Defence Consiousness as a Way of Life: The Refuge Period and Karanga Defence Strategies in the 19th Century

Abstract

Defensible settlement patterns are neither a new phenomenon in pre-colonial Zimbabwean history nor are they a development peculiar to the 19th century Shona alone. Nonetheless the 19th century in many ways constituted a new status quo altogether for the Shona following the establishment of the Ndebele and Gaza states on the western and eastern edges of the Zimbabwean plateau respectively and this forced the Shona to adapt in many ways to conform to a more defensive and security conscious way of life.