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The Nguni people are an ethnolinguistic group of Bantu peoples ethnic groups native to Southern Africa where they form the single largest ethnolinguistic community.
Predecessors of Nguni people migrated from Central Africa into Southern Africa during the late Iron Age, with offshoots in neighboring colonially-created countries in Southern Africa. Swazi people (or Swati) people live in both South Africa and Eswatini, while Ndebele people live in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The Xhosa people, local to the Eastern Cape, established tribal sub-federations—the Gcaleka, Rharhabe, and Gqunukhwebe—in the 16th century. The homeland of the Xhosa people is marked by lands in the Eastern Cape from the Gamtoos River up to Umzimkhulu near Natal, bordered by the frontier of an expanding Dutch Cape Colony.
Both the Matabele people of Western Zimbabwe and the Ngoni people 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 regions historically comprising the territories of the Ndebele, Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu Kingdoms are located in the latter-day provinces of the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The most notable of these kingdoms are the Zulu Empire founded by Shaka, a warrior-king whose Mfecane took place in the early nineteenth century, and the Xhosa people, infamous for its belligerence in the Xhosa Wars.
Overall, the Nguni cultural group is made up of the eMbo people, AmaLala (Mthethwa Paramountcy), AmaNtungwa (Zulu people), AmaHlubi (Radebe), Xhosa people, AmaThonga (Ndwandwe), Ngoni people, Swazi people and Ndebele ethnic groups.
In Zimbabwe, the Mthwakazi live primarily in the province of Matabeleland.
Other provinces in present-day South Africa, such as Cape Province, saw the emergence of Nguni speakers around the same time. 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 people hunters, which accounts for the use of in the languages of the Nguni.
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.
Many versions in the historiography of southern Africa state that during the South African upheaval known as Mfecane, the Nguni people spread across a large part of southern Africa, absorbing, conquering, or displacing many other peoples. However, the notion of the mfecane or difaqane has been disputed by some scholars, notably Julian Cobbing. The Mfecane was initiated by Zwide and his Ndwandwes. They attacked the Hlubi and stole their cattle, leaving them destitute. The remnants of the Hlubi, under their chief Matiwane fled into what is now the Free State and attacked the Batlokwa in the Harrismith Vrede area. This displaced the Batlokwa under Mmanthatisi, and she and her people spread conflict further into the central interior. Moshoeshoe I and his Bakwena sought the protection of Shaka and sent him tribute in return. When Matiwane settled at Mabolela, near present-day Clocolan, Moshoeshoe complained to Shaka that this prevented him from sending his tribute, whereupon an impi was sent to drive Matiwane from this area. Matiwane fled south and raided one of the Xhosa kingdoms, which got his whole tribe annihilated by Hintsa kaKhawuta, at the Battle Of Mbholompo. Mmanthatisi and her Batlokwa settled near what is now Ficksburg and were followed by her son, Sekonyela, as chief of the Batlokwa. It was he who had stolen Zulu cattle that Piet Retief in his dealings with Dingane, Shaka's successor, retrieved. After the defeat of Zwide and his Ndwandwes by Shaka, two of his commanders, Soshangane and Zwengendaba, fled with their followers northward, engaging in conflict as they went. Soshangane eventually founded the Shangane nation in Mozambique and Zwengendaba moved all the way to what is now Tanzania. Mzilikazi in his flight from Shaka, depopulated the eastern highveld and northern Free State, killing the men and capturing the women to form his Matabele nation. Initially, he settled near what is now Pretoria, then moved to Mosega, near present-day Zeerust, but after his defeat by the Voortrekkers he moved to present-day Zimbabwe where he founded his capital, Bulawayo.Bryant: Olden Times in Zululand and Natal. Ritter: Shaka Zulu
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. Today, the kingdom encompasses many different clans that speak a Nguni language called Swati language and are loyal to the king of Eswatini, who is also the head of the Dlamini clan.
"Dlamini" is a very common clan name among all documented Nguni languages (including Swati and Phuthi), associated with AbaMbo cultural identity.
| Thembu people | IsiXhosa | Thembu's are originally from Thembuland they are also found in the Northern parts of Eastern Cape, Lesotho and throughout South Africa. | |
| Swazi people | Swazi language | Eswatini and South Africa around the Swazi border. Their homeland was KaNgwane. | |
| Bhaca people | Bhaca language | Found in the South Eastern part of South Africa in towns that include KwaBhaca, ixopo, Bulwer and Umzimkulu. | |
| Phuthi people | Phuthi language | Near the Lesotho-South Africa border in the Transkei region. | |
| Lala Nguni | Lala | A few hundred | Originally in coastal Kwazulu Natal, now found in ENgcobo, Eastern Cape, Ethekwini, Maputo, Delagoa Bay, Inanda, oThongathi, Mangangeni, Elandskop, Camperdown etc. |
| Northern (Transvaal) Ndebele | Sumayela Ndebele | Primarily in Mokopane, but also in Hammanskraal and around Polokwane | |
| Hlubi people | Hlubi language | 724.100 | 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 people | Zulu language | Originally Zulu Kingdom, but now in most of Natal and as a minority in Eastern Transvaal and Gauteng. Their homeland was the northern part of KwaZulu Natal. | |
| Xhosa people | Xhosa language | The original Nguni people. Their traditional homeland stretched from the Gamtoos River in Eastern Cape to Mzimkhulu River in Natal and were referred to by other Bantus as the 'AbeNguni'. | |
| Xesibe people | IsiXhosa | North-Eastern Parts of Eastern Cape Province, Southern Parts of KwaZulu-Natal. | |
| Southern NdebeleOriginal Zunda-speaking groups joined by fleeing populations after and during the Mfecane. | Southern Ndebele | Central Transvaal | |
| Mfengu | IsiXhosa | Fingoland which is in Eastern Cape, South Africa, and also located in Zimbabwe Mbembesi. | |
| Mpondo people | IsiXhosa and Mpondo | Pondoland is a natural region on the shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. | |
| AmaMpondomise | IsiXhosa | Eastern Cape and Ciskei, Transkei throughout South Africa. | |
| Northern Ndebele (Matabele/Mthwakazi) | Northern Ndebele | Matabeleland Zimbabwe | |
| Ngoni people | They do not have a language of their own but speak Tumbuka language, Chewa language, or Nyanja language. | Malawi, Zambia | |
| Total | Nguni languages |
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