling (1856-1858) and aftermath

Sarili played an important part in the Great Cattle Killing, a
millennialist movement Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarianis ...
which began among the Xhosa in 1856, and led them to destroy their own means of subsistence in the belief that it would bring about salvation by supernatural spirits, who would return and drive all white people into the sea. Genuinely believing the prophecies of
Nongqawuse Nongqawuse (; ''c.'' 1841 – 1898) was the Xhosa people, Xhosa prophet whose prophecies led to a millenarianism, millenarian movement that culminated in the history of the Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870#Xhosa cattle-killing movement and famine (1 ...
, Sarili destroyed his cattle and crops, causing thousands of his subjects to do likewise. The famine that followed devastated the last Xhosa Kingdom, forcing the Xhosa to turn to the neighbouring Cape Colony for food, blankets and other relief. His fostering of the cattle killing also led to him being hated in white opinion, as the supposed villain of the frontier conflicts. He was briefly exiled from Gcalekaland, to the territory on the far side of the Mbashe, only being allowed to return in 1865. In his absence, the
Mfengu The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have sinc ...
people (traditional enemies of the Gcaleka) settled in much of his former land.


The Fengu-Gcaleka War (1877-1879)

Subsequently, the policies of the
Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
and those of the government in London differed with regards to Sarili. The Cape achieved
responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
in 1872 and, with little further interest in annexing Xhosa land, signed treaties with both Sarili and his enemies such as the Thembu, recognising Gcalekaland's territorial integrity. The
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
, on the other hand, sought to offer protection to increasing numbers of Transkeian chiefdoms, isolating Sarili diplomatically and reducing his power in the region. Both parties appear to have favoured Sarili's enemies in trade and other dealings with the Transkei territories, and when fighting broke out between Sarili and the neighbouring Thembu, the British government intervened once again and brought yet another of his opponents under their protection. From the mid-1870s, a series of severe droughts across the Transkei began to place growing strain on the relative peace which had prevailed for the previous few decades. The droughts had begun as early as 1875 in Sarhili's territory, and had spread to other parts of the Transkei and Basutoland, and even into the Cape Colony controlled Ciskei. Their severity increased up until 1877 and ethnic tensions began to break out, particularly between the
Mfengu The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have sinc ...
, the
Thembu The Thembu Kingdom (''abaThembu ababhuzu-bhuzu, abanisi bemvula ilanga libalele'') was a Xhosa-state in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. According to Xhosa oral tradition, the AbaThembu migrated along the east coast of Southern Africa ...
and the
Gcaleka The Gcaleka House is the Great house of the Xhosa Kingdom in what is now the Eastern Cape. Its royal palace is in the former Transkei and its counterpart in the former Ciskei is the Rharhabe, which is the right hand house of Phalo. The Gcaleka H ...
Xhosa. In 1877, fighting between Mfengu and Gcaleka tribesmen broke out at a festival, rapidly escalating into a shoot-out and finally into a full-blown inter-tribal war that spread along the frontier. Sarili sought to avoid any further escalation of this conflict, as he fully understood that the Mfengu, as allies of the Cape Colony, would draw all forces stationed in the Cape which he could not overcome. However he was nonetheless forced into involvement by several of his councillors and chiefs. Decades of hostile relations with the Cape Colony, overpopulation, and pressure from his councillors drove Sarili into a corner, and he mobilised his armies. Initially the situation seemed unlikely to escalate further, as the
Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
government insisted on only deploying its local mounted commandos to police the frontier, but the involvement of the
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
, via Sir Sir Henry Bartle Frere, desiring to finally annex Gcalekaland for his planned confederation of South Africa. Sarili tried to unite the Xhosa tribes into a unified force in order to prevent the annexation, but after two devastating pitched battles, he declared an end to his resistance and went into exile, first in Pondoland and afterwards to Bomvanaland. He died in exile in
1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
, at Sholora, Bomvanaland.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahintsa, Sarili 1810s births 1892 deaths 19th-century monarchs in Africa Rulers of the Gcaleka Sarili