MATABELE (" vanishing " or " hidden "

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• PEOPLE

people, so called from their

See also:

• APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance in

See also:

• BATTLE

battle, hidden behind enormous oxhide

See also:

• SHIELDS, JAMES (181b-1879)

shields)  , a people of Zulu origin who began national life under the chief Mosilikatze . Driven out of the Transvaal by the Boers in 1837, Mosilikatze crossed the Limpopo with a military host which had been recruited from every tribe conquered by him during his ten years' predominance in the Transvaal . In their new territories the Matabele absorbed into their ranks many members of the conquered Mashona tribes and established a military despotism . Their sole occupation was war, for which their laws and organization were designed to fit them . This system of constant warfare is, since the conquest of Matabeleland by the British in 1893, a thing of the past . The Matabele are now herdsmen and agriculturists .