Ancient Man

More than three million years ago, proto-hominids like Little Foot and Mrs Ples lived here. Their fossilised remains were found in the Sterkfontein caves, just north of Johannesburg. They are thought to be among the early ancestors of the entire human race.

Hunter Gatherers

Much later, southern Africa became home to the hunter-gathering San Bushmen, followed by the pastoral Khoi (Hottentot) and their livestock. They were joined by many more with the mass migration southwards of the abaNtu ("people") and their long-horned cattle in successive streams, possibly spurred on by the desiccation of the Sahara more than 6 000 years ago.

The Asian Influence

There is ongoing evidence of ancient trade between the abaNtu and Arab cultures, with Persian and even Chinese artifacts being discovered at thousand-year-old sites in the northern reaches of South Africa. The coin of the day was gold, ivory, copper - and, of course, beads.

The Europeans

More than 300 years of European (mainly Dutch and English) settlement halted the migration of the abaNtu. But as the European settlers moved north, they found vast swathes of the country empty of people. They weren't to know it then, but they were seeing the results of the Mfecane ("time of hunger or forced removal") of the early 1800s. It was a human catastrophe of giant proportions. The great Nguni and Sotho tribes fought for space and domination throughout southern Africa, killing and displacing hundreds of thousands of people across the sub-continent.

Apartheid

The mid-1900s ushered in South Africa's most reviled political system: Apartheid. This period of skewed social engineering and racial segregation, designed for the protection of the white minority, bred the Bantustan system of forced removals across the country (another kind of Mfecane).

Tribal Heritage

The descendants of the abaNtu living in South Africa today consist of four major groups, broken up into nine distinctive ethnic sub-divisions: the Sotho (North Sotho, South Sotho and Tswana), the Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele), the Shangaan-Tsonga and the Venda people. Each tribe has its own fascinating set of myths, legends and traditions.

Limpopo province in the north, boasts the cultures of the Shangaan, Tswana, Venda and Pedi. The most remarkable archaeological site in the province is Mapungubwe, on the Limpopo River, also one of South Africa’s World Heritage Sites. The area has direct links to the ancient Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe.

The North West Province celebrates the Tswana culture in the main. The Kaditshwene Iron Age ruins on the way to the Botswana border once housed nearly 20 000 people of the Bahurutshe clan. They were skilled coppersmiths, ironsmiths and stone masons and kept huge herds of cattle in their hilltop city.

In Mpumalanga Province, you'll come across Shangaan, Ndebele and Swazi tribes. The South Ndebele Open Air Museum at Botshabelo near Middelburg is a colourful exercise in tribal design and paintwork. It's a working museum where you can meet the various Ndebele villagers and photograph their stunning outfits.

Swinging back into KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN), the intricacies of Zulu culture top the visitor's list. The presence of the famed King Shaka is everywhere.

Head south to the Eastern Cape, a place which Nelson Mandela calls home. Here, the Xhosa and Pondo rule.

The Xhosa made up the southern spear of the mass abaNtu migration, which was stopped by the 1820 Settlers at the Great Fish River. This led to nine Frontier Wars before the two groups settled down side by side. As rich as both the Xhosa and Pondo cultures are, the emphasis in this region is on more recent political history. This is where the "freedom culture" has its roots in the life stories of world icons like Mandela and the late Steve Biko.