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Nongqawuse was an adolescent Xhosa girl who in April 1856 claimed to have had a prophetic dream predicting that if her people killed all their cattle, the Xhosa dead would rise again, bringing herds of cattle with them, and the English settlers would be driven from the land.
Many of the Xhosa believed her, and destroyed their cattle and crops. As the expected miracle failed to happen, increased pressure was put on those who had remained sceptical to destroy their cattle. During 1857 and 1858 the population of British Kaffraria dropped from 105,000 to less than 27,000 as a result of the ensuing famine.
References
Frank Welsh, A History of South Africa, HarperCollins, 2000.
See also
The Ghost Dance was a similar popular delusion of a return to a pre-colonial era amongst Native Americans, also inspired by a prophetic dream.
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