The Mfecane was a period of warfare, state formation and migration across southern Africa during the early nineteenth century. Conflict associated with the rise of the Zulu kingdom and other powers displaced communities across areas now within South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe. Refugees founded new settlements and states.

Zulu praise poetry preserved the reputations of rulers and warriors amid political upheaval. Thomas Mofolo's novel Chaka and Mazisi Kunene's epic Emperor Shaka the Great later reimagined these events through African literary traditions.