Thursday, 29 January 2015

Origin Regions of Zulu Tribes in Africa

Origin Regions of  Zulu is the native language of the Zulu people who, with an estimated 9 million members, are the largest ethnic group in South Africa. The history of the Zulu people and language is highlighted by a number of exciting points, including the reign of the infamous Zulu tribes leader Shaka.

The origin Regions Zulu tribes People Of all the sub-Saharan Bantu people, the Zulus are the most well known. They arose in the late 18th century from the hundreds of small clans occupying the northern regions of kwaZulu-Natal on the eastern seaboard of South Africa. There was always a struggle between the clans for grazing rights and conflict was commonplace but took the form of shouted insults and some assegai throwing.  

The Zulu tribes are a proud tribe native to the KwaZuluNatal province of South Africa. Historically the Zulu tribes were a mighty warrior nation and are believed to be descendants of the patriarch Zulu, the son of a Nguni chief in the Congo basin in central African people. Apartheid textbooks taught that South Africa was virtually empty of human habitation when colonised by the Dutch in 1652. The reality is that the Zulu tribes people began to migrate towards their present location in Natal during the 16th century.A crucial turning point in Zulu tribes history occurred during the reign of Shaka as king of the Zulu’s from 1816 to 1828. Prior to his rule the Zulu’s consisted of numerous clans that were related but disorganised. Shaka was a mighty and fearsome warrior and united the clans into a single powerful tribe.

The Zulu tribes language is classified as a member of the Southeastern or Nguni group of the Bantu family of languages, part of the Benue-Congo subfamily of the Niger-Congo language family.Of the approximately 500 languages within the Bantu language group, Zulu tribes  is most closely related to other Nguni languages, including Xhosa and Ndebele. In fact, Zulu and Xhosa are so closely related that most linguists consider them to be dialects of a single language. Xhosa and Zulu language speakers, however, consider the languages to be autonomous.

The Zulus believe that they are descendents of a Congo chief whom during the 16th century migrated to the South . By the 17th and 18th century the Zulu people were established in kwaZulu Natal and formed tribes and clans. The first noted King of kwaZulu is King Malandela kaLuzamu but the years in which he lead the Zulu nation are not known.

Zulu art was for many years overlooked as the Zulu people did not make art in the form of sculptures and paintings. Rather, the art was seen in the embellishment of utensils used in the home such as carved wooden meatplatters, milkpails, spoons, walking sticks and headrests. Inherant in Zulu art is a strong sense of geometric design.

Zulus wear distinctive traditional attire, representative of their hunter-gatherer culture. The Zulu tribes  people of Africa wear different types of clothing for different occasions. They may wear traditional tribal clothing for interesting cultural events or ceremonies but otherwise wear westernized clothing for everyday use.

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