After the death of Mzilikazi, in 1868, the izinduna, or chiefs, offered the crown to Lobengula kaMzilikazi, one of Mzilikazi's sons from an inferior wife. Several impis (regiments) disputed Lobengula's ascent, and the question was ultimately decided by the arbitration of the
assegai, with Lobengula and his impis crushing the rebels. Lobengula's courage in the battle led to his unanimous selection as King. The coronation of Lobengula took place at Mhlanhlandlela, one of the principal military towns. The
Mthwakazi nation assembled in the form of a large semicircle, performed a war dance, and declared their willingness to fight and die for Lobengula. A great number of cattle were slaughtered, and the choicest meats were offered to the Mlimo, the spiritual leader, and to the dead Mzilikazi. Great quantities of millet beer were also consumed. About 10,000 warriors in full war costume attended the crowning of Lobengula. Their costumes consisted of a headdress and short cape made of black ostrich feathers, a kilt made of leopard or other skins and ornamented with the tails of white cattle. Around their arms they wore similar tails and around their ankles they wore rings of brass and other metals. Their weapons consisted of one or more long spears for throwing and a short stabbing-spear or assegai (also the principal weapon of the
Zulu people). For defence, they carried large oval shields of ox-hide, either black, white, red, or speckled according to the impi (regiment) they belonged to. Lobengula was a big, powerful, man with a soft voice who was well loved by his people but loathed by foreign tribes. He had well over 20 wives, possibly many more; among them were
Xwalile, daughter of king
Mzila of the
Gaza Empire, and
Lozikeyi. It is said that he weighed about 19 stone (270 lb; 120 kg). By the time he was in his 40s, his diet of traditional millet beer and beef had caused him to be obese according to European visitors. Lobengula was aware of the greater firepower of European guns so he mistrusted visitors and discouraged them by maintaining border patrols to monitor all travellers' movements south of
Matabeleland. Early in his reign, he had few encounters with white men (although a Christian mission station had been set up at
Inyati in 1859), but this changed when gold was discovered on the
Witwatersrand within the boundaries of the
South African Republic in 1886. Lobengula had granted John Swinburne the right to search for gold and other minerals on a tract of land in the extreme southwest of
Matabeleland along the
Tati River between the
Shashe River and Ramaquabane river in about 1870, in what became known as the
Tati Concession. However, it was not until about 1890 that any significant mining in the area commenced. Lobengula had been tolerant of the white hunters who came to
Matabeleland; he would even go so far as to punish those of his tribe who threatened the whites. But he was wary about negotiation with outsiders, and when a British team (
Francis Thompson,
Charles Rudd and
Rochfort Maguire) came in 1888 to try to persuade him to grant them the right to dig for minerals in additional parts of his territory, the negotiations took many months. Lobengula gave his agreement to
Cecil Rhodes only when his friend,
Leander Starr Jameson, a qualified medical doctor, who had once treated Lobengula for gout, proposed to secure money and weaponry for the
Matabele in addition to a pledge that any people who came to dig would be considered as living in his kingdom. As part of this agreement, and at the insistence of the British, neither the Boers nor the Portuguese would be permitted to settle or gain concessions in
Matabeleland. Lobengula sent two emissaries to the British queen,
Queen Victoria. However, they were delayed by
Alfred Beit's associates at the port. The 25-year Rudd Concession was signed by Lobengula on 30 October 1888. It soon became obvious that Lobengula had been defrauded and that Beit and Rhodes's team intended to annex his territory. The
First Matabele War began in October 1893, and the
British South Africa Company's use of the Maxim gun led to devastating losses for the Mthwakazi warriors, notably at the
Battle of the Shangani. As early as December 1893, it was reported that Lobengula had been very sick, but his death sometime in early 1894 was kept a secret for many months, and the cause of his death remains inconclusive. By October 1897, the white colonists had successfully settled in much of the territory known later as Rhodesia, and
Mthwakazi was no more. == The Rhodes Four ==