Mpondo

The Mpondo were a southern Nguni people whose country stretched across river valleys and grasslands towards the Indian Ocean. Under King Faku their kingdom became a formidable power in a region unsettled by war and migration. Faku came to power around 1818. In the 1820s his people repelled attacks by neighbouring forces, including Zulu raids, while also raiding their own neighbours. In 1830 Faku allowed Wesleyan missionaries to establish a station west of the Mzimvubu River. William Shaw brought William Boyce to meet him, and the mission became known as Buntingville. The king's dealings with missionaries formed part of a wider effort to secure his people amid changing regional politics.