Fingoland

It was inhabited primarily by the Xhosa people of the Mfengu clans, and was located in the south-west portion of the "Transkei" region.

The region that was later known as the Transkei was originally divided into territories known as the Idutywa Reserve, Fingoland (Mfenguland) and Xhosaland.

Within the Transkei region, Fingoland is located in the far south-west corner on the coast, just south of Tembuland and west of Pondoland.

Iron-working, farming, speakers of Nguni languages arrived in the first millennium AD, the fore-front of the great "Bantu Migration" from further north.

The Fengu people, whose name means "Wanderers", arrived in the area in the early 1800s fleeing from Shaka's Zulu armies in the east.

Map of Fingoland and surrounding territories of the Eastern Cape. South Africa. 1911.
The amaFengu , known across southern Africa as skilled gunmen, were invaluable allies of the Cape in its frontier wars.