Bhele people (or AmaBhele) are an African ethnic Nguni nation. They are found in the Republic of South Africa in the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

provinces, They are said to have traceable descendants in the modern-day Kingdoms of

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 Sou ...

and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

, as well as in countries like Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The AmaBhele are said to have originated 20 km south of modern-day

Ladysmith Ladysmith may refer to: * Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa * Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada * Ladysmith, Wisconsin, United States * Ladysmith, New South Wales, Australia * Ladysmith, Virginia, United States * Ladysmith Island, Queenslan ...

, KwaZulu-Natal in a place called ''Lenge'', next to a mountain where their common ancestor Bhele is said to have resided about two and half centuries ago. The AmaBhele were scattered in different directions of Southern Africa during the chaos of the

Mfecane The Mfecane (isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict a ...

wars, many people were forced to migrate to safer areas of Southern Africa. During the Mfecane wars the scattered tribes often tried to dominate those in new territories and left a trail of destruction, leading to widespread wave of warfare; consolidation of other groups, such as the Matabele, the

Mfengu The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have sinc ...

and the

Makololo The Kololo or Makololo are a subgroup of the Sotho-Tswana people native to Southern Africa. In the early 19th century, they were displaced by the Zulu, migrating north to Barotseland, Zambia. They conquered the territory of the Luyana people and ...

; and the creation of states such as the modern

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20150925015612/http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/1800s * http://ulwazi.org/index.php/Umlando_Wesibongo_SakwaNtuli * http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/nomadic_cannibals/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhele people Bantu peoples Bantu-speaking peoples of South Africa

Ethnic groups in South Africa Racial groups in South Africa have a variety of origins. The racial categories introduced by Apartheid remain ingrained in South African society with South Africans and the South African government continuing to classify themselves, and each o ...