From 1834 onwards, the Voortrekkers (Dutch-speaking farmers) started to migrate from the Cape Colony in large numbers and in 1837 crossed the Drakensberg into KwaZulu-Natal where, after the murder of one of their leaders, Piet Retief, in the massacre at Weenen they defeated Shaka's successor Dingane at the Battle of Blood River, put Mpanda on the Zulu throne and established the republic of Natalia.
It is the administrative centre of Katavi Region, Mpanda District and is itself one of the four districts of the region.
The Bende are an ethnolinguistic group based in the Mpanda District of Rukwa Region in western Tanzania.