SOBHUZA I

born c. 1795 died 1836/39, near Manzini, Swaziland South African king (reigned from about 1815) who founded the Swazi nation (now Swaziland). A contemporary of the great Zulu kings Shaka and Zwide, Sobhuza was forced by them to flee north with his Ngwane and Dhlamini people from their original home on the Pongola River in South Africa. The migration of the Ngwane and Dhlamini is regarded as the commencement of the Mfecane, a period of war and migration among the peoples of southern Africa. Sobhuza began his migration about 1820, following a dispute with Zwide over agricultural lands on the Pongola. By 1820 Sobhuza had established his people north of the Pongola River in what is now Swaziland and had overcome and annexed several neighbouring kingdoms in the locality. Sobhuza allowed the Nguni and Sotho chiefdoms he conquered to be governed by their traditional leaders, giving the new Swazi nation the popularity and support it needed to survive. Through astute diplomacy and the payment of tribute, he managed to remain at peace with Shaka, and to further secure his position he married a daughter of Zwide. About 1836 Sobhuza was again threatened, this time by Dingane, Shaka's successor, but Sobhuza managed to avoid pitched battles with the Zulu forces. At his death soon afterward he left a strong, unified Swazi kingdom in the hands of his son Mswati.