born 0441; 1836, Mosega, Transvaal
died January 1894, near Bulawayo, Rhodesia
Second and last king of the South African Ndebele nation.
Son of the founder of the Ndebele kingdom, Mzilikazi, Lobengula succeeded to the throne in 1870 after a period of civil war. He attempted to form an alliance with the British, granting them first farming (1886) and then mineral (1888) concessions. Not satisfied, the British South Africa Co. under Cecil Rhodes undertook a military expedition that destroyed the Ndebele kingdom in 1893. See also Khama III .