Dzata

Dzata was a stone-walled centre of the Venda kingdom in the hills south of the Limpopo. Its walls enclosed distinct spaces, including an elevated place associated with chiefly authority. Built in the early eighteenth century, the settlement was occupied for only a few decades, yet became the seat of a kingdom that united several communities. In 1730 Dutch officials at Delagoa Bay questioned a traveller named Mahumane, who had visited the kingdom a few years earlier. He described a town enclosed by dark blue stone walls and a raised place where its ruler sat. Venda tradition recalls that after the disappearance of Thohoyandou the capital was abandoned and the kingdom divided into separate chiefdoms.