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TheKololo orMakololo are a subgroup of theSotho-Tswana people native toSouthern Africa. In the early 19th century, they were displaced by theZulu, migrating north toBarotseland,Zambia. They conquered the territory of the Luyana people and imposed their own language. The combination ofLuyana and Kololo languages gave rise to the currentLozi language spoken by theLozi people, descendants of the Luyana and nearby tribes. In 1864, the Kololo kingdom was overthrown andsome chiefs moved toChikwawa District,Malawi, withDavid Livingstone.
The Kololo are also known as Makololo. When referring to Kololo people in plural, theirendonym isBakololo, which includes theBantucliticba-. The Kololo appear to be named after Kololo, the wife of their first chief,Sebitwane. Another theory is that it is aLuyana word meaning "bald" referring to their conqueror's hairstyles.[1][2]
The Kololo are said to have originated in the North Orange Free State region (current Free State province of South Africa).[citation needed] The Kololo are said to have been displaced by theZulu expansion underShaka in the early 19th century during a chain of events known as theMfecane.[3] In 1823, the Kololo started a migration north throughBotswana toBarotseland.[4] In what is now southern Botswana, they defeated a number of societies before suffering a catastrophic defeat to the Bangwaketse at Dithubaruba in 1826.[5] After losing all their cattle they moved north east and raided again, but subsequent defeats led them north to Okavango Delta where they again suffered major losses but were able to defeat the Batawana people in 1835. This victory enabled them to replenish their population and cattle holdings, although they moved north after several years.[6]
At some point in the late 1820s or in the 1830s, a group of Makololo ledSebetwane, which had migrated in a series of steps from their home area close toBasutoland, crossed theZambezi River atKazungula.[7] After plundering theBatoka plateau, Sebetwane's group was driven west by theMatabele from the south and the Mashukulumbe orIla people from the north.[8] In the Bulozi floodplain, they encounteredLozi people from the Kingdom ofBarotseland, who at the time had been seriously weakened by awar of succession following the death of kingMulambwa Santulu between his sonsSilumelume andMubukwanu.[9] By 1845, Sebetwane had conquered Barotseland and became king. He died in 1851 shortly after meetingDavid Livingstone, and was succeeded, first, by his daughterMamochisane, who soon abdicated in favour of her younger half-brotherSekeletu.[10]
After about 20 years, the Makololo dynasty of Sebetwane in Barotseland came to an end in 1864.[11] This was the result of the Makololo war of succession (1863–1864), which broke out after the death ofmorênaSekeletu of Barotseland, between Mamili/Mamile (Sekeletu's confidant and close associate[11]) andMbololo/Mpololo (Sekeletu's uncle,Sebetwane's brother).[12] The war ended when the northern Lukwakwa faction led by Njekwa captured the Makololo faction's strongholds in the south,[13] allegedly putting to death all potential 'pure Makololo' claimants to the throne,[13] and invitingSipopa Lutangu (Mubukwanu's son,Mulambwa's grandson[11]) to become the new king.[13] Conventional historiography regards the 1864 accession ofSipopa Lutangu as "the 'Restoration' of the Lozi monarchy and the start of the 'Second Kingdom'",[14] but Flint (2005) argued that the Lozi and Makololo peoples were ethnolinguistically close and had 'effectively merged' in the decades following the accession of Sebetwane, demonstrated by the fact that both groups spoke the'Sikololo' or 'Silozi' language by 1864.[15] Sipopa was 'on good terms with the Makololo hierarchy' and married Sebetwane's daughterMamochisane upon his accession.[16] There are claims that all Makololo men were killed and only Makololo women and children survived,[16][17] but there is evidence of Makololo men living in Barotseland after 1864, so Flint (2005) concluded that this assertion is a 'lie'.[16] Moreover, after decades of intermarriage and cultural blending between two groups who were already very closely related, it would have been virtually impossible 'to weed out who was Makololo and who was not'.[13]
Sekeletu provided British explorerDavid Livingstone with many porters for his transcontinental journey fromLuanda on theAtlantic toQuelimane on the Indian Ocean, made between 1854 and 1856. Around 100 of these men were left atTete in 1856 when Livingstone made his way to Quelimane and then to Britain.[18] Livingstone returned to Africa to start his second Zambezi expedition in 1858. On reaching Tete, he was reunited with the porters he left there in 1856 and attempted to repatriate them all to Barotseland. However, by this time Sekeletu was facing increasing opposition from the Lozi majority, and around 16 of them decided to remain on the middle Zambezi.[19]
Those Makololo remaining were used from 1859 onward, by Livingstone and by missionaries of theUniversities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), as porters and armed guards to support their activities in the Shire valley andShire Highlands including the freeing of slaves, and were paid in guns, ammunition and cloth. The Makololo decided to remain in the Shire valley when the missionaries left in January 1864.[20]
After the 1864 departure of the UMCA mission, which left behind supplies of arms and ammunition, the Makololo maintained themselves by hunting elephants for ivory and attracted dependents seeking protection, many of whom were freed slaves. They and their armed dependents established chieftaincies in the present-dayChikwawa District. Originally, ten Makololo became chiefs or headmen and fiveMakololo chiefs still exist today.[21]
