Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/African Lore/Answer Key"

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The '''Ijaw''' (also known by the subgroups "'''Ijo'''" or "'''Izon'''") are a collection of peoples residing mostly in the forest regions of [[Delta State (Nigeria)|Delta State]], along the [[Niger River]] delta in [[Nigeria]], and numbering several million individuals.
+
{{ethnic group|
 +
|group=Xhosa
 +
|image=[[Image:Nelson_Mandela.jpg]]
 +
[[Nelson Mandela]] is a famous Xhosa-speaker.
 +
|poptime=2001: '''7.9 million''' est. <sup>[[#References|1]]</sup>
 +
|popplace=[[Eastern Cape Province|Eastern Cape]]: '''5.4 million''',
 +
[[Western Cape Province|Western Cape]]: '''1.1 million''',
 +
[[Gauteng Province|Gauteng]]: '''0.7 million''',
 +
[[Free State Province|Free State]]: '''0.25 million''',
 +
[[Kwazulu-Natal Province|Kwazulu-Natal]]: '''0.22 million'''
 +
(2001 est. <sup>[[#References|1]]</sup>)
 +
|langs=[[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], many also speak [[English language|English]] or [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]].
 +
|rels=[[Animist]], [[Christian]]
 +
|related=[[Bantu]], [[Nguni]], [[Basotho]], [[Zulu]], [[Khoisan]]
 +
}}
  
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The Ijo people number about 14,000,000. They have long lived in locations near many [[trade]] routes, and they were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century [http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Ijo.html].
+
The '''Xhosa''' people are a group of peoples of [[Bantu]] origins living in south-east [[South Africa]], and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central southern parts of the country.  
  
−
==Linguistic relationships==
 
−
{{main|Ijoid languages}}
 
−
The Ijaw speak nine closely-related [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]] languages, all of which belong to the [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]] branch of the Niger-Congo tree. The primary division between the [[Ijo languages]] is that between Eastern Ijo and Western Ijo, the most important of the former group of languages being [[Izon language|Izon]], which is spoken by about 1 million people. There are two prominent groupings of this language. The first group is nominally termed "Western Ijaw" or Izon, and consists of "Western" Ijaw speakers (Kiama, Bomadi, Ekeremor variety), the [[Nembe]] dialect of Ijaw and Kolokuma ([[Yenagoa]] and the vicinity).
 
  
−
The other major group is [[Kalabari language|Kalabari]]. Kalabari is an "Eastern" Ijaw language but the term "Eastern Ijaw" is not the normal nomenclature. Kalabari is the name one of the clans of the Ijaws that reside on the eastern side of the Niger-Delta (Abonema, Buguma, Degema etc.) and have mixed and lived for many years with their [[Igbo people|Igbo]] neighbours, who form a major group in Rivers State, hence their involvement in the fight for greater oil control.  Other "Eastern" Ijaw clans are the [[Okirika]] and Igbani (the natives of Bonny and Finima). They are neighbours to the [[Kalabari]] in present day [[Rivers State]] of [[Nigeria]].
+
==History of the Xhosa==
 +
The Xhosa are part of the southern [[Nguni]] migration which slowly moved south from the region around the [[African_Great_Lakes|Great Lakes]]; based on linguistic and archeological evidence, the ancestors of the Xhosa are likely to have arrived in South Africa around 1500 years ago. [http://www.museums.org.za/sh/arch/earlyaf.htm]
  
−
==Traditional occupations==
+
The name Xhosa refers to a specific tribal leader, called uXhosa, from whom the Xhosa clan descend. They refer to themselves as the '''amaXhosa''' and  their language as [[Xhosa language|isiXhosa]], a [[Bantu]] language.  Xhosa society was historically viewed as an 'open' society, because of its readiness to learn from, trade and interact with other societies. This included the incorporation or absorption of entire [[Khoi]] and [[Griqua]] cultural groups into Xhosa communities, often through marriage, and the wholesale adoption of [[Khoisan]] [[loanwords]] into Xhosa vocabulary.  
−
The Ijaw were one of the first of Nigeria's peoples to have contact with Westerners, and were active as go-betweens in trade between visiting Europeans and the peoples of the interior, particularly in the era before the discovery of [[quinine]], when West Africa was still known as the ''[[White Man's Graveyard]]'' because of the endemic presence of [[malaria]]. Some of the kin-based trading lineages that arose among the Ijaw developed into substantial corporations which were known as "Houses"; each house had an elected leader as well as a fleet of war canoes for use in protecting trade and fighting rivals. The other main occupation common among the Ijaw has traditionally been fishing.
 
−
Ijaw is a large language group spoken by people who are predominantly in the Niger Delta states (Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Akwa Ibom) of Nigeria. It is divided into East and West Ijaw. The East Ijaw comprises Nkọrọ, Kalabari, ọkirika, and Ibani dialects, all spoken in Rivers State; and Nembe-Akaha (Akassa), spoken in Bayelsa State.
 
  
−
==Lifestyle==
+
The Xhosa people split in the eighteenth century as the result of a succession dispute between chiefs. The two branches of the group are known as the Gcaleka and the Rharhabe or Ngqika. The name Xhosa is also often used to refer to anyone from a number of different Xhosa-speaking ethnic groups that includes the [[Pondo]] and Thembu, neighbours of the Xhosa people, and the Mfengu people, who are descendants of scattered clans who were displaced during the [[mfecane]] (an enormous upheaval of southern African peoples in the early nineteenth century, resulting in an internal [[diaspora]]).  
−
The Ijaw people live by farming and hunting, supplemented by fishing and trading. [[Yam (vegetable)|Yam]]s and [[palm oil]] are processed for export. While some villages (those to the east) had chiefs and a [[stratified society]], other villages had no centralized leader until the arrival of the British.
 
  
−
Marriages are completed by the payment of [[dowries]], which increase in size if the bride is from another village (so as to make up for that village's loss of her children). [[Funeral]] ceremonies, particularly for those who have accumulated wealth and respect, are often very dramatic. Traditional religious practices center around "Water spirits" in the Niger river, and around tribute to [[ancestors]].
+
Although presently at least 8 million [[Xhosa]] people are distributed across the country, the population is concentrated in the [[Eastern Cape Province]] of South Africa.  The pre-1994 South African system of [[bantustan]]s attempted to confine Xhosa people to the nominally self-governing 'homelands' of [[Transkei]] or [[Ciskei]], now both a part of the Eastern Cape Province.  
  
−
==Religion and cultural practices==
+
The Xhosa and white settlers first encountered one another around Somerset East in the early 1700s. In the late 1700s [[Afrikaner]] [[trekboer]]s migrating outwards from Cape Town came into conflict with Xhosa pastoralists around the Great Fish River region of the [[Eastern Cape]]. Following more than 20 years of intermittent conflict, in [[1811]] to [[1812]] the Xhosas were forced east by [[British Empire|British]] colonial forces in what was known as the Third Frontier War.  
−
Although the Ijaw are now primarily [[Christian]]s, with [[Catholicism]] being the variety of Christianity most prevalent among them, the Ijaw have elaborate traditional religious practices of their own. Veneration of ancestors plays a central role in Ijaw traditional religion, while water spirits, known as ''Owuamapu'' figure prominently in the Ijaw pantheon. In addition, the Ijaw practice a form of [[divination]] called ''Igbadai'', in which recently deceased individuals are interrogated on the causes of their death.
 
  
−
Ijaw religious beliefs hold that water spirits are like humans in having personal strengths and shortcomings, and that humans dwell among the water spirits before being born. The role of prayer in the traditional Ijaw system of belief is to maintain the living in the good graces of the water spirits among whom they dwelt before being born into this world, and each year the Ijaw hold celebrations in honor the spirits lasting for several days. Central to the festivities is the role of masquerades, in which men wearing elaborate outfits and carved masks dance to the beat of drums and manifest the influence of the water spirits through the quality and intensity of their dancing. Particularly spectacular masqueraders are taken to actually be in the possession of the particular spirits on whose behalf they are dancing.
+
In the years following, many Xhosa-speaking clans were pushed west by expansion of the [[Zulu]]s, as the northern [[Nguni]] put pressure on the southern Nguni as part of the historical process known as the [[mfecane]], or "scattering". Xhosa unity and ability to resist colonial expansion was further weakened by the [[famine]]s and political divisions that followed the cattle-killing movement of [[1856]] (see [[Nongqawuse]]). Historians now view this movement as a [[millenialism|millenialist]] response both directly to a lung disease spreading among Xhosa cattle at the time, and less directly to the stress to Xhosa society caused by the continuing loss of their territory and autonomy. At least one historian has also suggested that it can be seen as a rebellion against the upper classes of Xhosa society, which used cattle as a means of consolidating wealth and political power, and which had lost respect as they failed to hold back white expansion.
  
−
==Food customs==
+
With or without Nongqawuse, white expansion in particular would likely have eventually caused much the same effect as the cattle-killing; the cattle-killing simply likely hastened the speed at which Xhosa people left pastoralism and joined the wage economy.
−
Like many smaller groups in Nigeria, the Ijaws have many local foods that are not widespread in Nigeria. Many of these foods involve fish and yams. Some of these foods are:
 
−
*'''Polofia''' &mdash; A very rich soup made with yams and palm oil
 
−
*'''Fried fish and plantain''' &mdash; Fish fried in palm oil and served with fried plantains
 
−
*'''Gbe''' &mdash; The larvae of a palm tree beetle that is eaten raw, dried or pickled in palm oil
 
  
−
==Ethnic identity==
+
Some historians argue that this early absorption into the wage economy is the ultimate origin of the long history of trade union membership and political leadership among Xhosa people. That history manifests itself today in high degrees of Xhosa representation in the leadership of the [[African National Congress]], South Africa's ruling political party.
−
Formerly organized into several loose clusters of villages which cooperated to defend themselves against outsiders, the Ijaw increasingly view themselves as belonging to a single coherent nation, bound together by ties of language and culture. This tendency has been encouraged in large part by what are considered to be environmental depredations that have accompanied the discovery of oil in the Niger delta region which the Ijaw call home, as well as by a revenue sharing formula with the Federal government that is viewed by the Ijaw as manifestly unfair. The resulting sense of grievance has led to several high-profile clashes with the Nigerian Federal authorities, including kidnappings and  in the course of which many lives have been lost.
 
  
−
==Ijaw-Itsekiri conflicts==
+
==Local Environment==
−
One manifestation of ethnic assertiveness on the part of the Ijaw has been an increase in the number and severity of clashes between Ijaw militants and those of [[Itsekiri]] origin, particularly in the town of [[Warri, Nigeria|Warri]]. While the Ijaw and the Itsekiri have lived alongside each other for centuries, for the most part harmoniously, the Itsekiri were first to make contact with European traders, as early as the 16th century, and they were more aggressive both in seeking Western education and in using the knowledge acquired to press their commercial advantages; until the arrival of Sir [[George Taubman Goldie|George Goldie]]'s National Africa Company (later renamed the [[Royal Niger Company]]) in 1879, Itsekiri chieftains monopolized trade with Europeans in the Western Niger region. Despite the loss of their monopoly, the advantages already held by the Itsekiri ensured that they continued to enjoy a superior position to that held by the Ijaw, breeding in the latter a sense of resentment at what they felt to be colonial favoritism towards the Itsekiri.
+
The Xhosa settled on mountain slopes of the Amatola and the Winterberg Mountains. Many streams drain into great rivers of this Xhosa territory including the Kei and Fish River. Rich soils and plentiful rainfall make the river basins good for farming and grazing making cattle important and the basis of wealth. Traditional foods include [[sorghum]], [[maize]], [[milk]], [[pumpkins]], [[beans]], [[vegetables]], and ''umphokoqo'', or dry maize porridge. [[Tobacco]] is an important crop in this area.
  
−
The departure of the British at independence did not lead, as might have been expected, to a decrease in tensions between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri. With the discovery of large [[petroleum|oil]] reserves in the Niger Delta region in the early 1960s, a new bone of contention was introduced, as the ability to claim ownership of a given piece of land now promised to yield immense benefits in terms of jobs and infrastuctural benefits to be provided by the oil companies. Despite this new factor, rivalry between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri did not actually escalate to the level of violent conflict between the two groups until the late 1990s, when the death of General [[Sani Abacha]] in 1997 led to a re-emergence of local politics.
+
==Language==
 +
:''Main article: [[Xhosa language]]''
  
−
The issue of local government ward allocation has proven particularly contentious, as the Ijaw feel that the way in which wards have been allocated ensures that their superior numbers will not be reflected in the number of wards controlled by politicians of Ijaw ethnicity. Control of the city of Warri, the largest metropolitan area in Delta State and therefore a prime source of political patronage, has been an especially fiercely contested prize. This has given birth to heated disputes between the Ijaw, the Itsekiri and the [[Urhobo]] about which of the three groups are "truly" indigenous to the Warri region, with the underlying presumption being that the "real" indigenes should have control of the levers of power, regardless of the fact that all three groups enjoy ostensibly equal political rights in their places of residence.
+
In [[South Africa]], the Xhosa-speaking people form the second largest language group (after [[Zulu]], to which the Xhosa language is very closed related). Among a wide variety of common speech sounds, the Xhosa language famously contains a variety of consonantal 'click' sounds, which have been borrowed from now extinct [[Khoisan]] languages of the region.
  
−
==Oil conflict==
+
Xhosa has three basic click consonants: a dental (front) click, written with the letter 'c', e.g. ''icici'' 'earring' (very similar to the English tut-tut sound of disapproval); a palatal (top click), written with the letter 'q', e.g. ''iqaqa'' 'skunk' (similar to the imitation of a bottle being decorked); and a lateral (side) click, written with the letter 'x', e.g. ''xoxa'' 'discuss'. Each click can be used in up to six contrastive forms (each one is a completely separate consonant in Xhosa), e.g. c (plain), ch (aspirated), gc (voiced), nc (nasalised), ngc (nasalised voiced), nkc (nasalised, velarised). By contrast, Xhosa has five straightforward Spanish-type vowels (a, e, i, o, u).
−
The December 1998 All Ijaw Youths Conference crystallized the struggle with the formation of the Ijaw Youth Movement (IYM) and the issuing of the Kaiama Declaration. In it, long-held Ijaw concerns about the loss of control of their homeland and their own lives to the oil companies were joined with a commitment to direct action. In the declaration, and in a letter to the companies, the Ijaws called for oil companies to suspend operations and withdraw from Ijaw territory. The IYM pledged “to struggle peacefully for freedom, self-determination and ecological justice,” and prepared a campaign of celebration, prayer, and direct action '[[Operation Climate Change]]' beginning December 28.
 
  
−
In December 1998, two warships and 10-15,000 Nigerian troops occupied Bayelsa and Delta states as the [[Ijaw Youth Movement]] (IYM) mobilized for [[Operation Climate Change]].  Soldiers entering the Bayelsa state capital of Yenagoa announced they had come to attack the youths trying to stop the oil companies. On the morning of December 30, two thousand young people processed through Yenagoa, dressed in black, singing and dancing. Soldiers opened fire with rifles, machine guns, and tear gas, killing at least three protesters and arresting twenty-five more. After a march demanding the release of those detained was turned back by soldiers, three more protesters were shot dead including Nwashuku Okeri and Ghadafi Ezeifile. The military declared a state of emergency throughout Bayelsa state, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew, and banned meetings. At military roadblocks, local residents were severely beaten or detained. At night, soldiers invaded private homes, terrorizing residents with beatings and women and girls with rape.
+
==Religion==
 +
Traditional Xhosa culture includes [[diviners]], who serve as herbalists, prophets, and healers for the community. This job is mostly taken by women, who spend five years as an apprentice. Many Xhosa people are [[Christian]], particularly within the African Initiated Churches such as the [[Zion Christian Church]].
  
−
On January 4, 1999 about one hundred soldiers from the military base at [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]]’s Escravos facility attacked Opia and Ikiyan, two Ijaw communities in Delta State. Bright Pablogba, the traditional leader of Ikiyan, who came to the river to negotiate with the soldiers, was shot along with a seven-year-old girl and possibly dozens of others. Of the approximately 1,000 people living in the two villages, four people were found dead and sixty-two were still missing months after the attack. The same soldiers set the villages ablaze, destroyed canoes and fishing equipment, killed livestock, and destroyed churches and religious shrines.
+
==Oral tradition==
 +
The key figure in the Xhosa oral tradition is the ''imbongi'' (plural: ''iimbongi'') or praise singer. ''Iimbongi'' traditionally live close to the chief’s 'great place' (the cultural and political focus of his activity); they accompany the chief on important occasions - the ''imbongi'' Zolani Mkiva preceded [[Nelson Mandela]] at his Presidential inauguration in [[1994]]. Iimbongi's poetry praises the chief’s actions and best features, and may also criticise the chief if aspects of his reign or government are unpopular.
  
−
Nonetheless, Operation Climate Change continued, and disrupted Nigerian oil supplies through much of 1999 by turning off valves through Ijaw territory. In the context of high conflict between the Ijaw and the Nigerian Federal Government (and its police and army), the military carried out the [[Odi massacre]], killing scores if not hundreds of Ijaws.
+
==Famous Xhosa People==
 +
[[Nelson Mandela]] is a Xhosa-speaking member of the Thembu people.
  
−
Recent actions by Ijaws against the oil industry have included both renewed efforts at nonviolent action and militarized attacks on oil installations but with no human casualties to foreign oil workers despite hostage-takings. These attacks are usually in response to non-fulfilment by oil companies of memoranda of understanding with their host communities.
+
Other famous Xhosa speakers include:
 +
 
 +
*[[Stephen Biko]]
 +
*[[Bulelani Ngcuka]]
 +
*[[Thabo Mbeki]]
 +
*[[Makhaya Ntini]]
 +
*[[Desmond Tutu]]
 +
*[[Brenda Fassie]]
 +
*[[Winnie Madikizela-Mandela]]
 +
*[[Chris Hani]]
 +
*[[Oliver Tambo]]
 +
*[[Walter Sisulu]]
 +
*[[Miriam Makeba]]
 +
*[[Robert Sobukwe]]
 +
*[[John Kani]]
 +
*[[Winston Ntshona]]
 +
*[[Enoch Sontonga]]
 +
*[[Govan Mbeki]]
 +
*[[Archibald Campbell Jordan]]
 +
*[[Victoria Mxenge]]
 +
*[[S.E.K. Mqhayi]]
 +
*[[Amampondo]]
 +
*[[Fats Bookulane]]
 +
*[[Ken Gampu]]
 +
*[[Bongani Ndodana]]
 +
*[[General Bantu Holomisa]]
 +
*[[Percy Qoboza]]
 +
*[[Zwelithini Tunyiswa]]
 +
 
 +
==See also==
 +
*Reverend [[Henry Hare Dugmore]], the first translator of the [[Christian]] [[bible]] and [[psalms]] into Xhosa
 +
*[[Partners Across The Ocean]]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
* Human Rights Watch, “Delta Crackdown,” May 1999
+
* [http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/demographics/census-main.htm Results of the 2001 South African census]
−
* Ijaw Youth Movement, letter to “All Managing Directors and Chief Executives of transnational oil companies operating in Ijawland,” December 18, 1998
+
::Note that the figure mentioned on this page is based upon the number of people speaking [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] as their home language, which may be greater or less than the total number of people claiming Xhosa descent. In addition, several million people in the Johannesburg-Soweto region speak Xhosa or [[Zulu]] as a second or third language. For a majority of these, the two languages become difficult to distinguish (unsurprising given the extreme closeness of their linguistic relationship).
−
* Project Underground, "Visit the World of Chevron: Niger Delta," 1999
+
* Reader, J., 1997. ''[[Africa]]: A Biography of the Continent'', Vintage Books, [[New York]], NY, United States of America.
 +
* Kaschula, Russell ''[[The Heritage Library of African People]]: Xhosa,'' New York:  The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1997.
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
−
*[http://www.ijawdictionary.com The Ijaw Language Dictionary ]
+
{{interwiki|code=xh}}
−
*[http://www.ijawdictionaryonline.com The Ijaw Language Dictionary Online]
+
*[http://www.statssa.gov.za/census2001/digiAtlas/index.html 2001 Digital Census Atlas]
−
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=2430 Ethnologue: Ijaw Linguistic Tree]
+
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/xft/ Xhosa Folklore] - a collection of Xhosa folklore collected in 1886.
−
*[http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Ijo.html  Ijo People]
+
* [http://www.google.com/intl/xh/ Xhosa Google] - Google interface in Xhosa
−
*[http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/sokari/ American Museum of Natural History: The Art of the Kalabari Masquerade]
+
 
−
*[http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/nigeria1103/index.htm The Warri Crisis: Fueling Violence - Human Rights Watch Report, November 2003]
+
[[Category:Xhosa|*]]
 +
[[Category:Ethnic groups in South Africa]]  
 +
 
 +
{{Ethnic Groups South Africa}}
  
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in Nigeria]]
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[[da:Xhosa-folket]]
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[[de:Ijaw]]
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[[de:Xhosa (Volk)]]
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[[ja:イジョ]]
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[[es:Xhosa]]
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[[sr:Иџо]]
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[[gl:Xhosa]]
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[[sh:Idžo]]
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[[it:Xhosa]]
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[[nl:Xhosa (volk)]]
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[[pt:Xhosa]]
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[[sh:Xhosa]]
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[[fi:Xhosat]]
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[[sv:Xhosa]]

Revision as of 19:03, 1 September 2006

{{{name}}}

[[Image:Nelson Mandela.jpg Nelson Mandela is a famous Xhosa-speaker.|thumb|300px|{{{image caption}}}]]







The Xhosa people are a group of peoples of Bantu origins living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central southern parts of the country.


History of the Xhosa

The Xhosa are part of the southern Nguni migration which slowly moved south from the region around the Great Lakes; based on linguistic and archeological evidence, the ancestors of the Xhosa are likely to have arrived in South Africa around 1500 years ago. [1]

The name Xhosa refers to a specific tribal leader, called uXhosa, from whom the Xhosa clan descend. They refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and their language as isiXhosa, a Bantu language. Xhosa society was historically viewed as an 'open' society, because of its readiness to learn from, trade and interact with other societies. This included the incorporation or absorption of entire Khoi and Griqua cultural groups into Xhosa communities, often through marriage, and the wholesale adoption of Khoisan loanwords into Xhosa vocabulary.

The Xhosa people split in the eighteenth century as the result of a succession dispute between chiefs. The two branches of the group are known as the Gcaleka and the Rharhabe or Ngqika. The name Xhosa is also often used to refer to anyone from a number of different Xhosa-speaking ethnic groups that includes the Pondo and Thembu, neighbours of the Xhosa people, and the Mfengu people, who are descendants of scattered clans who were displaced during the mfecane (an enormous upheaval of southern African peoples in the early nineteenth century, resulting in an internal diaspora).

Although presently at least 8 million Xhosa people are distributed across the country, the population is concentrated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The pre-1994 South African system of bantustans attempted to confine Xhosa people to the nominally self-governing 'homelands' of Transkei or Ciskei, now both a part of the Eastern Cape Province.

The Xhosa and white settlers first encountered one another around Somerset East in the early 1700s. In the late 1700s Afrikaner trekboers migrating outwards from Cape Town came into conflict with Xhosa pastoralists around the Great Fish River region of the Eastern Cape. Following more than 20 years of intermittent conflict, in 1811 to 1812 the Xhosas were forced east by British colonial forces in what was known as the Third Frontier War.

In the years following, many Xhosa-speaking clans were pushed west by expansion of the Zulus, as the northern Nguni put pressure on the southern Nguni as part of the historical process known as the mfecane, or "scattering". Xhosa unity and ability to resist colonial expansion was further weakened by the famines and political divisions that followed the cattle-killing movement of 1856 (see Nongqawuse). Historians now view this movement as a millenialist response both directly to a lung disease spreading among Xhosa cattle at the time, and less directly to the stress to Xhosa society caused by the continuing loss of their territory and autonomy. At least one historian has also suggested that it can be seen as a rebellion against the upper classes of Xhosa society, which used cattle as a means of consolidating wealth and political power, and which had lost respect as they failed to hold back white expansion.

With or without Nongqawuse, white expansion in particular would likely have eventually caused much the same effect as the cattle-killing; the cattle-killing simply likely hastened the speed at which Xhosa people left pastoralism and joined the wage economy.

Some historians argue that this early absorption into the wage economy is the ultimate origin of the long history of trade union membership and political leadership among Xhosa people. That history manifests itself today in high degrees of Xhosa representation in the leadership of the African National Congress, South Africa's ruling political party.

Local Environment

The Xhosa settled on mountain slopes of the Amatola and the Winterberg Mountains. Many streams drain into great rivers of this Xhosa territory including the Kei and Fish River. Rich soils and plentiful rainfall make the river basins good for farming and grazing making cattle important and the basis of wealth. Traditional foods include sorghum, maize, milk, pumpkins, beans, vegetables, and umphokoqo, or dry maize porridge. Tobacco is an important crop in this area.

Language

Main article: Xhosa language

In South Africa, the Xhosa-speaking people form the second largest language group (after Zulu, to which the Xhosa language is very closed related). Among a wide variety of common speech sounds, the Xhosa language famously contains a variety of consonantal 'click' sounds, which have been borrowed from now extinct Khoisan languages of the region.

Xhosa has three basic click consonants: a dental (front) click, written with the letter 'c', e.g. icici 'earring' (very similar to the English tut-tut sound of disapproval); a palatal (top click), written with the letter 'q', e.g. iqaqa 'skunk' (similar to the imitation of a bottle being decorked); and a lateral (side) click, written with the letter 'x', e.g. xoxa 'discuss'. Each click can be used in up to six contrastive forms (each one is a completely separate consonant in Xhosa), e.g. c (plain), ch (aspirated), gc (voiced), nc (nasalised), ngc (nasalised voiced), nkc (nasalised, velarised). By contrast, Xhosa has five straightforward Spanish-type vowels (a, e, i, o, u).

Religion

Traditional Xhosa culture includes diviners, who serve as herbalists, prophets, and healers for the community. This job is mostly taken by women, who spend five years as an apprentice. Many Xhosa people are Christian, particularly within the African Initiated Churches such as the Zion Christian Church.

Oral tradition

The key figure in the Xhosa oral tradition is the imbongi (plural: iimbongi) or praise singer. Iimbongi traditionally live close to the chief’s 'great place' (the cultural and political focus of his activity); they accompany the chief on important occasions - the imbongi Zolani Mkiva preceded Nelson Mandela at his Presidential inauguration in 1994. Iimbongi's poetry praises the chief’s actions and best features, and may also criticise the chief if aspects of his reign or government are unpopular.

Famous Xhosa People

Nelson Mandela is a Xhosa-speaking member of the Thembu people.

Other famous Xhosa speakers include:

See also

References

Note that the figure mentioned on this page is based upon the number of people speaking Xhosa as their home language, which may be greater or less than the total number of people claiming Xhosa descent. In addition, several million people in the Johannesburg-Soweto region speak Xhosa or Zulu as a second or third language. For a majority of these, the two languages become difficult to distinguish (unsurprising given the extreme closeness of their linguistic relationship).

External links

Template:Interwiki

Template:Ethnic Groups South Africa

da:Xhosa-folket de:Xhosa (Volk) es:Xhosa gl:Xhosa it:Xhosa nl:Xhosa (volk) pt:Xhosa sh:Xhosa fi:Xhosat sv:Xhosa

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