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Shona People
The Shona people () are part of the Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population, as well as Mozambique, South Africa, and a worldwide diaspora including global celebrities such as Thandiwe Newton. There are five major Shona language/dialect clusters : Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Manyika and Ndau. Regional classification The Shona people are grouped according to the dialect of the language they speak. Their estimated population is 16.6 million: * Karanga or Southern Shona (about 8.5 million people) * Zezuru or Central Shona (5.2 million people) * Korekore or Northern Shona (1.7 million people) * Manyika tribe or Eastern Shona (1.2 million) in Zimbabwe (861,000) and Mozambique (173,000). * Ndau in Mozambique (1,580,000) and Zimbabwe (800,000). History During the 11th century, the Karanga people formed kingdoms on the Zimbabwe plateau. Construction, then, began on Great Zimbabwe; the capital of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Organization For Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. The IOM was established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) to help resettle people displaced by World War II. It became a United Nations agency in 2016. The IOM is the principal UN agency working in the field of migration. The IOM promotes humane and orderly migration by providing services and advice to governments and migrants. The IOM works in the four broad areas of migration management: migration and development, facilitating migration, regulating migration, and addressing forced migration. History The IOM was born in 1951 out of the chaos and displacement of Western Europe following the Second World War. It was first known as the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pioneer Column
The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Zimbabwe (once Southern Rhodesia). Background Rhodes was anxious to secure Matabeleland and Mashonaland before the Germans, Portuguese or Boers did. His first step was to persuade the Matabele King Lobengula, in 1888, to sign a treaty giving him rights to mining and administration (but not settlement as such) in the area of Mashonaland which was ruled by the King by use of coercion and murderous raids involved tribute-taking and abduction of young men and women. Using this Rudd Concession (so called because Rhodes's business partner, Charles Rudd, was instrumental in securing the signature) between Rhodes' British South Africa Company (allegedly on behalf of Queen Victoria though without any official knowledge or authority) and Lobengula, he then sought and obtained a charter from the British gover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swahili People
The Swahili people ( sw, WaSwahili) comprise mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab and Comorian ethnic groups inhabiting the Swahili coast, an area encompassing the Zanzibar archipelago and mainland Tanzania's seaboard, littoral Kenya, northern Mozambique, the Comoros Islands, southwestern Somalia and Northwest Madagascar. The original Swahili distinguished themselves from other Bantu peoples by self-identifying as Waungwana (the civilised ones). In certain regions (e.g. Lamu Island), this differentiation is even more stratified in terms of societal grouping and dialect, hinting to the historical processes by which the Swahili have coalesced over time. More recently, however, Swahili identity extends to any person of African descent who speaks Swahili as their first language, is Muslim and lives in a town on the main urban centres of most of modern-day Tanzania and coastal Kenya, northern Mozambique and the Comoros, through a process of swahilization. The name ''Swahili'' originated as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ndebele (Zimbabwe)
The Northern Ndebele people ( nd, amaNdebele) are an offshoot of the Bantu found in Southern Africa. Their three related Ndebele groups in South Africa are divided into (Northern and Southern Ndebele), the Northern Ndebele of South Africa comprise three tribes, namely ndebele of Langa/Laka, ndebele of Ndzundza & Mghumbhane/ mokopone-Mashashani who are ndebele of kekana (Manala) whereas the Southern Ndebele comprise mzilikazi they are a young compared to those of Langa & Ndzundza . This "Northern Ndebele" group from Zimbabwe is not the same as the Northern Ndebele group from South Africa and the two groups are not related either genealogically or historically, however, the Northern Ndebele and Southern Ndebele of South Africa are related genealogically and historically. They speak a language called isiNdebele. The Northern Ndebele were historically referred to as the Matabele by Sotho people, for a Nguni speaking person. Sotho people called all Nguni-speaking people 'Matebe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rozvi Empire
The Rozvi Empire (1684–1866) was a Shona state established on the Zimbabwean Plateau by Changamire Dombo. The term "Rozvi" refers to their legacy as a warrior nation, taken from the Shona term ''kurozva'', "to plunder". They became the most powerful fighting force in the whole of Zimbabwe. History In 1683, Portuguese militia tried to take control of the gold trade in the interior of Africa by invading the Rozvi empire. However, the Rozvi, armed with their traditional spears and shields, repelled these attacks and maintained control of the gold mines, until their empire collapsed. The Rozvi were led by Changamire Dombo, and his son Kambgun Dombo whose power was based in Butua in the southwest of Africa. The Rozvi were formed from several Shona states that dominated the plateau of present-day Zimbabwe. They drove the Portuguese off the central plateau, and the Europeans retained only a nominal presence at one of the fair-towns in the eastern highlands. Changamire brought t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Mutapa
The Kingdom of Mutapa – sometimes referred to as the Mutapa Empire, Mwenemutapa, ( sn, Mwene we Mutapa, pt, Monomotapa) – was an African kingdom in Zimbabwe, which expanded to what is now modern-day Mozambique. The Portuguese term ''Monomotapa'' is a transliteration of the Shona royal title ''Mwenemutapa'' derived from a combination of two words ''Mwene'' meaning Prince or Lord, and ''Mutapa'' meaning land. Over time the monarch's royal title was applied to the kingdom as a whole, and used to denote the kingdom's territory on maps from the period. History There are several Mutapa origin stories, the most widely accepted told by oral tradition is of the princes of Great Zimbabwe. The first "Mwene" was a warrior prince named Nyatsimba Mutota from the Kingdom of Zimbabwe who expanded the reach of the kingdom initially to discover new sources of salt in the north.Oliver, page 203 It is believed Prince Mutota found salt in his conquest of the Tavara, a Shona subdivision. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Butua
The Kingdom of Butua or Butwa (c. 1450–1683) was a pre-colonial African state located in what is now southwestern Zimbabwe. Butua was renowned as the source of gold for Arab and Portuguese traders. The region was first mentioned in Portuguese records in 1512. The kingdom was governed by the Torwa dynasty until 1683 from its capital at Khami Khami (also written as ''Khame'', ''Kame'' or ''Kami'') is a ruined city located 22 kilometres west of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe. It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Butwa of the Torwa dynasty. It is now a national monument, and became a UN .... Its people were ancestors of the Shona/Bakalanga. In 1683, the kingdom was conquered by the Rozwi Empire. The foundations of the Khami Ruins show a striking resemblance to the pattern of masonry at the base of the Zimbabwe Ruins. Hence the Kalanga are thought to have built Khami, Lusvingo, Mapungugwe and other ruins scattered across western Zimbabwe and east Botswana. Gallery File: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torwa Dynasty
The Torwa dynasty was the ruling family of the Butua kingdom that arose from the collapse of Great Zimbabwe in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, founded perhaps by the legendary Dlembeu. History The Torwa dynasty of the kalanga people based itself at the stone city of Khami from 1450 to 1683. Cattle and gold brought prosperity. The new culture at Khami developed both the stone building techniques and the pottery styles found at Great Zimbabwe. Masons continued to refine Great Zimbabwe’s tradition of building precise stone walls. At Khami several artefacts are found, such as ritual drinking pots, iron and bronze weapons, copper objects and ivory divining pieces. Artifacts from Europe and China are reminders that Khami was once a trade centre. During this period the first Europeans arrived. The first known European visitor was Antonio Fernandes, a Portuguese "degredado" (convict exile) serving his term in Sofala, who entered the Zimbabwean plateau in 1513. There had alwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Zimbabwe
The Kingdom of Zimbabwe (c. 1220–1450) was a medieval Shona ( Karanga) kingdom located in modern-day Zimbabwe. Its capital, today's Masvingo (meaning fortified), which is commonly called Great Zimbabwe, is the largest stone structure in precolonial Southern Africa. This kingdom came about after the collapse of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe. Name The name "Zimbabwe" stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city in the country's south-east whose remains are now a protected site. Two different theories address the origin of the word. Many sources hold that "Zimbabwe" derives from ''dzimba-dza-mabwe'', translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as "houses of stones" (''dzimba'' = plural of ''imba'', "house"; ''mabwe'' = plural of ''bwe'', "stone"). The Kalanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the modern-day province of Masvingo. Archaeologist Peter Garlake claims that "Zimbabwe" represents a contracted form of ''dzimba-hwe'', which means "v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwi and the town of Masvingo. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom during the country's Late Iron Age about which little is known. Construction on the city began in the 9th century and continued until it was abandoned in the 15th century. The edifices are believed to have been erected by the ancestral Shona. The stone city spans an area of and could have housed up to 18,000 people at its peak, giving it a population density of approximately 2,500 per square kilometre. It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Great Zimbabwe is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have been used as the seat of political power. Among the edifice's most prominent features were its walls, some of which are eleven metres high. They were constructed without mortar (dry stone). Eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ndau People
The Ndau are an ethnic Shona subethnic group which inhabits the areas in south-eastern Zimbabwe in the districts of Chipinge and Chimanimani in which they are natives. They are also found in parts of Bikita, in the Zambezi valley, in central Mozambique all the way to the coast and in central Malawi. The name "Ndau" is a derivation from the people's traditional salutation "Ndau wee!" in greetings and other social settings. When the Ngoni observed this, they called them the Ndau people, the name itself meaning the land, the place or the country in their language. Some suggestions are that the name is derived from the Nguni words "Amading'indawo" which means "those looking for a place" as this is what the Gaza Nguni called them and the name then evolved to Ndau. This is erroneous as the natives are described in detail to have already been occupying parts of Zimbabwe and Mozambique in 1500s by Joao dos Santos. The five largest Ndau groups are the Magova; the Mashanga; the Vatomboti, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
