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Thembu people AbaThembu
Siyaɓalala, chief of the Ndungwana clan of the Thembu, c. 1930s
Total population
3.3 million
Regions with significant populations
South Africa Lesotho
Languages
IsiXhosa Sesotho, English
Religion
Christianity, uThixo
Related ethnic groups
Xhosa, Mpondo, Swati, Zulu, Khoisan
The Thembu/Tamboekie people
Person
UmThembu
People
AbaThembu
Language
IsiXhosa
Country
Thembuland region in the Xhosa Kingdom
Nelson Mandela from AbaThembu tribeBrenda Fassie famous singer from Thembu tribe
The Thembu (Xhosa: AbaThembu) are Xhosa people who were living in the Thembu Kingdom.
According to Xhosa oral tradition, the Thembu migrated along the east coast of southern Africa before settling in KwaZulu-Natal. The earliest known Thembu ancestor is Mbulali, whose grandson (named Thembu), 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 a unified people during the reign of Ngxeko/Nxekwa, 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 Madiba clan of kings, and Walter Sisulu.[1]
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.
^Walter Sisulu Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Ancestry24
The Thembu (Xhosa: AbaThembu) are Xhosa people who were living in the ThembuKingdom. According to Xhosa oral tradition, the Thembu migrated along the...
united the Thembukingdom before it was subjected to British colonial rule. He was the proverbial author and finisher of the modern kingdom that it eventually...
Sabata Jonguhlanga Dalindyebo (1928–1986) was the ruler of the ThembuKingdom. He was the son of Jongilizwe Sampu Dalindyebo. His rule was marked by conflict...
Ciskei and Transkei region. Like other separate Xhosa-speaking kingdoms such as Aba-Thembu and Ama-Mpondo, they speak Xhosa and are at times[citation...
buffer-zone, in response to reported tensions between Mpondo and neighbouring Thembu groups, and in 1875 a magistrate's office was opened. The first magistrate...
Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was ruler of the ThembuKingdom in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape...
and AmaGcina AbaThembuKingdom, causing the amaTshatshu to flee to Prince Maqoma for safety. The Paramouncy (AmaXhosa Kingdom), AbaThembu and AmaMpondomise...
province of South Africa. Its territory is the traditional region of the abaThembu, one of the states of the Xhosa nation. It was formerly also known as "Tamboekieland"...
African President Nelson Mandela, who belonged to a cadet branch of the Thembu dynasty which reigns as paramount chiefs in the Transkei. She wed Sobhuza's...
pronunciation: [ˈʃaːɠa]) and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he...
royal brides (One from Ama-Mpondomise royal family & the other from the Aba-Thembu royal family) arrived on the same day. This caused a dilemma for the Xhosa...
already paid lobola, one from the Mpondo royal family and one from the Thembu royal family. As both brides were from royal houses of high standing, Phalo...
family. As such, their traditional role in the kingdom is that of hereditary privy counsellors to Thembu monarchs that are unable to succeed to the throne...
AmaMpondo, AbaThembu were autonomous tributary states to the Xhosa Kingdom. In his reign as king he had 11 sub-chieftaincies, and the Thembu, Mpondo, Bhaca...
the abaThembu. Another daughter Nowisile became the wife of Chief Falo Mgudlwa of the amaJumba Thembu and the adoptive mother of the future Thembu national...
south and eastern part of south Africa and established federations (AbaThembu, AmaMpondo, AmaXhosa, and AmaMpondomise) in the region during the 14th century...
a child and adolescent in South Africa and being connected to the royal Thembu dynasty. His Xhosa birth name was Rolihlahla, which is loosely translated...
Thembuland Kingdom was one of six traditional kings in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The Thembu people were divided into two kingdoms by colonial...
the amaGcaleka and the amaRharhabe kingdoms. Rharhabe's children from his great wife Nojoli kaNdungwana of the Thembu were Ntsusa kaRharhabe (daughter)...
nourish his people. Eventually he fled South into lands occupied by abaThembu, amaMpondo and the neighboring Xhosa nations, which ultimately teamed up...
descend in the direct, legitimate male line from the Paramount Chiefs of the Thembu people, a dignity still held by that tribe's sovereign, Buyelekhaya Zwelinbanzi...
the descendants of his cadet branch of the Thembu royal family remain ineligible to succeed to the Thembu throne, which is itself one of the several traditional...
members of the Ndebele and Tswana nations speak Zulu, and groups such as the Thembu and Hlubi speak Xhosa. As is the case throughout Africa, the nations of...
chief tribe engaged in the war, assisted by portions of the Ndlambe and the Thembu. The Xhosa forces were greater in number, and some of them had by this time...
settlers and Boer commandos, against the Ngcika assisted by the Ndlambe and Thembu. Tension had been simmering between colonialist farmers and Xhosa raiders...
Some of the Southern Sotho speakers who were not part of Moshoeshoe's kingdom when he united some of their tribesmen are living in Gauteng, while some...
overlooked them, the strikers (among the main organisers was a 42-year-old, Thembu-origin Nelson Mandela) carried out their threats. The government countered...
December at the Thembu Great Place near Qunu, to Chief Mfundo Bovulengwa Mtirara, born 25 March 1973, Acting Deputy Paramount Chief of the Thembu from 2000...
Global Information
South Africa 
Lesotho
