Northern Ndebele people

The Northern Ndebele people (Northern Ndebele: amaNdebele) are a Bantu-speaking nation and ethnic group in Southern Africa, who share a common Ndebele culture and Ndebele language (isiNdebele).

The Northern Ndebele are historically referred to as the Matabele, which derives from the Sesotho expression thebele, indicating people who shelter behind tall cowhide shields.

The term Bathebele is applied to at least two Nguni-speaking groups who settle in the region later called the Transvaal, long before the Mfecane.

Although the amaNdebele of Mzilikazi uses the much smaller cowhide shields and short stabbing assegai of King Shaka’s army, they also are called Bathebele, which in isiNguni is rendered as amaNdebele.

The history of the Northern Ndebele beginswhen a Nguni group splits from King Shaka in the early nineteenth century under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former chief in his kingdom and ally.

Under his command the disgruntled abaNguni go on to conquer and rule the chiefdoms of the Southern Ndebele

This is where the name and identity of the eventual kingdom is adopted.

During a turbulent period in Nguni and Sotho-Tswana history known as the Mfecane or “the crushing’, Mzilikazi’s regiment, initially numbering five hundred soldiers, moves west towards the present-day city of Pretoria, where they found a settlement called Mhlahlandlela.

The Great Trek in 1838 sees Mzilikazi defeated by the Voortrekkers at Vegkop, after which he is exiled into present-day Zimbabwe where the Ndebele overwhelm the local Lozvi, eventually carving out a home now called Matabeleland and encompassing the west and southwest region of the country.

In the course of the migration, large numbers of conquered local clans and individuals are absorbed into the Ndebele nation, adopting the Ndebele language and culture.

Historically the assimilated people came from the Southern Ndebele, Swazi, Sotho-Tswana, and amaLozwi ethnic groups.

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