Affinity Bloc: Sub-Saharan African

Overview: Bantu refers to a large, complex linguistic grouping of peoples in Africa. The Shona are a composite ethnic group and include several groups clustered together on the basis of cultural and linguistic associations. Historically, the Shona groups were attacked by the Ndebeles in the 1830s and 1840s, resulting in the loss of their lands and cattle herds. In 1896-1897, the Shonas joined the Ndebeles in a bloody and ultimately unsuccessful war against the British colonial administration. Today they can be found in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia.

  -- James Olson, The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press (1996). Pp. 523-524.

Peoples within this cluster: Changa; Kalanga; Karanga; Korekore; Manyika; Nambya; Ndau; Shona; Zimba; Zimbabwean, general

Countries where they are found: Botswana; Canada; Congo, Democratic Republic of the; Mozambique; South Africa; United States; Zambia; Zimbabwe