evidence: Kingship [edit]The reign of Sobhuza I marked a crucial phase in the history of Eswatini. As Sobhuza began his reign, KaNgwane was a realm centered in territory along the Pongola River to the south of modern Swaziland, whose northern reaches encompassed today's southern Swaziland. KaNgwane was ruled by kings of the Dlamini clan, who had earlier ruled an area in and around the Lubombo Mountains to the east. It was only under Sobhuza's grandfather, Ngwane III, ca. 1750, that the Dlamini kings conquered and established the country Sobhuza inherited, incorporating more than a dozen smaller chiefdoms led by chiefs from other clans. Early in Sobhuza's reign, the Ngwane kingdom faced strong risks of conquest by the more powerful Ndwandwe and Zulu kingdoms to the south in the 1810s and 1820s. Sobhuza moved the main royal center northward into what is now Zombodze central Eswatini, with many of his followers relocating as well. The former royal centers in Shiselweni became southern outposts.