Affinity Bloc: Sub-Saharan African

Overview: Bantu refers to a large, complex linguistic grouping of peoples in Africa. The Southeastern Bantu people cluster consists of a single ethnic group--the Venda of South Africa. Their homeland is located in northeastern Transvaal; there are also Venda living across the border in Zimbabwe. The Vendas were intricately involved with the Rozvi Kingdom, and their Bantu language is closely related to that of the Karanga of Zimbabwe. Some ethnolinguists classify their language as transitional between Sotho and Shona.

  -- James Olson, The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press (1996). P. 582.

Peoples within this cluster: Venda

Countries where they are found: South Africa; Zimbabwe