Pondoland

Pondoland is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Pondo Kingdom and the traditional region of the Pondo people, one of the Xhosa people groups.GeographyPondoland stretches between the Mthatha River, whose mouth is its southernmost point, and the Mtamvuna River in the north along a coastal strip that is a maximum of 50 km wide. The Mzimvubu River divides Pondoland into an eastern and a western region.It is a mountainous area whose main vegetation consists in thornveld, grassland, as well as subtropical evergreen forests in the humid coastal valleys.HistoryThe San and Khoikhoi people had inhabited the region since ancient times in scattered nomadic groups. About 500 AD the Pondo people settled in the area, for the mountain grasslands were a good resource for cattle-rearing. Geographically Pondoland was a remote area, not strongly affected by the events in the rest of South Africa. During the centuries of European navigation towards the Indian Ocean, Portuguese ships, as well as ships from other colonial empires ran aground at different spots of the coast of Pondoland. Some of the castaways stayed in Pondoland and were later absorbed into Mpondo communities. The Mpondo clan of abeLungu traces its ancestry to a castaway English girl named Bessie who married the son of Mpondo Chief Matayi of the amaTshomane.