Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD

The Tembe tribe, which resides south of Maputo Bay, originates from the present day Zimbabwe and is also linked through archaeological evidence to the ancient state of Mapungubwe. It migrated to Mozambique and later occupied the land south of Maputo Bay, straddling between Mozambique and South Afric...

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Main Author: Mandla Mathebula
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2017-07-01
Series:Contree
Subjects:
Online Access:https://newcontree.org.za/index.php/nc/article/view/102
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author Mandla Mathebula
author_facet Mandla Mathebula
author_sort Mandla Mathebula
collection DOAJ
description The Tembe tribe, which resides south of Maputo Bay, originates from the present day Zimbabwe and is also linked through archaeological evidence to the ancient state of Mapungubwe. It migrated to Mozambique and later occupied the land south of Maputo Bay, straddling between Mozambique and South Africa, from Mkhuze and Maputo. The list of its rulers has been confused over the years due to the repetition over various generations of most of the names and distortion of some of the names to suit the Tsonga language (or its Rhonga dialect), which the Tembe adopted in later years. A close look at the names, however, does give a chronology of the history of the tribe from its breakaway from the Mapungubwe. Therefore, the focus of this article is on the time of the breakaway to the end of the 18th century, when it was in its apogee with a recognised kingdom. It looks into the migration route from Mapungubwe and the succession history of the ruling lineage during this period. The article helps to boost the understanding of the Tembe’s Kalanga links and could help assist future research of other Kalanga migrations to the south around the same period.
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spelling doaj.art-a82b0ecd0a664669ad220590c0315fb42023-06-14T09:45:55ZengAOSISContree0379-98672017-07-0178010.4102/nc.v78i0.102102Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 ADMandla Mathebula0Xitsonga Heritage FoundationThe Tembe tribe, which resides south of Maputo Bay, originates from the present day Zimbabwe and is also linked through archaeological evidence to the ancient state of Mapungubwe. It migrated to Mozambique and later occupied the land south of Maputo Bay, straddling between Mozambique and South Africa, from Mkhuze and Maputo. The list of its rulers has been confused over the years due to the repetition over various generations of most of the names and distortion of some of the names to suit the Tsonga language (or its Rhonga dialect), which the Tembe adopted in later years. A close look at the names, however, does give a chronology of the history of the tribe from its breakaway from the Mapungubwe. Therefore, the focus of this article is on the time of the breakaway to the end of the 18th century, when it was in its apogee with a recognised kingdom. It looks into the migration route from Mapungubwe and the succession history of the ruling lineage during this period. The article helps to boost the understanding of the Tembe’s Kalanga links and could help assist future research of other Kalanga migrations to the south around the same period.https://newcontree.org.za/index.php/nc/article/view/102tembekalangahistorymigrationgenealogylineagetribekingdom
spellingShingle Mandla Mathebula
Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD
Contree
tembe
kalanga
history
migration
genealogy
lineage
tribe
kingdom
title Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD
title_full Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD
title_fullStr Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD
title_full_unstemmed Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD
title_short Some notes on the early history of the Tembe, 1280 AD-1800 AD
title_sort some notes on the early history of the tembe 1280 ad 1800 ad
topic tembe
kalanga
history
migration
genealogy
lineage
tribe
kingdom
url https://newcontree.org.za/index.php/nc/article/view/102
work_keys_str_mv AT mandlamathebula somenotesontheearlyhistoryofthetembe1280ad1800ad