Swaziland - History

The earliest evidence of human inhabitants in the area, are human remains potentially dating back as far as 100,000 years. These were discovered in the Lebombo Mountains region of Swaziland.

Bantu speaking peoples began migrating in a south-easterly direction from West Africa approximately 1000 BC, reaching what is now Kwazulu-Natal 1500 years later. Of these various Nguni groups one tribe settled in present-day Maputo. It was here that the Dlamini Royal sovereignty was formed.

Around the mid-1700s, due to the threat from rival tribes, members of the Dlamini clan journeyed through those same Lebombo Mountains in search of a new home.

Under constant threat by the Ndwandwe - a powerful nation occupying Zululand at the time (the Zululand area stretched from the Tugela River in the South to Pongola River in the north), King Ngwane continued moving his people south-east, until they settled in Zombodze.

The mighty Ndwandwe were defeated in 1819 by King Shaka's Zulus. Like his grandfather Ngwane, Sobhuza I avoided conflict, and established a new capital far from the warring king Shaka, in the eZulwini Valley.

Shobuza built up the Swazi kingdom through the early nineteenth century, partly due to the peace he made with the Ndwandwe by marrying the king's daughter.

Like his father, Mswati II (from whom the Swazis derive their name) expanded their kingdom, and followed Sobhuza's policy of allying with the arriving Dutch against the fearsome Zulu. In the 1840s he expanded their territory northwest, as far as Hhohho, and managed to stabilize the Zulu threat along the southern frontier.

It was during Mswati's reign that the first whites settled in the country, and he established ties with the British early on, approaching British authorities in South Africa in need of assistance against Zulu raids into Swaziland.

Gold

The discovery of gold in the neighbouring Transvaal, and in Swaziland itself, led to an influx of Europeans in the 1880's. Mswati's son - Mbandzeni - was perhaps too diplomatic, in that he gave much of the land away to the arriving Europeans in the form of concessions and leases.

The country became a protectorate of South Africa in 1894, and South Africans administered the Swazi interests but never fully established power there.

After the second Anglo-Boer War ending 1902, the British took control of Swaziland as a protectorate. British rule lasted until 1968.

Under King Sobhuza II, a large chunk of their original land was re-possessed, although one must acknowledge his mother's early efforts in this regard, as she acted on his behalf while he was a child-king.

The re-possession entailed the King buying back land, but was also a result of British governmental decree.

By the time the country obtained independence in 1968, two-thirds of the Swazi peoples land had been successfully reclaimed. Swaziland's post-independence elections were held in May 1972, but in 1973 Sobhuza II suspended the first Swazi constitution on the premise that it conflicted with Swazi culture (the constitution was largely a British construction).

It was four years until the Swazi parliament was reconvened under a new constitution. The new and improved version vested ultimate power in the reigning monarch.

Sobhuza II holds the title as the world's longest-reigning monarch. He died in 1982 but his legacy endured in that he managed to preserve his country and its culture which had been under threat for so long.

Now

An absolute monarchy, the king rules by decree. Opposing parties are officially banned but several exist.

It's interesting to note that the Swazi peoples' main focus appears to be preserving their culture against the threat of Westernisation, and the general mood is somewhat ambivalent in their view of the current political system.

Even those calling for reform, are looking for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy rather than abandoning it all together.

The largest threat facing this small country today is the HIV epidemic, with a prevalence rate of 39% (the third-highest in the world).

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