A person’s culture is an integral part of their fabric as a being, shaping many facets of their life and informing their understanding of the world. South Africa is home to a wide array of vibrant, rich cultures, each with their own deep history.
South Africa Online ® tells the stories of these cultures. Through the works of established academics and writers we delve into history, customs and the blending of different ways of life in a cultural landscape that is uniquely South African.
With a dynamic fusion of African, European and Asian influences, South Africa is a unique experience of culture, food, language, music, art ...
Many rural communities in South Africa continue to build their homesteads from mud bricks and readily available materials like wood, stone a...
This includes not only the age of the wearer and a woman's status as the mother of an initiate who has just undergone circumcision, but also...
From birth to death, these rites of passage regulate and give expression to meaningful changes in people's lives...
Using indigenous materials such as clay, wood and grass, they make beautiful, often richly decorated artefacts for ritual and household purp...
Rock Art can be described as the overlooked heritage on our doorsteps and South Africa has been called “the richest storehouse of prehisto...
The San are the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa, where they have lived for at least 20 000 years....
The name Xhosa is a general term, used for an assortment of noble clans of Nguni descent, the Pondo, Bomvana, Thembu and the Xhosa tribe its...
Shaka, who became the chief of the tiny Zulu group in 1818, laid the foundations of the Zulu nation and built the mightiest empire in southe...
The Tswana are part of the Sotho, with three broad divisions — Basotho (Southern Sotho), Pedi (Northern Sotho), and Tswana (Western Sotho)...
Many Venda see themselves as traditionalists, but their culture has been very dynamic and adaptable....
The Ndebele are well known for their outstanding craftsmanship, their decorative homes, and their distinctive and highly colourful mode of d...
The Tsonga are not a homogeneous ethnic group. Their forefathers came from present-day Mozambique to settle in South Africa in the 19th cent...
Pedi was previously used to describe Sotho-speakers of Mpumalanga and Northern Province in South Africa. More recently, these groups have be...
The Basotho have been identified as part of a larger Sotho cohort, comprising three broad divisions: Basotho (Southern Sotho), Pedi (Norther...
Although classified as Northern Sotho, the Ntwana are believed to be of Tswana (Western Sotho) origin. They can be traced to the Bakwena-Bam...