An elder, when asked about the history of the Honde Valley, first related his genealogy and family history. Then he went on to say that ‘Long back, this country was a vast area, with no boundaries. Borders were set up after the arrival of the Portuguese and, er … and Cecil Rhodes. That was when they limited movement of people …. [Previously] people settled freely.’ The creation of the border between Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa contributed significantly to the making of the valley as a frontier area. However, it did not impose as much of a rupture as the elder claims with his narrative of colonial alienation: the colonial border was not the first or only boundary in the area. Before the advent of colonial partition, the valley and its inhabitants were already bounded in various ways: topographical and climatic separation as well as cultural and political demarcation. All these boundaries were continually re-delineated and thus their meaning locally made during ongoing negotiation processes that mediated a sense of belonging with outside threats. Hence, the frontier identity, located in a field of tension between opportunity and danger emerged.

The valley has been prone to violence from the 1830s at the very least. In the nineteenth century, it took shape as a frontier area. Newcomers were usually attracted by the opportunities such an area offers, for example, ample land and remoteness from centralised political authority.