<P> Throughout the period of the South African Wars, people on both sides of the conflict achieved notability . Some of these people were in favour of the British colonising South Africa and making it a British territory, while others fought against the British in an attempt to slow down and stop these efforts . </P> <P> Mgolombane Sandile was the dynamic and charismatic chief of the Ngqika, who led his people in a string of wars until he was killed by Fengu sharpshooters in 1878 . Although he acted independently, he usually recognised the authority of King Sarhili (Kreli) of the Gcaleka, whose country lay to the east and who was nominally the Paramount - Chief of all the Xhosa people . Sandile's soldiers used modern firearms (in addition to their traditional weapons for close combat) and they were skilled in guerilla warfare . However his tragic death was a turning point . It brought to a close the last of the Xhosa Wars (1779 - 1879); and saw the beginning of the greater South African Wars (1879 - 1915) which now encompassed the whole subcontinent . </P> <P> The Earl of Carnarvon was the colonial secretary in London from 1874 to 1878 . He was greatly concerned with Imperial defence of the Cape and felt that it was a crucial point in the empire's trade and future security . For this reason, he wished to bring all the various states of southern Africa into one single British - controlled Confederation . He had recently confederated Canada, initiating a unified, British - controlled government that meshed two cultures and create a bi-lingual society, and he wished to replicate that success in southern Africa . The South Africa Act 1877 was derived from the British North America Act concerning draft confederation . Carnarvon felt that if it worked for Canada, it could also apply to southern Africa . Many southern African states fiercely resisted this interference in the region . His attempt to enforce this system of confederation onto southern Africa was a primary cause of the first set of the South African Wars . </P> <P> Sir Henry Bartle Frere was the new British Governor whom Carnarvon sent out to southern Africa in 1877, to enforce his confederation plan, bring the various states of southern Africa into the united British federation, and preempt what he believed would be a "general and simultaneous rising of Kaffirdom against white civilisation". For this purpose, Frere initiated the Anglo - Zulu War, the 9th Frontier War, the Gun War, and overthrew the elected government of the Cape Colony to replace it with the pro-federation Sprigg puppet government . He critically underestimated the Zulu State as "a bunch of savages armed with sticks" and likewise miscalculated in taking on war with the Boers and the Basotho - against all of whom the British suffered serious setbacks and defeats, before sheer force of arms extricated them . Back in London, the new British Government was horrified by Frere's actions . "What was the crime of the Zulu?!" became the call - to - arms of liberal leader William Gladstone . In 1880, Bartle Frere was recalled to London to face charges of misconduct, but the conflicts which he initiated were effectively the commencement of the South African Wars . </P>

African resistance to colonial rule began with course hero