HISTORY OF THE ABAMBO,

Generally known as the Fingoes

First edition: 101 pages, bound in the original light blue printed paper wrappers slightly frayed on the spine, a good copy.

Extracted from Chidester (David) African Traditional Religion in South Africa: An Annotated Bibliography, Greenwood Press, 1997.‘Ayliff and Whiteside’s work is an historical account of the Abambo people that begins with their settlement in the Buffalo River Valley below the Drakensberg in Natal in 1800. The account describes their defeat by the Zulu in approximately 1818, and their subsequent dispersal as the Fingo to the Transkei, where, according to the authors, they lived as servants to the Xhosa before being “liberated” by the British Government. Descriptions follow of the War of the Axe and Mlanjeni; Fingo tribal expansion; the Disarmament Act; and the Glen Grey Act. The authors write from a colonialist perspective, and accounts of the religious beliefs and practices tend to be superficial. List of Fingo chiefdoms, genealogical trees, and names of chiefs and headmen are appended.’