Bantustan

Bantustan refers to any of the territories designated as tribal "homelands" for black South Africans (and Namibians) during the apartheid era. The term "bantustan" was first used in the late 1940s and was coined from Bantu (meaning "people" in the Bantu languages) and -stan (meaning "land of" in the Persian language). It was based on Hindustan, a term used to refer to Hindu-inhabited India. It later became a disparaging term used by critics of the apartheid-era government's "homelands".

List of the Bantustans

The homelands are listed below with the ethnic group for which each homeland was designated. Four were nominally independent (the so-called TVBC states of Bophuthatswana, the Ciskei, the Transkei and Venda). The other six had limited self-government:

Related Topics:
Bophuthatswana - Ciskei - Transkei - Venda

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• Bophuthatswana (Tswana) - given "independence" on 6 December 1977
• Transkei (Xhosa) - given "independence" on 26 October 1976
• Ciskei (also Xhosa) - given "independence" on 4 December 1981
• Venda (Venda) - given "independence" 13 September 1979
• Gazankulu (Tsonga or Shangaan)
• KaNgwane (Swazi)
• KwaNdebele (Ndebele)
• KwaZulu (Zulu)
• Lebowa (Northern Sotho or Pedi)
• QwaQwa (Southern Sotho)

The first Bantustan that became operational was the Transkei under the leadership of Chief Kaizer Daliwonga Matanzima in the Cape Province for the Xhosa nation. Perhaps the best known one was KwaZulu for the Zulu nation in Natal Province, headed by a member of the Zulu royal family Chief Mangosuthu ("Gatsha") Buthelezi in the name of the Zulu king.

Related Topics:
Transkei - Chief Kaizer Daliwonga Matanzima - Cape Province - Xhosa - KwaZulu - Zulu - Natal Province - Mangosuthu ("Gatsha") Buthelezi

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Lesotho and Swaziland were not Bantustans, but independent kingdoms, and are former British Protectorates.

Related Topics:
Lesotho - Swaziland

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