Xhosa people

Xhosa people
AmaXhosa

Xhosa graduates at Zonnebloem College in 1860, Cape Town, Cape Colony
Total population
9,660,004
Regions with significant populations
South Africa	9,415,004 ~ (2022 estimate) Eastern Cape: 5,102,053 Western Cape: 2,326,704 Gauteng: 861,995 Free State: 320,645 KwaZulu-Natal: 405,140 North West: 225,023 Northern Cape: 101,062 Mpumalanga: 50,225 Limpopo: 22,157
Zimbabwe	200,000[1]
Botswana	12,000
Namibia	10,000
Lesotho	23,000
Languages
IsiXhosa IsiZulu, Sesotho, English, Afrikaans
Religion
uThixo, Qamata, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Southern Ndebele, Zulu, Hlubi, Swati, and Northern Ndebele, Griqua, Khoisan, San people, Khoekhoe, Phuthi people, /Xam

The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people (/ˈkɔːsə/ KAW-sə, /ˈkoʊsə/ KOH-sə;^[2][3][4] Xhosa pronunciation: [kǁʰɔ́ːsa] ^ⓘ) are a Bantu ethnic group native to South Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in South Africa and are native speakers of the IsiXhosa language.

Presently, over nine million Xhosa-speaking people are distributed across the country, although their traditional homeland is primarily the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Their language, isiXhosa , is one of South Africa's most populous languages. The pre-1994 apartheid system of Bantustan assigned them to have self-governing "homelands" (native reserves), namely; Transkei and Ciskei, both a part of the Eastern Cape Province where most Xhosa remain. A notable population also thrives in the Western Cape province of the country. Cape Town (eKapa in Xhosa), East London (eMonti), and Gqeberha (e-Bhayi).

As of 2003,^[update] the majority of Xhosa speakers, approximately 5.3 million, lived in the Eastern Cape, followed by the Western Cape (approximately 1 million), Gauteng (971,045), the Free State (546,192), KwaZulu-Natal (219,826), North West (214,461), Mpumalanga (46,553), the Northern Cape (51,228), and Limpopo (14,225).^[5]

There is a small but significant Xhosa-speaking (Mfengu) community in Zimbabwe, and their language, isiXhosa, is recognised as an official national language. This community is the remnant migrated from central Africa into South Africa upon the establishment of Rhodesia with Cecil Rhodes.^{[clarification needed][6]}