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Basotho
The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who have inhabited the region of Lesotho, South Africa since around the fifth century CE. The modern Basotho identity emerged from the accomplished diplomacy of Moshoeshoe I, who unified the disparate clans of Sotho–Tswana origin that had dispersed across southern Africa in the early 19th century. Most Basotho today live in Lesotho or South Africa, as the area of the Orange Free State was originally part of Moshoeshoe's nation (now Lesotho). History Early history Bantu-speaking peoples had settled in what is now South Africa by about 500 CE. Separation from the Tswana is assumed to have taken place by the 14th century. The first historical references to the Basotho date to the 19th century. By that time, a series of Basotho kingdoms cov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population of about million. It was previously the British Crown colony of Basutoland, which declared independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966. It is a fully sovereign state and is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Community. The name ''Lesotho'' roughly translates to "land of the Sotho". History Basutoland Basutoland emerged as a single body politic, polity under King Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor tribal chief, chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1820 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Buth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province. Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a British Resident based in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein and the southern parts of the Sovereignty had previously been settled by Griqua and by '' Trekboere'' from the Cape Colony. The ''Voortrekker'' Republic of Natalia, founded in 1837, administered the northern part of the territory through a ''landdrost'' based at Winburg. This northern area was later in federation wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sotho Language
Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free State), where it is one of the 11 official languages; and in Zimbabwe where it is one of 16 official languages. Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is an agglutinative language, which uses numerous affixes and derivational and inflexional rules to build complete words. Classification Sotho is a Southern Bantu language, belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30). Although Southern Sotho shares the name ''Sotho'' with Northern Sotho, the two groups have less in common with each other than they have with Setswana. "Sotho" is also the name given to the entire Sotho-Tswana group, in which case Sesotho proper is called "Southern Sotho". Within the Sotho-Tswana group, Southern Sotho is most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moshoeshoe I
Moshoeshoe I () ( – 11 March 1870) was the first king of Lesotho. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bamokoteli lineage, a branch of the Koena (crocodile) clan. In his youth, he helped his father gain power over some other smaller clans. At the age of 34 Moshoeshoe formed his own clan and became a chief. He and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain. He became the first King of Lesotho in 1822. Early life Moshoeshoe was born under the name Lepoqo in the village of Menkhoaneng in the north of modern day Lesotho. The precise year of his birth remains unknown, estimates range from 1780 to 1794; 1786 being the most commonly agreed upon date. His name's literal translation is Dispute, originated from accusations of witchcraft which were levied on a man in Mekhoaneng around the time of his birth. He was the first son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bamokoteli sub-clan of the Basotho people and his first wife Kholu. Kholu was the daughte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sotho–Tswana
The Sotho-Tswana people are a meta-ethnicity of southern Africa and live predominantly in Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho. The group mainly consists of four clusters; Southern Sotho (Sotho), Northern Sotho (which consists of the Bapedi, the Balobedu and others), Lozi, and Tswana people. A fifth cluster is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Sotho, and consists of the Pulana, Makgolokwe/Bakholokoe the Pai and others. The Sotho-Tswana people would have diversified into their current arrangement during the course of the 2nd millennium, but they retain a number of linguistic and cultural characteristics that distinguish them from other Bantu-speakers of southern Africa. These are features such as totemism, a pre-emptive right of men to marry their maternal cousins, and an architectural style characterized by a round hut with a conical thatch roof supported by wooden pillars on the outside. Other major distinguishing features included their dress of skin cloaks and a pref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedi People
The Pedi or (also known as the Northern Sotho or and the Marota or ) – are a Southern Africa, southern African ethnic group that speak Pedi or ''Sepedi'', a dialect belonging to the Sotho-Tswana peoples, Sotho-Tswana Ethnolinguistic group, enthnolinguistic group. Northern Sotho is a term used to refer to one of South Africa's 11 official languages. Northern Sotho or Sesotho sa Leboa consist of 33 dialects, of which Pedi is one of them. The BaPedi people are almost exclusively found in South Africa's Points of the compass, northeastern Provinces of South Africa, provinces which are Limpopo, and parts of northern Mpumalanga. There is confusion regarding the distinction between BaPedi people, and tribes referred to Northern Sotho (''Basotho ba Lebowa).'' On the one hand, one military explanation is that the BaPedi people became powerful at one point under a powerful king that ruled over a large piece of land. During this period, a powerful army of the BaPedi conquered small ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Peoples
The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern Africa. There are several hundred Bantu languages. Depending on the definition of "language" or "dialect", it is estimated that there are between 440 and 680 distinct languages. The total number of speakers is in the hundreds of millions, ranging at roughly 350 million in the mid-2010s (roughly 30% of the population of Africa, or roughly 5% of the total world population). About 60 million speakers (2015), divided into some 200 ethnic or tribal groups, are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. The larger of the individual Bantu groups have populations of several million, e.g. the people of Rwanda and Burundi (25 million), the Bagandapeople of Uganda (10 million as of 2019), the Shona of Zimbabwe (15 million ), the Zulu of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu People
The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct List of ethnic groups of Africa, ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern Africa. There are several hundred Bantu languages. Depending on the definition of Dialect#Dialect or language, "language" or "dialect", it is estimated that there are between 440 and 680 distinct languages. The total number of speakers is in the hundreds of millions, ranging at roughly 350 million in the mid-2010s (roughly 30% of the demographics of Africa, population of Africa, or roughly 5% of world population, the total world population). About 60 million speakers (2015), divided into some 200 ethnic or tribal groups, are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. The larger of the individual Bantu groups have populations of several million, e.g. the people of Rwanda and Burundi (25 million), th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zulu People
Zulu people (; zu, amaZulu) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 10–12 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. They originated from Nguni communities who took part in the Bantu migrations over millennia. As the clans integrated together, the rulership of Shaka brought success to the Zulu nation due to his improved military tactics and organization. Zulus take pride in their ceremonies such as the Umhlanga, or Reed Dance, and their various forms of beadwork. The art and skill of beadwork takes part in the identification of Zulu people and acts as a form of communication and dedication to the tribe and specific traditions. The men and women both serve different purposes in society in order to function as a whole. Today the Zulu people predominantly believe in Christianity, but have created a syncretic religion that is combined with the Zulu's pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Highveld
The Highveld (Afrikaans: ''Hoëveld'', where ''veld'' means "field") is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly 1500 m, but below 2100 m, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of the Highveld. It is home to some of the country's most important commercial farming areas, as well as its largest concentration of metropolitan centres, especially the Gauteng conurbation, which accommodates one-third of South Africa's population. Location and description The Highveld constitutes almost the whole of the Free State, and Gauteng Provinces, and portions of the surrounding areas: the western rim of Lesotho, and portions of the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga Provinces of South Africa. The highest part of the Highveld, around 2100 m, is its northeastern well-defined boundary, where the plateau escarpment (the Mpumalanga Drakensberg) separates it from the Mpumalanga Lowveld, (containing, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa. The British colony was preceded by an earlier corporate colony that became an Dutch Cape Colony, original Dutch colony of the same name, which was established in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company, Dutch East India Company (VOC). The Cape was under VOC rule from 1652 to 1795 and under rule of the Napoleonic Batavian Republic, Batavia Republic from 1803 to 1806. The VOC lost the colony to Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain following the 1795 Invasion of the Cape Colony, Battle of Muizenberg, but it was acceded to the Batavian Republic, Batavia Republic following the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voortrekker
The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial administration. The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Cape's original European settlers, known collectively as ''Boers'', and the British Empire. It was also reflective of an increasingly common trend among individual Boer communities to pursue an isolationist and semi-nomadic lifestyle away from the developing administrative complexities in Cape Town. Boers who took part in the Great Trek identified themselves as ''voortrekkers'', meaning "pioneers", "pathfinders" (literally "fore-trekkers") in Dutch and Afrikaans. The Great Trek led directly to the founding of several autonomous Boer republics, namely the South African Republic (also known simply as the '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
