King Dingane, kaSenzangakhona of the Zulu people, asks that Voortrekker Piet Retief and his party retrieve some cattle stolen from him by a local chief.
This Retief and his men do, returning on February 3, 1838.
The next day, a treaty is signed, wherein Dingane cedes all the land south of the Tugela River to the Mzimvubu River to the Voortrekkers.
Celebrations follow.
On February 6, at the end of the celebrations, Retief's party are invited to a dance, and asked to leave their weapons behind, which they do willingly to show good faith.
At the peak of the dance, Dingane leaps to his feet and yells "Bambani abathakathi!" (isiZulu for "Seize the wizards").
Retief and his men are overpowered, taken to the nearby hill kwaMatiwane, and executed.
Some believe that they were killed for withholding some of the cattle they recovered, but it is likely that the deal was a ploy to overpower the Voortrekkers.
Dingane's army now attacks and massacres a group of five hundred Voortrekkers—men, women and children—camped nearby.
The site of this massacre is today called Weenen, (Afrikaans for "to weep").
