The Thembu (Xhosa: AbaThembu) are Xhosa people who lived in the Thembu Kingdom.
The Thembu live in the Transkei and Ciskei regions of South Africa. AbaThembu likely settled in their present-day region in the Eastern Cape around the 14th or 15th century. By this time, they had established themselves as a distinct group within the broader Nguni-speaking communities, with their own customs, governance, and identity.
The Tembu of South Africa are numbering 915,000, (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)
Ethnohistorians estimate that the Thembu have been living in these regions for at least one thousand years. When the Thembu turned on the whites in 1846-1847, they were defeated militarily and assigned to live in Gcalekaland. Those Thembus who willingly cooperated became known as "Emigrant Thembu," while those who tried to stay away from whites became known as "True Thembu." Although the traditional.
The leader of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, was a Thembu.
According to the Xhosa oral tradition, the Thembu migrated along the east coast of southern Africa before settling in KwaZulu-Natal. The earliest known Thembu ancestor is King Mbulali Ka-Nanzinzaba, whose grandson (named uMthembu KaNtongakazi), led his people from what became the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal to Dedesi in the present-day Transkei region of South Africa. The Thembu emerged as unified people during the reign of King Ngubengcuka, who united clans living in Thembuland into a single political entity, owing allegiance to the Thembu royal family, or "Hala Mvelase." Famous Thembus include Nelson Mandela, whose father was a reigning nobleman from a junior branch of the AmaMadiba clan of kings, and Walter Sisulu.
Abathembu is originally from Thembuland and throughout Eastern Cape, Western Cape and South Africa, they are also located in Lesotho Quthing and Qacha's Nek and the Northern parts of Eastern Cape, Aliwal North, Sterkspruit, and up to Matatiele, Thembu's that are located in the North of Eastern Cape near Lesotho speak fluent Sesotho.
In Xhosa, the name is abaThembu (aba- is a common prefix implying "people"). The territory of the Thembu state was historically known as Thembuland.
In the 19th century, Thembu were frequently known as the "Tamboekie" or "Tambookie" people. This name was originally the Khoisan language term specifically for the followers of Chief Maphasa who moved into the area west of the Great Kei River in the 1820s. However, Europeans used these terms as a synonym for "Thembu" for much of the 19th century.
Thembu was known as /Xam bu !e, /Xam and Embo people which makes /Xam bu !e in Xhosa it's Thembu, the O became U for bu.
AbaThembu derives from /Xam ka !ue the meaning of /Xam is an Oryx or Antelope. The original name of AbaThembu was /Xam ka !eten (Antelope water people) in khoemana the word exists as /ehem it's the same.
Thembu's by a large portion spoke /Xam or /Xam ke an extinct language, The Basotho's used to call Eastern Cape (Bathebu ke ing ke ma /Xam), it was known as a /Xam area. AbaThembu never originated from Central Africa the Thembu history never descended they ascended.
Thembu economy was based on mixed agriculture (the production of cattle, goats, maize, shorghum, and pumpkins), the contemporary Thembu raise these products commercially or work as laborers in the mines, cities, factories, and plantations of South Africa.
Mtikrakra is a bitter bush, it's written in Xhosa as Mtikrakra, in /Xam it's (/um ti na) or (/um ra ra) and even in !Orakobab, and /Xam ke the Ra Ra means something bitter (!kung ra ra) bitter bush or tree people in Afrikaans (bitter bos mense)
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