Matabeleland area has important gold deposits. Industries include gold and other mineral mines, and engineering. There has been a decline in the industries in this region as water is in short supply. Promises by the government to draw water for the region through the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project have not been carried out. The region is allegedly marginalised by the government. Around the 10th and 11th centuries the Bantu-speaking Bakalanga arrived from the south and settled in Mapungubwe on the Limpopo and Shashi river valleys. Later they moved north to Great Zimbabwe. By the 15th century, the Bakalanga had established a
Battle of the Shangani Major Patrick William Forbes was sent into Matabeleland. It advanced towards Bulawayo, the territory's capital. The force was made up of around seven-hundred men of the paramilitary British South Africa Police, along with an unknown number of native auxiliaries. In addition to rifles, the column was equipped with five Maxim guns, three other rapid-fire guns, two cannon, and 200 rifles. The Matabele (Ndebele) king Lobengula planned a surprise attack at night. The British set up camp at the Shangani river, forming into a circular defensive "laager" on the model pioneered by the Boers. Lobengula's generals Manonda and Mjaan launched the