Xhosa (people)

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The Xhosa [ ˈkoːza ] ( isiXhosa : [ ǁʰosa ]; also Xosa ) are a South African people who linguistically belongs to the Bantu .

The name supposedly refers to one of their chiefs in history. They call themselves amaXhosa . They reached southern Africa as part of the north-south migration of the black African peoples, displacing the San and Khoikhoi population groups . The main settlement area of ​​the Xhosa is now in the Eastern Cape Province . Due to domestic labor migration, they are now located throughout the Republic of South Africa. The main groups of the Xhosa are the Gcaleka , Ngika , Ndlamba , Dushane , Qayi , Ntinde and Gqunkhwebe .

language

Settlement areas (1850)

Their language, which has adopted numerous phonetic elements (e.g. clicks ) as a substrate from the language of the San, is called isiXhosa .

History of the people

A pair of Xhosa after an illustration around 1800
The young Xhosa chief Gaika
Historical representation of a Xhosa settlement around 1810 ( Lodewijk Alberti )

Before the colonization of South Africa , the Xhosa lived as ranchers in the area between the Boesmans River and the Great Kei River . They had immigrated from further northern parts of the continent around the 11th century and later, according to some sources, earlier.

The earliest descriptions of the native population in southern Africa, especially the Xhosa, at that time still treated under the collective term Kaffirs by authors of European descent, include those by the explorers John Barrow (1796), Martin Lichtenstein (1805), Campbell (1819) and von Smith (1835) authored reports. Important research results on the South African population, taking into account the Xhosa, were later published by Gustav Theodor Fritsch (1868, 1873) and Emil Holub (1881).

The Xhosa, like the other Bantu peoples, traditionally lived in tribal structures. The head was constitutionally integrated into a kind of direct democracy of his tribe. The land was in common possession of the tribe. Its distribution to the heads of families for use was incumbent on the head, whereby he had to reach an agreement with the subordinates. The position of power of the chief and thus of the entire social structure was based on the possible cheap availability of usable land by the tribal chief. With the arrival of the Europeans, this hierarchy came under increasing pressure because the available land was now contested by two centers of power. Larger armed conflicts to protect the interests between European settlers and the local population are the border wars with the Cape Colony that began in 1779 . The indigenous population from the San ("Bushmen") and Khoikhoi ("Hottentots") were pushed into an outsider position politically, culturally and socially.

The Boers' expansion and migration, which was intensified by British colonial policy, resulted in countless armed conflicts with the indigenous population in which the British military was repeatedly involved or later acted on its own. A particularly intensely contested area was the Amathole Mountains , the comparatively water-rich grassland behind them and their southwestern foreland in what is now the Eastern Cape . This area offered particularly favorable climatic conditions for the Xhosa to raise cattle. The flat to hilly areas, which extend further west in the direction of Grahamstown - today Makhanda - are characterized by barren Karoo vegetation and aridity. The conflicts in the Eastern Cape, known as border wars, lasted until the second half of the 19th century and were mainly directed against the Xhosa, who defended themselves warily.

The chiefs Gaika and Sandile are among the best-known Xhosa leaders in the armed conflict in the increasingly fortified border region. Gaika's grave from 1829 lies between Keiskammahoek and Middledrift . Sandile was buried west of Stutterheim in 1878 .

Due to the colonization of South Africa, then also the establishment of the Boer Republics Orange Free State and Transvaal , the Xhosa came more and more under pressure in their ancestral areas, and in some cases they lost their homeland. In the period 1856-1857, the Xhosa sacrificed most of their livestock to the spirits of their ancestors based on a prophecy and destroyed their grain. This cattle killing by the Xhosa subsequently led to a great emergency among the population. Tens of thousands of Xhosa people died and at least 50,000 left their country to find a new livelihood.

Since the early 19th century, various mission societies tried to induce the Xhosa to adopt the Christian faith and to achieve a basic education. The Presbyterians established a mission school in the Alice settlement in 1841 . Also involved were the Berlin Mission Society (Berlin Missionary Society), the Free Church of Scotland and the Glasgow Missionary Society , approximately in the region around King William's Town and Alice. In the Lovedale Missionary Institute , which was in the area of ​​what would later become Homeland Ciskei , educational work among the Xhosa was carried out in the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The post-colonial policy in South Africa that continued after 1945 led to the organized exclusion of the black population, and the Xhosa were then assigned the two homelands of Ciskei and Transkei .

Demography and modern social situation

Xhosa settlement in the Tyhume Valley on the Amathole Mountains .

According to the population data from the Department of Statistic in Pretoria , exactly 2,486,164 (census results) lived in 1951, 3.930 million in 1970 and 5.394 million in 1977 Xhosa members in South Africa (including Transkei). In 1989, out of a total of 6.240 million Xhosa, 2.930 million lived outside the homelands .

The social situation today (2008) is very different. A large part of the Xhosa still live in their own and partially closed settlements in the former homelands of the Eastern Cape Province . They are often enormous and are administered by people from their circle.

Government and provincial grants have created infrastructure for water and electricity supply. The quality of life of the residents has improved noticeably, if not satisfactorily, thanks to new houses being built and the renovation of individual residential buildings (multi-storey buildings or row buildings do not exist for traditional reasons). There are schools and simple community structures in these settlements. These localities are neighborhood-like or disordered settlement structures without a significant number of jobs. A combination with nearby industrial areas was only attempted in individual cases, for example in Dimbaza .

A particular problem for the rural settlements is the migrant work that developed their solidified structures during apartheid. At that time, many residents Homeland found only in specially in the border areas ( Bantu States settled industry or in other parts of South Africa's employment -Südafrika). Up to the present (2008), such labor market structures that have a problematic effect on families have persisted. Due to the relatively underdeveloped industrial structure of the Eastern Cape, many middle-aged Xhosa find work in the distant metropolitan areas ( Johannesburg , Gauteng Province , Cape Town , Durban ). A not inconsiderable part of raising children is carried out in this way by other family members.

In the medium-sized and larger cities, the Xhosa population lives in small huts on the outskirts or in permanent houses in the immediate urban area. Occasionally there is a mixture with residential buildings of the white population.

The social reforms after the end of apartheid improved the living conditions for some of the Xhosa people with jobs in the cities. In addition to the less well-paid jobs in industry, small trades and trade, they now also work in public administration, scientific institutions, banks, insurance companies and many other sectors. They also perform managerial functions or the position of company owners. For reasons of habit, the working world is still divided between the black and white population. One of the few exceptions is the science sector and individual companies that explicitly rely on a mixed personnel structure.

Educational situation

Students on the Rhodes University campus

After the end of apartheid in 1994, modern school, vocational and higher education became freer and more liberal. The apartheid barriers formally fell, but the continued separate housing situation of the black and white population inevitably resulted in a separate school education, especially in the predominantly rural settlement areas of the Eastern Cape. The school system is based on the English system and the children wear school uniforms. There are one or more schools in almost all larger settlements. There are occasional school camps or holiday camps, some of which are run by private operators (Christian missions, foundations). There is also a mixed, partly international composition.

The university entrance is free today. At the universities, especially in Makhanda , in Fort Hare and at Walter Sisulu University , many Xhosa members study alongside white South Africans, foreign students from African states and other continents. The University of Fort Hare, with its forerunner institutions, made a significant contribution to the social and political emancipation of the Xhosa. Under the apartheid laws, it was the higher education institution assigned to the Xhosa. The graduates at that time were only allowed to exercise their professional qualifications based on their degree in the homelands of their ethnic group or in the assigned urban areas. This principle applied mutatis mutandis to the other South African non-white population groups and the higher education institutions assigned to them.

Due to the history of the country, there is a very different generation spread among the Xhosa in terms of educational qualifications. As a result, the younger population has much better educational opportunities than the parents and grandparents.

art

De Beers Centenary Art Gallery in Fort Hare
Xhosa woman cutting grass for traditional braiding

The older art objects of the Xhosa include handicrafts for tribal representatives on festive occasions, which are largely in public collections. A corresponding collection is exhibited in the Amathole Museum . The exhibits shown represent the diversity of everyday art from this people. These include leather and horn work for shields, spears and body jewelry, as well as wickerwork for various purposes and pearl knotting as body jewelry.

Works of painting and drawing are known from the 20th century. One of the few valuable collections is in the De Beers Centenary Art Gallery in Alice . The wickerwork with the grasses of their living environment (Eastern Cape Province) is still used today for basket work and other household items.

Madosini is one of the traditional musicians .

Political activities

There has been strong political activity from the Xhosa circle since the 20th century. The Scottish missionary James Stewart laid an essential foundation stone for the political emancipation under the Xhosa in the 19th century with the mission school in Lovedale, which he directed . The educational work recognized by the Lovedale Mission worldwide favored the later founding of the ANC and made it possible for numerous leaders of the Xhosa people to attend a university in Fort Hare .

As a result, the political currents in South Africa's apartheid period were particularly strong among the Xhosa and the smaller ethnic groups associated with them. The first, but only brief, party was the People's Party of Eastern Pondoland , which was formed around 1960 . Only after 1963 did the first stable political parties develop in Transkei. The Fort Hare graduate Matanzima founded the Transkei National Independence Party (INIP), a political organization in the homeland of Transkei, which advocated complete independence from South Africa and thus unintentionally acted in accordance with apartheid politics. His political opponent Victor Poto led the political movement Democratic Party , founded in 1964 , which advocated the creation of a "House of Lords" with the old chief structures but a decision-making parliament under the framework of apartheid laws. Poto's movement led after the 1963 elections but failed to form a government through political intrigues. Shortly afterwards, this was taken over by his opponent Matanzima, who became the Transkei's first head of government. In the 1973 homeland elections, Matanzima achieved an absolute majority, which was further strengthened in 1976. This did not automatically develop democratic living conditions for the population in the Transkei, since the Minister of Bantu Administration and Development of the South African government did not allow any unitarian state conditions, no political rights for the black population and no representative government in the homelands. The Proclamation 400 of the South African government of 1960 put all elections under emergency law and thereby secured extensive and arbitrary right of direction.

Fresh market in a suburb of East London

Elections were held in the Ciskei in 1973 and 1978. 338,173 and 225,294 voters were registered. These numbers are well below the Xhosa population.

The Bisho massacre in September 1992, named after Bisho , the capital of Ciskei, generated domestic political pressure, along with several other incidents of violence against the black population in the Xhosa areas and other places, which ultimately led to the collapse of the apartheid system.

The extensive social reforms after 1994 have also brought large parts of the Xhosa population growing prosperity and better educational opportunities.

Well-known representatives of the Xhosa people

Well-known members of the Xhosa people are the late politician Nelson Mandela and the former Archbishop Desmond Tutu .

Other personalities

Others

The members of the Xhosa people, along with some other South African ethnic groups, have been known as the Kaffirs since European settlement . This term is no longer used today, has a derogatory to insulting meaning and is therefore outlawed in South African language practice. Numerous former official names were derived from this historical name, such as British Kaffraria for Eastern Cape, the Kaffrarian Museum or a former newspaper Kaffir Express , which originally had no ostensibly derogatory meaning.

See also

literature

  • Gustav Fritsch: Three years in South Africa. Travel sketches compiled from notes in the diary . Wroclaw 1868
  • G. Fritsch: The natives of South Africa. Described ethographically and anatomically. Two volumes. Breslau (Shepherd) 1872
  • Hermann Giliomee : The Afrikaners: biography of a people . (University Press of Virginia) 2003 ISBN 0-8139-2237-2
  • Peter Kleist: South Africa. Land for white and black . Göttingen (KW Schütz) 1964
  • Ernst Klimm, Karl-Günther Schneider, Bernd Weise: Southern Africa . Scientific Country Customers; Vol. 17. Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1980, ISBN 3-534-04132-1
  • Manfred Kurz: Indirect Rule and Violence in South Africa. Work from the Institute for Africa Customer No. 30. Hamburg (Verbund Stiftung Deutsches Übersee-Institut) 1981
  • Jürgen Kurzhals, Erhard Pansegrau: South Africa . Munich (Bruckmann) 2004 ISBN 3-7654-4247-X
  • Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. 9th volume. Entry Kaffirs. Leipzig (Bibliographisches Institut) 1876, pp. 669–671
  • Andrew Reynolds: Electoral Systems and Democratization in Southern Africa . New York (Oxford University Press) 1999

Web links

Commons : Xhosa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b The New Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 12 . 15th edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Chicago 1992, ISBN 0-85229-553-7 , pp. 798 .