Thembu Kingdom

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Thembu Kingdom" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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 (Xhosa: AbaThembu) are Xhosa people who lived in the Thembu Kingdom.

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 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 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.