Xhosa people
Ethnic group in South Africa / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people (/ˈkɔːsə/ KAW-sə, /ˈkoʊsə/ KOH-sə;[2][3][4] Xhosa pronunciation: [kǁʰɔ́ːsa] ⓘ) are a Bantu ethnic group native to South Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in South Africa and are native speakers of the IsiXhosa language.
Total population | |
---|---|
9,660,004 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
South Africa | 9,415,004 ~ (2022 estimate)
Eastern Cape: 5,102,053 |
Zimbabwe | 200,000[1] |
Botswana | 12,000 |
Namibia | 10,000 |
Lesotho | 23,000 |
Languages | |
IsiXhosa IsiZulu, Sesotho, English, Afrikaans | |
Religion | |
uThixo, Qamata, Christianity | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Southern Ndebele, Zulu, Hlubi, Swati, and Northern Ndebele, Griqua, Khoisan, San people, Khoekhoe, Phuthi people, /Xam |
Xhosa | |
---|---|
Person | UmXhosa |
People | AmaXhosa |
Language | IsiXhosa |
Country | KwaXhosa |
Presently, over nine million Xhosa-speaking people are distributed across the country, although their traditional homeland is primarily the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. , and the Xhosa language is one of South Africa's most populous languages. The pre-1994 apartheid system of Bantustan assigned them to have self-governing "homelands" (native reserves), namely; Transkei and Ciskei, both a part of the Eastern Cape Province where most Xhosa remain. Many Xhosa migrated to Cape town for economic reasons. Cape Town (eKapa in Xhosa), East London (eMonti), and Gqeberha (e-Bhayi).
As of 2003,[update] the majority of Xhosa speakers, approximately 5.3 million, lived in the Eastern Cape, followed by the Western Cape (approximately 1 million), Gauteng (971,045), the Free State (546,192), KwaZulu-Natal (219,826), North West (214,461), Mpumalanga (46,553), the Northern Cape (51,228), and Limpopo (14,225).[5]
There is a small but significant Xhosa-speaking (Mfengu) community in Zimbabwe, and their language, isiXhosa, is recognised as an official national language. This community is the remnant migrated from central Africa into South Africa upon the establishment of Rhodesia with Cecil Rhodes.[clarification needed][6]