A Brief History
Today, we celebrate our 100th post by going back to December 16, 1838 when the Ncome River in South Africa became the Blood River at what is known as The Battle of Blood River where the river ran red with blood!
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find the Boers, colonists of Dutch extraction, trying to settle land long owned by the Zulu Kingdom in what is now South Africa.
The Zulu people were tall and physically imposing, living in large numbers with a warrior culture among their men and boys, and led by King Dingane. The Boers, also known as Voortrekkers, were also a hardy people with a knack for combat the English later found out about the hard way.
Friction between the two groups was inevitable and many skirmishes and battles were fought. This time, on the banks of the Ncome River a Boer wagon train of 470 men circled their wagons and seemed a tempting target for the Zulu force of 10,000 to 20,000 warriors!
A slaughter it was, but not the way King Dingane thought it would be. Instead of families, the Zulus ran into a buzz saw of musket balls and cannon balls! The lead flew so heavy and so effectively that the hapless Zulu warriors piled up on the bank and in the river so much that their blood turned the river water red! At least 3000 Zulus died that day (possibly many more), with the loss of only 3 wounded Boers.
Such a lopsided victory resulted in the Boers sweeping the Zulus out of the area, the deposing of Dingane, and a sort of peace between Boers and Zulus in the region. The descendants of those Boers, referring to themselves as Afrikaaners, celebrate this bloody victory to this day, only it is now known as The Day of Reconciliation and is a day of peace instead of war for all South Africans to celebrate, black and white.
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever been to South Africa? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For a DVD documentary series on this incident as well as the larger Zulu wars, please check out the following:
Zulu Wars: Shaka-King of the Zulu/Blood River/Red Coat Black Blood. Good Times Video, 2003. DVD.
The featured image in this article, an artist’s impression of the Battle of Blood River, is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
