Killing at KwaMatiwane
- When
- 6 February 1838
- Where
- KwaMatiwane
Retief and his diplomatic party were killed by Dingane's forces on 6 February 1838, following a period of feasting.
After two days of feasting, Dingane had Retief and his diplomatic party killed. The men were overpowered and dragged away to the hill kwaMatiwane, named after a chief who had been killed there. The deed of cession of the Tugela-Umzimvubu region, although dated 4 February 1838, was signed by Dingane on this same day. The general opinion is that Dingane did not wish to yield the land ceded in the treaty and mistrusted the presence of the Voortrekkers.
Sources
- Piet Retief Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05
- Dingane Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.