After the death of Sobhuza, Mswati inherited an area which extended as far as present day Barberton in the north and included the Nomahasha district in the Portuguese territory of Mozambique.
[2] Mswati's military power, initially suppressed by infighting with his brothers Fokoti, Somcuba and Malambule who supported the kingship of Sidubela, to whom they had already given custody of royal cattle, was increased in the late 1850s and thereafter.
When Mswati's armies attacked organized forces of other Bantu tribes or nations, the goal was initially plunder in the form of cattle and captives, rather than incorporation into one political unit.
The death of Mswati II in August 1868 ended the era of Swazi conquest, territorial expansion and resulted in unification of various people into one nation.
[5] When Mswati ascended to the throne, his predecessor left him a country claimed to be reaching modern day Barberton in the north, Carolina in the west, Pongola River in the south and Lubombo Mountains in the east.
The posts were Mbhuleni, on the upper Komati River, at the foot of the Mkingomo Mountains, south of Badplaas, where Ngcina Matsebula was the indvuna, and LaMgangeni Khumalo the Nkhosikati (chieftainess), and at Mekemeke, just east of the Mbayiyane mountains (Three Sisters), situated east of Mantibovu (Low's Creek), where Mekemeke Lanyandza III was the chieftainess and Mhlahlo Vilakati the indvuna.
Mekemeke is situated high up on the eastern side of the Mbayiyane mountains, from where the drift in the Crocodile River near Malelane could be observed should the Mbayi return to the area.
Mswati moved his administrative capital and military posts to Hhohho, on the northern bank of the Mlumati River and continued his attacks on the various tribes, which include the Bapedi, the Baphalaborwa, the Lobedu near Duiwelskloof, the Venda of Zoutpansberg and as far afield as the Great Zimbabwe and the plains of Mozambique.
King Mswati 2nd established loyal groups in sparsely populated chiefdoms under their own leadership, and in others, he placed royal princes and trusted commoners.
He fled Eswatini in approximately 1872 or 1873 and lived for a while on the farm Stonehaven, some 8 km northwest of Low's Creek, before moving on until he settled at the Leolo mountains, near Steelpoort, west of Burgersfort.