Venda people
The Venḓa (VhaVenḓa or Vhangona) are a Southern African Bantu people living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The Venda language arose from interactions with Sotho-Tswana and Kalanga initiates during the 15th century in Zimbabwe.The history of the Venda starts from the Kingdom of Mapungubwe (9th Century) where King Shiriyadenga was
the first king of Venda and Mapungubwe. The Mapungubwe Kingdom stretched from the Soutpansberg in
the south, across the Limpopo River to the Matopos in the north. The Kingdom declined from 1240, and
power moved north to the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom. The first Venda settlement in the Soutpansberg was that of the legendary chief Thoho-ya-Ndou (Head of the
Elephant).