Basotho, Bapedi, Batswana | |
|---|---|
 Top left, Sotho; Top right, Pedi; Bottom left, Tswana; Bottom right, Lozi | |
| Total population | |
| unknown; roughly 18–20 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 South Africa | 15.585 million |
 Lesotho | 2.130 million (mostly Sotho) |
 Botswana | 2.160 million (mostly Tswana) |
 Zimbabwe | 980 000 (Tswana, Sotho & Lozi) |
 Zambia | 655 000 (Lozi) |
 Namibia | 10 000 (Tswana & Lozi) |
 Mozambique | 50 (Lozi) |
| Languages | |
| Sotho–Tswana languages Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi, Silozi | |
| Religion | |
| Modimo, Traditional African religions, Badimo, Christianity (Molimo or Molimu in Silozi) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nguni people, Venda people and Tsonga people, San people, Khoisan people | |
The Sotho-Tswana, also known as the Sotho or Basotho,[1] although the term is now closely associated with the Southern Sotho peoples[2] are a meta-ethnicity of Southern Africa. They are a large and diverse group of people who speak Sotho-Tswana languages.[3] The group is predominantly found in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and the western part of Zambia.[4] Smaller groups can also be found in Namibia[5] and Zimbabwe.[6]
The Sotho-Tswana people would have diversified into their current arrangement during the course of the 2nd millennium, but they retain a number of linguistic and cultural characteristics that distinguish them from other Bantu-speakers of southern Africa. These are features such as totemism/diboko a pre-emptive right of men to marry their maternal cousins, and an architectural style characterized by a round hut with a conical thatch roof supported by wooden pillars on the outside. Other major distinguishing features included their dress of skin cloaks and a preference for dense and close settlements, as well as a tradition of large-scale building in stone.[3]
The group mainly consists of four clusters: the Southern Sotho (Sotho), the Northern Sotho (which consists of the Bapedi, the Balobedu and others), the Lozi, the Tswana and the Kgalakgadi.[7] [8]A fifth cluster is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Sotho and consists of the Pulana, Kgolokwe, Pai, and others.[9] The Sotho-Tswana are said to contain some Khoe-San ancestry with levels varing from >20%.[10]
- ^ Getaway (8 February 2021). "Tour the Free State's Basotho Cultural Village". Getaway Magazine. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ "The Basotho - South African Culture". southafrica.co.za. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ a b Cornwell, Richard (1988). ""Origins" of the Sotho-Tswana peoples and the history of the Batswana". Africa Past: 8 – via ISSN 0256-2804 = Africa Insight, vol. 18, no. 2, 1988.
- ^ Alexander, Mary (1 April 2023). "The 11 languages of South Africa". South Africa Gateway. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ "Tswana - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ "The Sotho/ Tswana people of Zimbabwe". The Sunday News. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ "Sotho | people". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
- ^ "South Africa - Sotho". countrystudies.us. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ^ Westphal, E. (April 1956). "The Eastern Sotho: A tribal, historical, and linguistic survey (with ethnographic notes) of the Pai, Kutswe, and Pulana Bantu tribes of the Pilgrim's Rest district of the Transvaal Province, Union of South Africa. By D. Ziervogel. Pretoria: van Schaik, 1954. Pp. ix + 215, map. 25s". Africa. 26 (2): 203–204. doi:10.2307/1156850. ISSN 1750-0184. JSTOR 1156850.
- ^ "Bantu-speaker migration and admixture in southern Africa". academic.oup.com. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
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