Policy and Complex Systems
( because of heightened maize leaching of nutrients ) and the need to contest for the shrinking rich bottomland soil , likely caused additional societal stresses ( Gump , 1988 ).
Wright ( 1989 ) concentrates on the transformation of the amabutho , a new form of amabutho that gave the ruling class control of the lives of male citizens for 15 – 20 years ( Bryant , 1929 ; Gump , 1988 ). Each amabutho lived in , and was supplied by , its own homestead or set of homesteads , with the men laboring as producers between military campaigns ( Guy , 1985 ). Amabutho occupied conquered territory by establishing their own homesteads to live and work among a defeated populace ( Peires , 1981 ). A major consideration was the temptation to use amabutho capable of conquest once established ( Gump , 1989 ).
Cobbing ( 1988 ) suggests the conflict during the Mfecane period was simply a portion of an ongoing process arbitrarily selected for ideological purposes by white historians ( and the conflict was the result of European pressure forcing the Nguni and their neighbors “ between the jaws of a vise ”) ( Carlean , 1992 , p . 10 ). The pressure was the result of slave raids from Delagoa Bay and the Cape colony ( Wilson , 2001a ). Cobbing ( 1988 ) sees the Zulu state as created to defend the people from the depredations of the slave trade . This purpose required that the Zulu nation increase its population rather than massacre and lay waste ( Cobbing , 1992 ). Cobbing ( 1992 ) sees the Zulu military as conditioned by its primary defensive mission ( although it was capable of offensive use ).
Elizabeth Eldredge grouped the 13 possible explanations into four categories :
“ There is no simple , monocausal explanation for these disruptions ; neither great leaders , nor environment and ecology , nor overpopulation , nor trade ( including the slave trade and raiding ) alone set off the wars and migrations that plagued the area during these decades ( Eldredge , 2001 , p . 125 ).”
Thus the “ great man ” theory would not only include Theal and Bryant ’ s attribution to Shaka , but also Slater ’ s and Wright ’ s concepts of the changes in the form of amabutho , ostensibly one of Shaka ’ s significant contributions . Overpopulation would encompass the ideas of Gluckman and Omer-Cooper . Trade would include the ideas of Wilson , Smith , Hedges , and Cobbing . Environmental factors would include Acocks , Guy , Hall , Eldredge , and Marks . In some cases there might seem to be an overlap in causal theory between categories , but the emphasis is placed on the most appropriate category . Thus , Hedges does consider changes in amabutho , but is primarily concerned with the effects of trade and is located accordingly . Similarly , Marks does consider overpopulation , but in the context of exhausted soil .
Each of these factors is representable ( by a node of activity in a Spreadsheet- FCM ). Arrows will represent the relations between each node graphically — e . g ., increased maize production acts to increase population . The arrows represent fuzzy if – then rules in operation between concepts (“ If there is more food , then there is more population ”). The relationship between the four nodes of activity are as follows : ( 1 ) as the Great Man influence increases , so does the Zulu population ; ( 2 ) as trade of any sort increases , so does Great Man influence ; ( 3 ) as the Zulu population increases , the environmental quality and potential productivity decreases .
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