Embo-Dlamini

Embo-Dlamini
Regions with significant populations
	Eswatini, South Africa
Languages
	Siswati
Religion
	Traditional African religion

Embo-Dlamini (also called Dlamini-Nguni, Tekela-Nguni or Emalangeni and sometimes Thonga-Nguni¹) refers to a historic Nguni-speaking community in the Maputaland-Lubombo region of Southern Africa that formed the modern Swazi people. It is a branch of the Embo-Nguni ethnic group that falls within the broader Embo identity.²

Context

According to Swazi oral tradition recorded by historians such as J.S.M. Matsebula and A.T. Bryant, Dlamini I was a son of Chief Langa, leader of an Embo-Nguni community that settled within the Tembe territories near Delagoa Bay.² Dlamini I and Hlubi's followers later separated and migrated in different directions.² Dlamini’s followers moved northward across the Lubombo Mountains and formed early Ngwane communities or the Embo-Dlamini, while Hlubi’s followers migrated southward along the Pongola River and became the ancestors of the amaHlubi.²

References

Matsebula, J. S. M. (1988). 3rd edition. Longman.ISBN 0582031672 pp. 1–7.
Sikhondze, Bonginkosi Bhutana. State Within A State: The History of the Evolution of the Mamba clan of Swaziland Transafrican Journal of History, vol. 15, 1986, pp. 144–63. JSTOR. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

[Matsebula.1-1] Matsebula, J. S. M. (1988). 3rd edition. Longman.ISBN 0582031672 pp. 1–7.

[State-2] Sikhondze, Bonginkosi Bhutana. State Within A State: The History of the Evolution of the Mamba clan of Swaziland Transafrican Journal of History, vol. 15, 1986, pp. 144–63. JSTOR. Accessed 22 Dec. 2025.

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