This area of southeastern Africa comprises mort than 122 thousand square kilometers. There are three zones. First are the coastal lowlands, wide in the northeast but, further south, quite limited in extent, and often hilly. Second are the highlands, which rise gradually from the coast, are climaxed by the Drakensberg mountains--to nearly 3,500 meters, and fall off sharply in Lesotho at the Maloti(1) and Thaba Mutsoa ranges. Finally is the high plain of northwestern Lesotho. The Orange River starts in the Drakensberg and flows southwest through Lesotho into Eastern Cape Province. One of its main tributaries forms most of Lesotho's northwestern boundary. The eastern part is drained by a series of southeastern flowing rivers. The largest lake is Saint Lucia, a lagoon by the northeast coast.
The Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean are administered by Western Cape Province.
More than 12 million people live here (2008). About seven in ten speak Zulu(2), less than three in 20 Southern Sotho(3), and more than two in ten English. No other language accounts for one in 20.
Christianity is the main religion, although many Christians practice ways that are syncretic with older, local practices. The blend is particularly pronounced in the African Zionist Church and by followers of Isaiah Shambe, the Zulu "messiah." A minority follow the indiginous religions exclusively. The Zulu among these believe in benign ancestral spirits that influence the material world, the ability of magic specialists, isangomas(4), to influence health for good or ill, and in a deus otiosus. Other local religions are similar.
Only one metropolitan area has more than a million, Durban.
Speakers of one of the languages with click consonants, most likely from the Khwe linguistic group(5), preceded the Bantu speakers and left a profound influence on Zulu. The Bantu speakers arrived by the 9th century, when ancestors to the Zulu are apparent. The Zulu were part of a dialect group, the Nguni, with the Zulu becoming predominant in the early 19th century. Sotho resistance to Zulu expansionism was successful in Lesotho (and beyond this area). Their interactive dominance over local Zulu influenced their language, Southern Sotho.
English was introduced when the British took over in the 19th century, displacing speakers of Afrikaans. The newer language was strengthened by the import of laborers from the British colony of India, whose descendents switched to English as their primary tongue.
Christianity arrived with the Europeans, and has adopted locally since.
north, from the northeast
southeast
southwest
northwest
north, beyond the Pongolo River
Eastern Cape Province
South Africa
Africa
(1) Also called the Front Range.
(2) Also called Isizulu.
(3) Also called Sesotho or just Sotho.
(4) Sometimes spelled sangomas.
(5) Also called the Khoe or Hottentot or Central Khoisan group.