Nguni people

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Nguni people
AmaNguni
Siswati, Ndebele
Religion
Christianity and (uThixo or Qamata)
Unkulunkulu
Related ethnic groups
Sotho-Tswana peoples, Tsonga people, Khoisan, San people and Ngoni people

The Nguni people are a linguistic cultural group that migrated to South Africa, made up of Bantu ethnic groups from central Africa, with offshoots in neighboring countries in Southern Africa. Swazi (or Swati) people live in both South Africa and Eswatini, while Ndebele people live in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.

A group of the Nguni living in present-day Malawi and Zambia also migrated from central Africa during the Bantu expansion, they known as AbaNgoni or Ngoni.

The

Bantu expansion settled in the south and eastern part of south Africa and established federations (AbaThembu, AmaMpondo, AmaXhosa, and AmaMpondomise) in the region during the 14th century AD. The Xhosa trace their tribe name back to the Khoi , the original inhabitants of South Africa who were displaced by the invading Bantu . The Khoi named the brutal Bantu newcomers "Xhosa" , meaning the violent angry people .The traditional homeland of the Xhosa people stretches from the Gamtoos River up to Umzimkhulu
near Natal.

The Xhosas were originally known as the Aba-Nguni until renamed by the Khoi. The Xhosa often called the "Red Blanket People," are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central-southern parts of the country.

Both the Ndebele of Zimbabwe and the Ngoni migrated northward out of South Africa in the early 19th century, during a politically tumultuous era that included the Mfecane and Great Trek.

In South Africa, the historic Nguni kingdoms of the Ndebele, Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu are in the present-day provinces of the

Southern and Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The most notable of these kingdoms are the Zulu Kingdom, which was ruled by Shaka, a warrior king whose conquest took place in the early nineteenth century, and the Xhosa Kingdom, existed for 11 generations before the start of the Frontier Wars
in 1779.

Overall, the Nguni cultural group is made up of the eMbo,

Mthethwa Paramountcy, Ngidi, Ndwandwe, Zulu, Ngoni, Swati and Ndebele
ethnic groups.

In Zimbabwe, the Ndebele people live primarily in the province of Matabeleland.[1]

History

A traditional Nguni homestead from a Xhosa village in South Africa, c. 1900

Most of what is believed about ancient Nguni history comes from oral history and legends. Traditionally, their partial ancestors are said to have migrated to Africa's Great Lakes region from the north.[2] According to linguistic evidence and historians (including John H. Robertson, Rebecca Bradley, T. Russell, Fabio Silva, and James Steele), some of the ancestors of the Nguni people migrated from west of the geographic centre of Africa[3] towards modern-day South Africa 7000 years ago (5000 BC).[4][5][6][7] Nguni ancestors had migrated within South Africa to KwaZulu-Natal by the 1st century AD and were also present in the Transvaal region at the same time.[8][9][10][11] These partially nomadic ancestors of the modern Nguni people brought with them sheep, cattle, goats, and horticultural crops, many of which had never been used in South Africa at that time.[12][9]

Other provinces in present-day South Africa, such as the Cape, saw the emergence of Nguni speakers around the same time.[13] Some groups split off and settled along the way, while others kept going. Thus, the following settlement pattern formed: the southern Ndebele in the north, the Swazi in the northeast, the Xhosa in the south, and the Zulu towards the east. Because these peoples had a common origin, their languages and cultures show marked similarities. Partial ancestors of the Nguni eventually met and merged with San hunters, which accounts for the use of click consonants in the languages of the Nguni.[14]

Many tribes and clans in KwaZulu-Natal are said to have been forcibly united under Shaka Zulu. Shaka Zulu's political organization was efficient in integrating conquered tribes, partly through the age regiments, where men from different villages bonded with each other.[citation needed]

Necklace made from dog's teeth, used in religious ceremonies of the Nguni people. Museum of Gems and Jewellery, Cape Town

Many versions in the historiography of southern Africa state that during the South African upheaval known as

Voortrekkers he moved to present-day Zimbabwe where he founded his capital, Bulawayo.[16]

Social organisation

Within the Nguni nations, the clan, based on male ancestry, formed the highest

social unit.[citation needed] Each clan was led by a chieftain.[citation needed] Influential men tried to achieve independence by creating their own clan.[citation needed] The power of a chieftain often depended on how well he could hold his clan together.[citation needed] From about 1800, the rise of the Zulu clan of the Nguni, and the consequent Mfecane that accompanied the expansion of the Zulus under Shaka helped to drive a process of alliance and consolidation among many of the smaller clans.[citation needed
]

For example, the kingdom of Eswatini was formed in the early nineteenth century by different Nguni groups allying with the Dlamini clan against the threat of external attack.[

Swati and are loyal to the king of Eswatini, who is also the head of the Dlamini clan. [citation needed
]

"Dlamini" is a very common clan name among all documented Nguni languages (including Swati and Phuthi),[citation needed] associated with AbaMbo cultural identity.[clarification needed]

Religion

Ngunis may be

African traditional religions
or members of forms of Christianity modified with traditional African values.They also follow a mix of these two religions, usually not separately.

AmaXhosa Tribes

  • AbaThembu (/Xam and Abambo and Xhosa origin)
  • AmaMpondo (Abambo and Khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaMpondomise (Abambo and khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaMfengu (Abambo origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AbeSuthu (Sotho woman of origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaXesibe (Abambo and khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaBomvana (khoisan and Khoena origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaHlubi (Sotho, Khwe, San hunters part of Xhosa)
  • AmaGcaleka (Khoisan, Khoikhoi origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaRharhabe (Khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaNdlambe (Khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaNgqika (khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaTshawe (Khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaGqunukhwebe (Khoisan, San hunters origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaBhele (Abambo and Xhosa of origin)
  • AmaZizi (Abambo and Xhosa origin)
  • AmaVundle or Vundla (Sotho of origin Xhosa tribe)
  • AmaJwarha (Khoisan origin Xhosa tribe)

Constituent peoples

The following peoples are considered Nguni:

People Language Population Distribution
        
Swazi Swazi 2,258,000 Eswatini, but also in South Africa around the Swazi border. Their homeland was KaNgwane.
Phuthi Phuthi 49,000 Near the Lesotho-South Africa border in the Transkei region.
Lala Nguni Lala a few hundred The coastal parts of
Kwazulu Natal
.
Northern (Transvaal) Ndebele Sumayela Ndebele Primarily in Mokopane, but also in Hammanskraal and around Polokwane
Hlubi Hlubi Near the Lesotho-South Africa border in the Transkei region.KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape , Lesotho and North West provinces, with an original settlement on the Buffalo River
        
Zulu Zulu 10,964,000 Originally
Natal
.
Xhosa Xhosa 8,478,000 The original Nguni people.Their traditional homeland stretched from the
Mzimkhulu River
in Natal and were referred to by other Bantus as the 'AbeNguni'.
Southern Ndebele Southern Ndebele 659,000 Central
Transvaal
        [n 1]
Northern Ndebele (Matabele) Northern Ndebele 1,599,000 Matabeleland Zimbabwe
Ngoni They do not have a language of their own but speak
Nyanja
. 		2,044,000 Malawi Zambia
Total Nguni languages 28,801,000

Notes

  1. ^ Original Zunda-speaking groups joined by fleeing populations after and during the Mfecane.

Ngoni people by ethnicity are found in Malawi (under Paramount Chief Mbelwa and Maseko Paramouncy), Zambia (under Paramount Chief Mpezeni), Mozambique and Tanzania (under Chief Zulu Gama). In Malawi and Zambia, they speak a mixture of the languages of the people they conquered, such as Chewa, Nsenga and Tumbuka.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "isiNdebele for beginners. Northern Ndebele language in Africa". www.northernndebele.blogspot.com. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  2. ^ "The History of Ancient Nubia | The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago". oi.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  3. ^ Oliver, R. (1966). "The Problem of the Bantu Expansion". The Journal of African History, 7(3), 361-376. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/180108
  4. ISBN 978-0-300-07280-8
    .
  5. ^ Shillington, Kevin (2005). History of Africa (3rd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.
  6. PMID 24498213
    .
  7. S2CID 163539346
    .
  8. ^ "History Of Kruger Park - Iron Age - South Africa..." www.krugerpark.co.za. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  9. ^ a b "The story of how livestock made its way to southern Africa". www.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  10. ^ Whitelaw, Gavin (2009). "Four Iron Age women from KwaZulu-Natal: biological anthropology, genetics and archaeological context". Southern African Humanities.
  11. PMID 29902271
    .
  12. ISBN 978-1-4939-3357-0
  13. ^ Fisher, Erich (2013). "Archaeological Reconnaissance in Pondoland". PaleoAnthropology.
  14. ^ "Click languages". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  15. ^ "The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo" (PDF). The Journal of African History, Volume 29, Issue 3, Cambridge University Press. 1988. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  16. ^ Bryant: Olden Times in Zululand and Natal. Ritter: Shaka Zulu

External links

  • Media related to Nguni at Wikimedia Commons
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