Zulu Ancestors Around the Great Lake regions of Central and East Africa lived the Bantu, which in the language of the Zulus is a collective noun for people. The Ngumi people also lived in this region and they were the direct ancestors of the Zulu people. They were called Zulu after the individual who headed a migration from Egypt to the Great Lakes via the corridor of the Red Sea. In Zulu folklore links are said to exist between the Zulu people, Egypt, the Old Testament and Israel. The new home land of the Ngumi people was called Embo. Contemporary Zulu story tellers still refer to this mystical land of Embo. The Ngumi people existed as pastoralists and subsistence farmers. Wealth was measured in cattle. A practice still kept up to this present day and a custom which still exists in many regions of Africa. During the Iron Age there was a large increase in the population and in cattle. This led to a mass migration of the Ngumi people. Their chiefs started to move their people east and south east to the rich arable areas which existed along the Indian Ocean coastline. The Karanga people went south to what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe. Because of internal strife and tension amongst the Karanga people they migrated even further south. Approximately 700 years ago the Lala people met up with the stone age bushmen. Initially the Lala people and the Bushmen benefited from their shared existence and knowledge. For instance the Bushman began to use arrow heads when they went out hunting and specific tools when out foraging and harvesting crops. The Lala people started to form static communities in what was once Bushmen territory. Crops were grown and their animals had fixed grazing areas. Trade relationships developed between the two groups and for two centuries they lived in peaceful coexistence before tensions developed and the Bushmen were forced to go to land further south in order to maintain their sense of identity and lifestyle. The San or Bushmen who live a hunter and gather existence are said to be the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa. These were the people responsible for the cave paintings and rock engravings found in this region of Africa and bear similarities to the rock paintings found in the Sahara and from Ethiopia down all the way to the Cape of Good Hope. The language of the San people has a distinctive click, a manner of speech which has survived in some Bantu languages. The San people are small in stature and live close to nature. They used stone age tools and weapons. Their tools consisted of

items such as flint scrapers with wooden handles, bows and arrows with wooden or bone arrow heads and quite often were often dipped in poison. The Khoikhoi or Hottenots have ancestral links to the San people. They are the offspring of Bantu farmers and pastoralists and San women. Within their culture they had many stories which were similar to that of Aesop fables. They are also said to have worshipped Pleides. The women are said to have climbed hills with their children to praise the 6 Sisters as they rose in the night sky. During the 16th Century there was a continuation of the exodus from the Great Lakes of Central and East Africa. Large masses of Ngumi people headed towards the sea from the Lebombo Mountains. Women carried their possessions on their heads. Young boys urged the stock forward with small sticks in their hand. Many of the migrating clans settled on this fertile coastal strip and they called the region Maputaland after their king. Later on there was a further migration southwards to more fertile land in a landscape which had powerful flowing rivers. These new arrivals put more pressure on the Bushmen communities and the Lala people were faced with the stark choice of either integrating or moving on. Maladela or The Follower was the chief of one group. He had discovered an idyllic fertile valley which he occupied with his numerous wives and the rest of his clan. No form of central authority existed. Clans consisted of patriarchal social units and the chiefdoms were rulled over by the most powerful clan. These cohesive groups varied in size from around a thousand people to much greater numbers where groups of chiefs were governed by an Overlord. Spheres of influence and alliances were in a constant state of flux. Malendalas son was called Zulu which means Heaven. Zulus wives travelled with him to a fresh area south of the Mkhumbane river basin where very tall euphorbia trees grew. These trees became the symbol of Zulu chiefs. This became known as the first Kwazulu or Place of Heaven. Zulu built his new home based upon traditional designs. This consisted of a central and circular cattle fold. A pole and thatched bee hive huts for family members arranged in a crescent at the high sloping area of land. The floors of the huts were made up of a mix of anthill sand and cattle dung and polished to look like green marble. The round houses which were formed around the cattle units were placed in a strict hierarchal order. Each house to the left was allocated for the men folk while the houses on the right were for

the women folk. The fronts of each dwelling place represented the public arena. A public space where the whole community could meet while at the back of each house private religious ceremonies took place. Similar layouts of communities occur in Zimbabwe, the Transvaal and Botswana. In eastern Botswana, hill side sites which date back to 700 years AD have been found to have adapted similar structures. In the Toutswe culture they were seen as an elite group, they lived on the top of hillsides, kept herds of cattle and cultivated millet and sorghum. Small irregular shaped fields were cultivated for the production of grains and vegetables. Thorn hedges were grown to prevent the cattle from wandering into the arable fields. These communities were self-sufficient. Cattle pens played a crucial role within the community. They played a ritual role and only through certain sacrificial rituals could the spirits of the ancestors be pacified. Also ones status within the community was based upon the amount of cattle one owned. Through the dowry system the number of cattle was equated with the number of wifes one had. Having a large number of wives meant that one would have more children to act as labourers and when daughters were married off the size of the herd increased even further. Cattle also provided staples such as food and milk and hide for clothes and for battle shields. Many rituals and ceremonies took place in the cattle fold. Grain pits for the storage of winter fodder were dug in the area of the cattle folds. Southern Africa has some very old established communities. For example from St Helena Bay in the west to Kosi Bay in the east which is a distance of 1000 miles boulders have been used to catch fish during the movement between high and low tide. Rock pool traps which date back to between 5000 years and 3000 years are found along this piece of coast. At high tide fish would enter these constructed rock pools but as the tide went out a rock would be placed into the pool to prevent the fish or water from rushing out. These pools were either single pools or a network of pools and were possibly owned by a small group who would manage them on a seasonal basis. The pools were capable of catching a large amount of fish. Southern Africa also possesses an ancient history of mining. There is a story about a group of miners whoa re said to have arrived from the east and form the south and could have been the ancestors of the first miners of Swaziland. They opened up mines at Phalabowa and found rich seams of copper and

iron ore. And named the mines Msina or The Spoiler. Later they migrated further north to the banks of the Limpopo River. They were not circumcised and ate their food with a spoon. It is thought that they might have had connections with India, Indonesia or Portugal. The Msina miners were still mining for copper when the first Europeans arrived who proceeded to take over the mines, naming the new town Messina. The last of the Msina copper miners, Makushu Dau was photographed in 1920. The landscape of Southern Africa has changed. The end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 Years ago caused water temperatures to increase off the coast by 5 degrees. On a number of occasions between 80,000 and 18,000 Years ago there were much higher rainfall levels then today. A large lake existed at Alexanderfontein near Kimberley 16,000Years ago. This is proof of much higher levels of rainfall during this period. Climate wise where the winter in the southern hemisphere is between June and august there are cyclones which move in an easterly direction in the southwest corner of Africa. The interior is cold and dry but during Summer, the region warms up and an area of low pressure is created. This brings in Summer rains from the Indian Ocean while the Southwest Cape experiences dry weather.

Classroom Activities for Zulu Ancestors

1. Map out the migrations of the Zulu ancestors. 2. Draw and describe the outline of a typical Zulu village. 3. Create your own Hottenot myth based upon a story from Aesops

fables. 4. Look at examples of Zulu art and craft. Design your own piece of art

based upon Zulu type designs.