Zulu history - The history of the Zulu Nation
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. Clans and loosely-connected family groups followed seasonal game migrations between mountain-range and coastline...living in caves, beneath rocky overhangs or in temporary shelters of branches and antelope skins. These nomadic people neither domesticated animals nor cultivated crops, even though their knowledge of both flora and fauna was encyclopaedic. Bushmen 'classified' thousands of plants and their uses - from nutritional to medicinal, mystical to recreational and lethal - while displaying their spiritual connection with the creatures around them in the fascinating rock-art which continues to intrigue modern investigators.
The Bushmen probably imagined no deviations in lifestyle beyond those compelled by the fluctuations of nature, but forces of change were gathering to their north...
Zulu Ancestors
In the Great Lakes region of sub-equatorial Central-to-East Africa lived black races collectively labelled by early European anthropologists as 'Bantu' - a term derived from the Zulu collective noun for 'people', but used in certain scholarly circles to differentiate black languages from the click-tongues of Bushmen to the south.
Among these so-called Bantu were the Zulu ancestors - the Nguni people. Named after the charismatic figure who in a previous epoch had led a migration from Egypt to the Great Lakes via the Red Sea corridor and Ethiopia, this new home of the Nguni is the mystical Embo of Zulu storytellers to the present day. Both pastoralists and rudimentary agriculturalists, Nguni wealth was measured in cattle - a tradition that continues throughout the modern Zulu Kingdom. There was however, no central authority at that time...nor was there even a clan called Zulu among those who constituted the Nguni people.
Greetings and Courtesies
Good morning – Sawubona (one person)/ Sanibonani (more than one person)
Good afternoon – Sawubona/ Sanibonani
Good evening – Sawubona/ Sanibonani
Hello – Sawubona/ Sanibonani
Asking for help
I am asking for help – Ngicela usizo
Asking for help to one person – Ngicela ungisize
Asking for help to more than 2 persons – Ngicela ningisize
Thank you – Ngiyabonga
Thank you so much – Ngiyabonga kakhulu
Emergencies
Emergency – Isimo esiphuthumayo
Emergencies – Izimo eziphuthumayo
Danger - Ingozi
Numbers/ Izinombolo
Days of the week/ Izinsuku Zensonto
Sunday – Isonto
Monday – uMsombuluko
Tuesday – uLwesibili
Wednesday – uLwesithathu
Thursday – uLwesine
Friday – uLwesihlanu
Saturday – uMgqibelo
Months of the year/ Izinyanga Zonyaka
January – uMasingana
February – uNhlolanja
March – uNdasa
April – uMbasa
May – uNhlaba
June – uNhlangulana
July – uNtulikazi
August – uNcwaba
September – uMandulo
October – uMfumfu
November – uLwezi
December – uZibandlela
Seasons of the year/ Izikhathi Zonyaka
Summer – Ihlobo
Autumn – Inkwindla
Winter – Ubusika
Spring – Intwasahlobo