kingdom · Central and Southern Africa

Pedi Kingdom

1650 CE – 1879 CE (approx.) · capital Tsate

The Maroteng kingdom of the north-eastern Transvaal, which dominated its region and resisted Boer and British conquest until 1879.

Origins

The Pedi Maroteng dynasty, of Sotho-Tswana origin, settled around the Steelpoort river in the 17th century. Under Thulare in the late 18th and early 19th centuries it became a paramountcy dominating many smaller chiefdoms of the region.

Rule and society

The Pedi king ruled through royal kin and tributary chiefs, with initiation regiments forming the army. After defeat by Mzilikazi's Ndebele in the 1820s, Sekwati rebuilt the kingdom on fortified hilltops. Pedi men worked as migrant labourers in the Cape and on the diamond fields, buying guns, and Christianity divided the court in the 1860s.

Decline and legacy

Sekhukhune I defeated a Transvaal Boer army in 1876, but after Britain annexed the Transvaal, a British and Swazi force stormed the capital Tsate in 1879 and captured him. The kingdom became part of the Transvaal, though the Pedi royal house survives.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Pedi Kingdom. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pedi-kingdom
MLA
“Pedi Kingdom.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pedi-kingdom. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Pedi Kingdom.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pedi-kingdom.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Pedi Kingdom’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pedi-kingdom (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻