Indigenous cultures

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Ndebele

The Ndebele are an offshoot of the Zulu tribe, who broke away from Zululand in the 1820s, led by Mzilikazi. They were schooled in Zulu tactics, and had a strong warrior culture which they used to great effect in campaigns across the highveld, conquering the Sotho and Tswana clans that lived there.
Pondo

The Pondo people have given their name of Pondoland, the region of South Africa that includes the South Eastern seaboard of Cape Province.
Swazi

The Swazis are descendants of the Nguni tribe, who were cattle-herders who migrated southwards from central Africa, arriving in the region some time between the 12th and 14th centuries. The language of Swaziland, Seswati, is very similar to both Zulu and Xhosa, and there is a Swazi minority living in South Africa.
Venda

The Venda live in Limpopo (formerly Northern) Province between the Lebombo Mountains and the Soutpansberg. They make up South Africa’s smallest black nation, with around 600,000 people, but have never been conquered by either the neighbouring tribes or the white settlers.
Xhosa

The Xhosa are the second largest group in South Africa after the Zulus, and their traditional lands lie in Eastern Cape Province along the Wild Coast. The republic that was created as a ‘homeland’ for the Xhosa by the Apartheid regime was known as Ciskei.
Zulu

The Zulus are one of the best-known tribes in Africa, most famous for the battles of the 19th century at Isandhlwana and Rorke’s Drift. A fiercely independent people, Zulus are found throughout South Africa today, but the Zulu heartland is the province of KwaZulu Natal, with its capital of Ulundi.