The Bakoena or Bakwena ("those who venerate the

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

") are a large

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. They form part of the Sotho-Tswana Bantu people and can be found in different countries such as

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 ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

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 ...

. Their main languages are

Sesotho 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 Sta ...

and

Setswana Tswana, also known by its native name , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It belongs to the Bantu language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone ...

."Koena" ("Kwena") is a Sotho/Tswana word meaning "

", the crocodile is also their totem (seboko).

Genealogy and history

Earliest ancestor o the Koena tribe,koena, was a grandson of Masilo I, the king of Bahurutse branch of the koena around AD 1360. Koena and his followers settled at Tebang, now called

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. Around AD 1500, Bakoena started spreading in the region, from the Lekwa or

Vaal The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. I ...

river to Kalahari (Botswana).

Sotho line

* Bokoena state under kgosikgolo (meaning paramount chief) Napo * Kgoshi (sotho word meaning chief) Motebang * Kgoshi Molemo * Kgoshi Tsholoane * Kgoshi Monaheng * Kgoshi Motloang * Kgoshi Peete * Kgoshi Mokhachane * Kgoshi Moshoeshoe and it continues to the royal line of Lesotho.

Botswana line

Kgabo II led a small group of Bakoena and crossed the Marico river and founded a tribe on the lands of the Bakgatla tribe (whose totem was the blue monkey) which they drove away, modern day Botswana. As the result of a split, several tribes like the ngwato and ngwaketse were formed and settled in a circular way, with the paramount Kwena settling at Ntsoana-Tsatsi (mythical origin land of the sotho people) with the Bafokeng around AD 1580.

References

Sotho-Tswana peoples in South Africa {{Africa-ethno-group-stub