Matabeleland chapters in Bulawayo, Lupane and other districts of Matabeleland. Matabeleland Modern-day Matabeleland is a region in Zimbabwe divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people. Other ethnic groups who inhabit parts of Matabeleland include the Tonga, Kalanga, Venda, Nambia, Sotho, Tswana and Khoisan. As of August 2012, according to the Zimbabwean national statistics agency ZIMSAT, the southern part of the region had 683,893 people, comprising 326,697 males and 356,926 females, with an
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