united as one cultural site

The Swazi’s are predominantly Nguni in language and culture. They originate from east central africa. As part of the Nguni expansion southwards, the Swazi crossed the Limpopo river and settled in southern Tsongaland in the late fifteen century. Swaziland has been inhabitated since the early stone age and there are tracks of subsequent occupation by Bushmen, Sotho and Ntungwanguni clans. Swazi simply means the people of Mswati. Rock paintings attributed to the San have been identified in many parts of Swaziland. The paintings usually depict animals, people, hunting parties, battle scenes and dances.

The four major ethnic divisions among Black South Africans are the Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. Together the Nguni and Sotho account for the largest percentage of the total Black population. The major Sotho groups are the South Sotho (Basotho and Sotho), the West Sotho (Tswana), and the North Sotho (Pedi). Language, culture and beliefs: About 4 million Tswana people live in southern Africa; 3 million in South Africa and 1 million in the nation of Botswana. In South Africa, many Tswana live in the area that formed the numerous segments of the former homeland, Bophuthatswana, as well as neighboring areas of the North-West Province and the Northern Cape. Tswana people are also found in most urban areas throughout South Africa.

Our Ancient Arena Southern Africa's contribution to the Cradle of Mankind is borne out by several important archaeological sites...not least the Border Caves of our Zulu Kingdom's north-eastern quadrant. Here lies evidence of 150 000 years of human occupation and some of the oldest Homo sapiens remains on earth. These 'ancient ones' were the small- statured, ochre-skinned races of Later Stone Age hunter- gatherer generically referred to as Bushmen. Related neither to the Zulu nor their deeply revered ancestors, the Bushmen were descendants of Early Stone Age progenitors who had enjoyed the same fruits of this bountiful terrain for a million-plus years before them.

Early History of Tsonga communities in South East Africa Archaeological evidence points to a continuous occupation of the area between St Lucia Bay from at least the thirteen century, probably at 1250. Early Portuguese documents of shipwreck sailors indicate that Tsonga Communities were already based between Maputo and Saint Lucia Bay by 1550. Writings of Perestrello (Santa. Bento-1554), Diogo de Couto (Santa Thome-1589), Lavanha (Santa Alberto-1593) record presence of Ronga chiefdoms between Saint Lucia Bay and the Maputo region in sixteen centuries.

Venda is also known as Luvenda or Tshivenda, and originated from the Bantu language. Interestingly, it is also related to Niger and Congo languages. It is one of the 11 official South African languages. Well over 650 000 of Tshivenda speakers live in the northern parts of South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Those that speak Tshivenda have a royal family line, and adhere to strict traditions that relate to this connection. South Africa Languages and Culture Venda Language