AY Honors/African Lore/Answer Key

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

The Xhosa (IPA pronunciation: /ko'sɑ, -zə/) 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.

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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.

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Famous Xhosa people

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

Other famous Xhosa speakers include:

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Xhosa in popular culture

The Xhosa is the name of the freighter commanded by Kasidy Yates in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The vessel was named for the Xhosa people.

References

Results of the 2001 South African census

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).

Reader, J., 1997. Africa: A Biography of the Continent, Vintage Books, New York, NY, United States of America.jkadfgl;uh;lpuylaerpgh
Kaschula, Russell The Heritage Library of African People: Xhosa, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1997.