… Mapochstad.
"When the 1880s commenced, with the dramatic defeats of the powerful Zulu and Pedi kingdoms at the end of the previous decade still fresh in the memory, it was clear that the days of African independence in South Africa were numbered. Only a handful of black tribes across the Vaal River had yet to succumb to the military and technological superiority ofthe all-conquering Europeans. In the course of the next two decades, these last outposts of black autonomy would fall, one by one, before the relentless expansion of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR).
The military expeditions through which all this came about were, in general, dreary affairs, with few noteworthy incidents to make them memorable. The Transvaal Boers, intent on reducing their opponents to submission as quickly and cheaply as possible, went about their work with business-like caution, opting wherever possible for methods of systematic attrition over open clashes of arms. For all that, there was a certain grim drama in these little-known campaigns, a sense of tragic inevitability in the skirmishing and sniping before the brooding mountain fortresses where South Africa's last remaining free blacks made their last doomed stand.
The year 1882 began with the Transvaal Boers enjoying their second year of independence, having disposed of their imperial adversaries with remarkable ease in a short, sharp war of independence concluded the previous year. The year ended with the commandos once again in the field, this time against Nyabela's Ndzundza clan. An Ndebele people, the Ndzundza occupied the wild, hilly terrain bordering the ZAR's Middelburg district.
Nyabela's royal headquarters, KoNomtjarhelo, was built by his father Mabhogo (whom the Boers referred to as Mapoch) in the 1830s. Mabhogo commissioned various renowned land surveyors, hunters and military experts, who were subjects of the Swazi King, Mangwane, to layout his capital. The area they selected consisted of ravines and hills, strewn with boulders and honey-combed with intricate caves. KoNomtjarhelo was laid out with large cattle pens, terraced agricultural fields and irrigation ducts fed by water springs. An interlocking system of fortresses, subterranean tunnels, rock barriers and underground bunkers was constructed for defensive purposes. The Ndzundza kingdom comprised 84 km2 and had a population of 15 000 when Nyabela became regent chief in 1875…"
Full article here.
link
Wonder to know if anyone has wargame this.
Amicalement
Armand
checks out some 10/15mm railroad tracks for wargaming.
