1700s–Late 18th Century: (The Expansion of Northern Ngoni Chiefdoms — Maize, Population Growth, the Struggle to Control Ivory Export Routes, Age-Sets Transfo…

1700s–Late 18th Century: (The Expansion of Northern Ngoni Chiefdoms — Maize, Population Growth, the Struggle to Control Ivory Export Routes, Age-Sets Transformed into Standing Armies, and the Three Dominant Chiefdoms of Ngwane, Ndwandwe, and Mthethwa on the Eve of Drought and Famine): After about 1700, a number of northern Ngoni chiefdoms expanded and absorbed smaller ones. The process was almost certainly connected to heightened competition over scarce resources — the introduction of maize by the Portuguese during a time of unusually high rainfall probably led to a rise in population, and an ever greater area of land was brought under cultivation. Improved pasture resulted in an increase in livestock herds, while the expansion of commerce with the Portuguese at the coast acted as a force for state-formation. Wealthier, more stable, and more populous chiefdoms sought to dominate increasingly lucrative trade routes to the Indian Ocean, and the struggle to control ivory exports led to increased competition over rich hunting grounds near the coast. Greater competition and enlarged political scale meant increased militarism — age-sets, long integral to Ngoni society, became more significant, organizing society into regiments with standing armies created to aggressively pursue community objectives. By the late eighteenth century, the northern Ngoni had amalgamated into three dominant chiefdoms: the Ngwane under Sobhuza, the Ndwandwe under Zwide, and the Mthethwa under Dingiswayo — this last, a federation of smaller groupings, included the relatively obscure chiefdom of the Zulu. But whatever uneasy balance had been achieved was shattered as drought and famine replaced the era of high rainfall, making control of well-watered pastureland and good farmland critical to survival.