According to Muzi Mthethwa (1995), the Mthethwas are descended from the
Nguni tribes of northern Natal and the
Lubombo Mountains, whose modern identity dates back some 700 years. They are among the first Nguni-Tsonga groups who left the
Great Lakes in
Central Africa between 200 AD and 1200 AD. On arrival in
Southern Africa, they settled around modern-day
Swaziland, mainly on the
Lubombo Mountains, before leaving in the 17th century to settle in modern-day
KwaZulu-Natal, in the
Nkandla region. It consisted of roughly 30 Nguni chiefdoms, lineages, and clans. Unlike its successor, the
Zulu Kingdom, the Mthethwa Paramountcy was a confederation. After Zulu chief
Shaka kaSenzagakhona (better known as Shaka Zulu) became king, he forged a nearly homogeneous nation with a single king (
nkosi). The Mthethwa Paramountcy was consolidated and extended under the rule of
Dingiswayo. The chief entered into an alliance with the
Tsonga to the north in the early 19th century and began trading
Ivory and other things with the
Portuguese in
Mozambique. About 1811, the Buthelezi and a number of other Nguni groups, including the then still marginal Zulu clan led by
Senzangakona, were integrated into a sort of confederacy with the Mthethwa clan predominating.
Dingiswayo was killed in a battle with the
Ndwandwe in 1817. The Mthethwa Paramountcy was then superseded by the
Zulu Kingdom under Shaka, a former lieutenant in the Mthethwa army. Many military and administrative institutions, including the system of age regiments (
amabutho) that later characterized the Zulu kingdom were utilized by Mthethwa, although an older theory that credits the Nyambose rulers of Mthethwa with the introduction of
amabutho is no longer accepted because of evidence for the widespread existence of
amabutho going back into the 18th century and perhaps earlier. The Mthethwa were amongst the first Nguni Chiefdoms to use guns. ==See also==