Then the British annexed the Cape. The process continued (it culminated in nine frontier wars), and the 1820 the British Settlers arrived. The community in the Cape became progressively unhappy with British rule. Taxes and the abolishment of slavery in 1834 were some of the main reasons why some of them packed their oxwagons and ventured into the unknown inland just to get away from the British (the Great Trek).

These Voortrekkers moved through some areas that were sparsely populated, but the further east, the more clashes with the indigenous people. In most of the clashes, their superior arms settled the differences. In 1838 they arrived on the western border of what is today KwaZulu-Natal, where their paths crossed with the successor to Shaka, the Zulu King Dingaan.

The two broad groups of movers were now in the same territory.