| Umbuso weSwatini
Kingdom of Swaziland
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| Motto: "Siyinqaba" (Swati) "We are a fortress" "We are a mystery/riddle" "We hide ourselves away" |
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| Anthem: Nkulunkulu Mnikati wetibusiso temaSwati |
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| Capital | Lobamba (royal and legislative) Mbabane (administrative; coordinates below) |
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| Largest city | Manzini | |||||
| Official languages | English, SiSwati | |||||
| Demonym | Swazi | |||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||
| - | King | Mswati III | ||||
| - | Indlovukazi | Queen Ntombi | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Themba Dlamini | ||||
| - | Deputy Prime Minister | Constance Simelane | ||||
| Independence | ||||||
| - | from the United Kingdom | September 6, 1968 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 17,364 km² (157th) 6,704 sq mi |
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| - | Water (%) | 0. The flag of Swaziland was adopted on October 6, 1968. The red stands for past battles the blue for peace and stability and the yellow for the The coat of arms of Swaziland is a Coat of arms depicting various symbols for traditional Swaziland culture A motto (from the Italian word motto, meaning witticism sentence is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history traditions and struggles of its people recognized either by a nation's "Nkulunkulu Mnikati wetibusiso temaSwati" is the National anthem of Swaziland. Lobamba is the traditional and legislative Capital of Swaziland, seat of the Parliament and residence of the Queen Mother. Mbabane, with an estimated population of 70000 (2003 is the Capital of Swaziland. The majority of Swaziland 's population is ethnic Swazi, mixed with a small number of Zulus and white Africans mostly whites of British and Afrikaner Manzini is a Market town in central Swaziland and is the nation's largest city and main industrial centre. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a People or the inhabitants of a place The Swazi are a Bantu -speaking people in southeastern Africa, chiefly in Swaziland and South Africa and some in Mozambique, who speak For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. A monarchy is a Form of government in which supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in an individual who is the Head of state, often for life or This page contains a list of Paramount chiefs and kings ( Ngwenyamas) of Swaziland. Mswati III (born Makhosetive on April 19, 1968) of Swaziland is the king of Swaziland and head of the Swazi Royal Family Ndlovukati (pl Tindlovukati) is a Swati title ( Indlovukazi in Zulu)that roughly means Queen Mother or Senior Queen and is given preferentially Ntombi, Indovukazi of Swaziland (born c 1950 has been the Indovukazi (Great She-Elephant and Joint Head of State of Swaziland since 1986 Heads of Government See also List of Kings of Swaziland Lists of incumbents Absalom Themba Dlamini (born 1950 is the current Prime Minister of Swaziland. Independence is the Self-government of a Nation, Country, or State by its residents and population or some portion thereof generally exercising The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. To help compare Orders of magnitude of different geographical regions Areas between 10000 km² and 100000 km² are listed here This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by total area. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. Water is a common Chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of Life. In Mathematics, a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a Fraction of 100 ( per cent meaning "per hundred" 9 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | July 2005 estimate | 1,032,0001 (154th) | ||||
| - | 2004 census | 1. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology List of countries by population in 2005|List of countries by population in 1907This is a list of countries ordered according to Population. 1 million | ||||
| - | Density | 59/km² (135th) 153/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2004 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $2. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume List of countries and dependencies by Population density in inhabitants/km² The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. 8 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $1,553 | ||||
| Gini (1994) | 60. Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning for each head with Per meaning 'through' or 'by' The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth 9 (high) | |||||
| HDI (2007) | ▲ 0. The Human Development Index ( HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of Life expectancy, Literacy, Educational attainment, and GDP 547 (medium) (141st) | |||||
| Currency | Lilangeni (SZL) |
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| Time zone | (UTC+2) | |||||
| Internet TLD | .sz | |||||
| Calling code | +268 | |||||
| 1 | Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to diabetes; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected. This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in the United Nations Development Program 's Human Development Report 2007 A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is The lilangeni (plural emalangeni, ISO 4217 code SZL) is the currency of Swaziland and is subdivided into 100 cents ISO 4217 is the International standard describing three-letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established A country This is a list of country calling codes defined by ITU-T recommendation E | |||||
The Kingdom of Swaziland is a small, landlocked country in southern Africa (one of the smallest on the continent), embedded between South Africa on all sides except to the east, where it is surrounded by Mozambique. A landlocked country is commonly defined as one enclosed or nearly enclosed by land The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa The country, inhabited primarily by Bantu-speaking Swazi people, is named after the 19th century king Mswati II, from whom the people also take their name. Bantu may refer to Bantu expansion, a series of migrations of Bantu speakers Bantu languages Bantu people The Swazi are a Bantu -speaking people in southeastern Africa, chiefly in Swaziland and South Africa and some in Mozambique, who speak Mswati II (otherwise known as Mswazi, Mavuso or Mdvuso) (1820? - 1868 was the King of Swaziland between 1840 and 1868
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History
Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age 200,000 years ago have been found in the kingdom of Swaziland. According to tradition the original followers of the present Dlamini royal house of the Swazi nation migrated south before the 16th century to what is now Mozambique. Prehistoric rock art paintings date from ca. 25,000 B. C. and continue up to the 19th century.
The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. Khoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan or Khoe-San) is the name for two major Ethnic groups of Southern Africa. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting They were largely replaced by the Bantu tribes during Bantu migrations. Human migration denotes any movement by Humans from one locality to another sometimes over long distances or Evidence of agriculture and iron use dates from about the 4th century, and people speaking languages ancestral to current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the 11th century. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 The Sotho-Tswana language group is a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa including Tswana ( Setswana) Northern Sotho
The ruling Dlamini lineage had chiefships in the region in the 18th century. An enlarged Swazi (occasionally also written as Suozi) kingdom was established by King Sobhuza I in the early 19th century. Sobhuza I (Ngwane IV Dlamini (ca 1780 - 1839? was king ( Ngwenyama) of KaNgwane, now known as Swaziland, from 1805(? to 1839(? Soon thereafter the first whites started to settle in the area. In the 1890s the South African Republic in the Transvaal claimed sovereignty over Swaziland but never fully established power. This article is about the former country in Africa For the present-day country see South Africa; for the region where both are located see Southern Africa For the Russian theme park see Transvaal Park. The Transvaal (Afrikaans lit After the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, Swaziland became a British protectorate. See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located In International law, a protectorate is a autonomous territory that is "protected" by a stronger state or entity hense the protector which engages to protect The country was granted independence within the Commonwealth of Nations on September 6, 1968. Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Since then, Swaziland has seen a struggle between pro-democracy activists and the monarchy.
Politics
- See also: Foreign relations of Swaziland and Military of Swaziland
The head of state is the king or Ngwenyama (lit. Politics of Swaziland takes place in a mixed framework of an Absolute monarchy and a Constitutional monarchy. Swaziland maintains diplomatic relations with the Republic of China ( Taiwan) instead of with the People's Republic of China. The military of Swaziland has no important political function per se Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a Monarchic or Republican Nation-state Ngwenyama is the title of the male ruler or king of Swaziland counterpart of the Ndlovukati. Lion), currently King Mswati III, who ascended to the throne in 1986 after the death of his father King Sobhuza II in 1982 and a period of regency. Mswati III (born Makhosetive on April 19, 1968) of Swaziland is the king of Swaziland and head of the Swazi Royal Family Ngwenyama Sobhuza II ( July 22, 1899 – August 21, 1982) was the Paramount Chief and later King of Swaziland. By tradition, the king reigns along with his mother or a ritual substitute, the Ndlovukati (lit. Ndlovukati (pl Tindlovukati) is a Swati title ( Indlovukazi in Zulu)that roughly means Queen Mother or Senior Queen and is given preferentially She-Elephant). The former was viewed as the administrative head of state and the latter as a spiritual and national head of state, with real power counter-balancing that of the king, but during the long reign of Sobhuza II the role of the Ndlovukati became more symbolic. As the monarch, the king not only appoints the prime minister — the head of government — but also appoints a small number of representatives for both chambers of the Libandla (parliament). The Parliament of Swaziland ( Swazi: Libandla consists of two chambers The Senate ( Upper Chamber)(Indlu yeTimphunga The Senate consists of 30 members, while the House of Assembly has 82 seats, 55 of which are occupied by elected representatives, (elections are held every five years in November). The Senate of Swaziland is the Upper chamber of the country's Bicameral Parliament. The House of Assembly of Swaziland is the Lower chamber of the country's Bicameral Parliament.
The Westminster-style constitution that was adopted in 1968 was suspended by King Sobhuza in 1973 under a royal decree backed by the royalist majority of parliament, in effect a coup by the government against its own constitution. The Westminster system is a democratic Parliamentary system of Government modelled after the British government (the Parliament of the United The State of Emergency has since been lifted, or so the government claims even though political activities, especially by pro-democracy movements, are suppressed. In 2001 King Mswati III appointed a committee to draft a new constitution. Drafts were released for comment in May 2003 and November 2004. These were strongly criticized by civil society organizations in Swaziland and human rights organizations elsewhere. In 2005, the constitution was put into effect, though there is still much debate in the country about the constitutional reforms. From the early seventies, there was active resistance to the royal hegemony.
Despite calls for international solidarity against the oppressive royal regime, Swaziland's human rights record remains largely ignored by the international community. The South African trade union COSATU has been the most vocal supporters of the rights of the Swazi people to govern themselves by democratic means.
In 2007 a film entitled Without the King[1] about the political climate of Swaziland was released.
Administrative Divisions
Swaziland is divided into four regional administrative districts: Hhohho, Manzini, Lubombo and Shiselweni. |||} Swaziland is divided into four districts Hhohho Lubombo Manzini Shiselweni Districts are a type of Administrative division, in some countries managed by a Local government. Hhohho is a district of Swaziland, located in the northwest of the country Manzini is a Market town in central Swaziland and is the nation's largest city and main industrial centre. Lubombo may refer to Lubombo District, Swaziland Lubombo Mountains, Southern Africa Shiselweni is a District of Swaziland, located in the southwest of the Country. Regions are further subdivided into tinkhundla administered by the tindvuna (royal aides or governors); each inkhundla in turn comprises several chiefdoms governed by chiefs as well as urban municipal areas and private lands. In Swaziland, an inkhundla (plural tinkhundla) is an administrative subdivision smaller than a District, but larger than an Umphakatsi. A traditional tribal chief is the leader of a Tribe, or the head of a tribal form of self-government
Geography
The area of Swaziland is 17,364 square kilometers. Swaziland is a country in Southern Africa, lying between Mozambique and South Africa. In Computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a Data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of Pixels The Map Library should not be confused with the Map Library of The British Museum. It borders two countries, South Africa and Mozambique. Swaziland offers a wide variety of landscapes, from the mountains along the Mozambican border to savannas in the east and rainforest in the northwest. A savanna or savannah is a Tropical or Subtropical Grassland or Woodland Ecosystem. Rainforests are Forests characterized by high Rainfall with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches Several rivers flow through the country, such as the Great Usuthu River.
Economy
Swaziland's economy can be correctly classified as kleptocratic due to the fact that it is a small economy that benefits a minority whose participation in it is safeguarded by relations with power. Swaziland is a small and landlocked Economy, in which Subsistence agriculture occupies more than 80% of the population A kleptocracy (sometimes cleptocracy, occasionally kleptarchy) ( root klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) is a term applied to a About 70% of Swazis live in rural areas that are periodically ravaged by drought, resulting in food crises that threaten hundreds of thousands with hunger. The unemployment rate is approximately 40%, and nearly 70% of the population live on less than one US dollar per day. The country has grown in to a medium Human Development Index (HDI) development score. The Human Development Index ( HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of Life expectancy, Literacy, Educational attainment, and GDP Economic growth has wavered in the past few years, exacerbated by the economy's inability to create new jobs at the same rate that new job seekers enter the market. This is due largely to the country's population growth rate, which strains the natural resources and the country's ability to provide adequate social services, such as health care and education. Social work is a discipline involving the application of Social theory and research methods to study and improve the lives of people groups and societies Health care is the prevention treatment and management of illness and the preservation of mental health through the services offered by the medical, Nursing Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and floods are persistent problems
In 2004, Swaziland acknowledged for the first time that it suffered an AIDS crisis, with 38. Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to Livestock Grazing for extended periods of time or without sufficient recovery periods Land degradation are a concept in which the value of the Biophysical environment is affected by one or more combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land a deluge 8% of the population infected with HIV (see AIDS in Africa). The HIV / AIDS epidemics spreading through the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are highly varied Prime Minister Themba Dlamini declared a humanitarian crisis due to the combined effect of drought, land degradation, increased poverty, and HIV/AIDS. Absalom Themba Dlamini (born 1950 is the current Prime Minister of Swaziland. The former United Nations special envoy on AIDS, Stephen Lewis, said “Swaziland stands alone with the world's highest rate of HIV infection after nearby Botswana made headway against the deadly pandemic”. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa.
Nearly 60% of Swazi territory is publicly held by the crown in the trust of the Swazi nation. Despite the territories being held in trust by the crown, the land is still distributed to the people. The people are privileged to grow crops, make profit from selling their crops, graze live stock and build traditional/ modern homes with out having to pay any tax/rates to the government. Most of the private ownership on the remaining 40% is by mixed Swazis, black Swazis, white Swazis and foreign investors. Part of the remaining 40% also includes the government and Tibiyo TakaNgwane, a company once held in trust on behalf of the Swazi nation but now serving the interests of the royal family. The question of land use and ownership remains very sensitive in the country. For Swazi living in rural homesteads, the principal occupation is a combination of subsistence farming, livestock herding, and migration by some homestead members to urban work or small-scale trade, in Swaziland or South Africa. Cattle are traditionally important symbols of wealth and status.
Swaziland has well-developed road links with South Africa. It also has railroads running east to west and north to south. The older east-west link, called the Goba line, makes it possible to export bulk goods from Swaziland through the Port of Maputo in Mozambique. Goba is a town in south-central Ethiopia. Located in Maputo, formerly Lourenço Marques, is the Capital and largest city of Mozambique. Until recently, most of Swaziland's imports were shipped through this port. Conflict in Mozambique in the 1980s diverted many Swazi exports to ports in South Africa. A north-south rail link, completed in 1986, provides a connection between the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) rail network and the South African ports of Richards Bay and Durban. Richards Bay is a city encompassing one of South Africa 's largest Harbours. Durban (eThekwini is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the EThekwini metropolitan municipality.
The sugar industry, based solely on irrigated cane, is Swaziland's leading export earner and private-sector employer. Soft drink concentrate (a US investment) is the country's largest export earner, followed by wood pulp and lumber from cultivated pine forests. Pineapple, citrus fruit, and cotton are other important agricultural exports. Pineapple ( Ananas comosus) is the common name for an edible Tropical Plant and also its Fruit It is native to the southern part of Brazil Citrus is a common term and Genus of Flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, originating in tropical and subtropical southeast regions of Cotton is a soft staple Fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant ( Gossypium sp Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture
Swaziland mines coal and diamonds for export. In Mineralogy, diamond is the allotrope of carbon where the carbon atoms are arranged in There also is a quarry industry for domestic consumption. A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or Minerals are extracted Mining contributes about 1. 8% of Swaziland's GDP each year but has been declining in importance in recent years mainly due to new legislation that guarantees that the king will have ownership of 10% of the shares in each mining enterprise.
Recently, a number of industrial firms have located at the industrial estate at Matsapha near Manzini. In addition to processed agricultural and forestry products, the fast-growing industrial sector at Matsapha also produces garments, textiles, and a variety of light manufactured products. The Swaziland Industrial Development Company (SIDC) and the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA) have assisted in bringing many of these industries to the country. Government programs encourage Swazi entrepreneurs to run small and medium-sized firms. Tourism also is important, attracting more than 424,000 visitors annually (mostly from Europe and South Africa).
From the mid-1980s foreign investment in the manufacturing sector boosted economic growth rates significantly, in part due to efforts to evade anti-apartheid sanctions against South Africa. Since mid-1985, the depleted value of the currency has increased the competitiveness of Swazi exports and moderated the growth of imports, generating trade surpluses. During the 1990s, the country often ran small trade deficits as some companies moved to South Africa. South Africa and the European Union are major customers for Swazi exports. The United States is a significant market for Swazi sugar, a market that would presumably extend to textiles should Swaziland become a beneficiary of the African Growth Opportunity Act.
The official currency is the lilangeni (plural: emalangeni), which is at par with the South African rand. The lilangeni (plural emalangeni, ISO 4217 code SZL) is the currency of Swaziland and is subdivided into 100 cents The rand ( sign: R; code: ZAR) is the Currency of South Africa. Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, and the Republic of South Africa form the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), where import duties apply uniformly to member countries. Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa also are members of the Common Monetary Area (CMA) in which repatriation and unrestricted funds are permitted. Repatriation (from late Latin repatriare - to restore someone to his homeland is the process of return of Refugees or Soldiers to their homes
Swaziland is in the process or formulating an Action Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, which is expected to be adopted in the period 2006-2007.
A large part of the Swaziland's revenue comes from The Coca Cola Company, who for tax reasons and the easy access to vast amounts of cheap raw Swazi sugar, have located their concentrate plant in the country. The Coca Cola Company Concentrate plant exports to a wide range of countries in Africa and elsewhere. It is now a yearly tradition for the King to pay a visit to the CEO of Coca Cola at their headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Culture
- See also: Music of Swaziland
Swaziland's most well-known cultural event is the annual Reed Dance. The African nation of Swaziland, located in between South Africa and Mozambique, is an ancient land dominated by the Swazi people and Ethnic Swazi For the area north of Durban see Umhlanga KwaZulu-Natal. The Umhlanga (Reed Dance is a traditional dance where twenty to thirty thousand of The country was under the chastity rite of "umchwasho" until 19 August 2005. Sexual abstinence is the practice of voluntarily refraining from some or all aspects of Sexual activity. A rite is an established ceremonious usually Religious act or Process art. Umchwasho is a Traditional chastity Rite in Swaziland. While the rite is active unmarried women are not allowed to have sexual relations and Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
- See also: Martha Mphahlele "A Time of Bliss" story about Swazi culture
Demographics
The majority of Swaziland's population is ethnically Swazi, mixed with a small number of Zulu and White Africans, mostly people of British and Afrikaner descent. The majority of Swaziland 's population is ethnic Swazi, mixed with a small number of Zulus and white Africans mostly whites of British and Afrikaner The Swazi are a Bantu -speaking people in southeastern Africa, chiefly in Swaziland and South Africa and some in Mozambique, who speak The Zulu ( IsiZulu: amaZulu) are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10-11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal British people, or Britons, are the native inhabitants of Great Britain and their descendants or citizens of the United Kingdom, of the The term Afrikaner people refers to white Afrikaans -speaking people who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century and are mainly of northwestern Traditionally Swazi have been subsistence farmers and herders, but most now mix such activities with work in the growing urban formal economy and in government. Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficient farming in which farmers grow only enough food to feed the family and to pay taxes or feudal dues Some Swazi work in the mines in South Africa. Swaziland also received Portuguese settlers and African refugees from Mozambique. The Portuguese people (os Portugueses literally the Portuguese) are the Ethnic group or Nation native to the country of Portugal, in the west Christianity in Swaziland is sometimes mixed with traditional beliefs and practices. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Many traditionalists believe that most Swazi ascribe a special spiritual role to the monarch. This has been documented as being a myth, however, as many Swazi merely associate with the mornachy for materialistic motives. Swaziland is widely recognised as having the lowest life expectancy in the world (40% below average) at 39 years.
Languages
SiSwati[2] (also known as Swati, Swazi or Seswati) is a Bantu language of the Nguni Group, spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa It has 2. 5 million speakers and is taught in schools. It is an official language of Swaziland (along with English) and one of the official languages of South Africa. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa
About 76,000 people in the country speak Zulu. Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu is a Language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers the vast majority (over 95% of whom live in South [3] Tsonga, which is spoken by many people throughout the region is spoken by about 19,000 people in Swaziland.
Religions
The most common religion in Swaziland is Christianity which totals 82. The population of Swaziland is approximately 35 percent Protestant, 30 percent African Zionist, 25 percent Catholic, and 1 percent Muslim. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings 70% of the total population, in which various indigenous African churches constitute the majority, followed closely by Roman Catholicism. African Initiated Church is a Christian denomination started in Africa by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent There are also non-Christian religions practised in the country such as Islam (0. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. 95%), the Bahá'í Faith (0. The Bahá'í Faith is a Religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind 5%), and Hinduism (0. Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. 15%). [4]
See also
References
Further reading
External links
- Government of Swaziland
- Swaziland Tourism Authority
- Swaziland Directory
Wikimedia Atlas of Swaziland- Swaziland travel guide from Wikitravel
- Wikia has a wiki on this subject: Swaziland
- Swaziland entry at The World Factbook
- Swaziland at the Open Directory Project
- US State Department - Swaziland includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
- Swaziland Internet Cafe directory
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