Venda people

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Vha-Venda

Total population
+2.5 million
Regions with significant populations
Collins Chabane Local Municipality, Makhado Local Municipality, Musina Local Municipality, and Thulamela Local Municipality.
South Africa	[1][2]
Zimbabwe	[3]
Languages
Tshi-Venda and English
Religion
Christianity, Traditional African religion
Related ethnic groups
Makua people, Shona people, Pedi people, and Shona people

The Venḓa (VhaVenḓa or Vhangona) are a Bantu people native to Southern Africa living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The Venda language arose from interactions with Sotho-Tswana and Kalanga groups from 1400.^[4]

The Venda are closely associated with the 13th century Kingdom of Mapungubwe where oral tradition holds King Shiriyadenga as the first king of Venda and Mapungubwe.^[5] The Mapungubwe Kingdom stretched from the Soutpansberg in the south, across the Limpopo River to the Matopos in the north. The Kingdom rapidly declined around 1300 due to climatic change and the population scattered, as power moved north to the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom. The first Venda settlement in the Soutpansberg was that of the legendary chief Thoho-ya-Ndou (Head of the Elephant). His royal kraal was called D’zata; its remains have been declared a National Monument. The Mapungubwe Collection is a museum collection of artefacts found at the archaeological site and is housed in the Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria. Venda people share ancestry with Lobedu people and Kalanga people. They are also related to Sotho-Tswana peoples and Shona groups.