See Also: Nguni(dictionary)
Nguni(encyclopedia)

Nguni (sh)




Cluster of related ethnic groups living in South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, including the Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele.

They speak very closely related Bantu languages some of which are unique among Niger-Congo languages in having click sounds, absorbed from contact with their Khoisan-speaking neighbours. The Nguni were dispersed from their original homeland in what is now eastern Cape province and KwaZulu/Natal by the Mfecane disturbances of the 1820s and the expansion of European power.