Zwangendaba Jele

Zwangendaba Gwaza kaZiguda Jele Gumbi, commonly known as Zwangendaba (1785–1848) was the first king of the Ngoni and Tumbuka people of Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania of the Jere Ngoni Clan from 1815 to 1857.^[1][2] He passed away in July 1848 and his son, Gwaza Jele, inherited his position soon after his death.^[3][4][5][1] He was the older brother of Somkhanda kaZiguda Jele who was also known as Gumbi and founded the Gumbi clan in Kwazulu-Natal in areas of Pongola.^[6]

Zwangendaba was a King of a clan of the Nguni or Mungoni people who broke away from the Ndwandwe Kingdom alliance under King Zwide. After defeat of the Ndwandwe forces under his command, Zwangendaba gathered his clan and fled the area.^[2] This dispersal of the northern Nguni clans was called the Mfecane. Zwangendaba led his people, then called the "Jele", on a wandering migration of more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) lasting more than twenty years. Their journey took them through the areas of what is now northern South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi to the western part of Tanzania, where Zwangendaba set up a base at Mapupo. The Ngoni, originally a small royal clan that left Kwa-Zulu Natal, extended their dominion even further through present-day Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia when they fragmented into three separate groups following his death.^[2]