Nguni

The forebears of the Nguni came south from Central Africa in the late Iron Age with sheep and cattle. The Xhosa of the Eastern Cape descend from Nguni, Khoe and !Kwi clans under the royal house of the amaTshawe.

In the sixteenth century the Xhosa formed the Gcaleka, Rharhabe and Gqunukhwebe sub-federations, and their homeland later met the expanding Dutch Cape Colony, which they fought in the Frontier Wars. In the early 1800s the king Shaka founded the Zulu Empire, and in the turmoil called the Mfecane the Ndebele and the Ngoni moved north out of southern Africa.