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Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age have been found in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The earliest known inhabitants of the region were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. Later, the population became predominantly Nguni during and after the great Bantu migrations. People speaking languages ancestral to the current Sotho and Nguni languages began settling no later than the 11th century. The country now derives its name from a 19th century king named Mswati II. Mswati II was the greatest of the fighting kings of Eswatini, and he greatly extended the area of the country to twice its current size. The people of Eswatini largely belong to a number of clans that can be categorized as Emakhandzambili , Bemdzabuko and Emafikamuva, depending on when and how they settled in Eswatini. They settled in the area between the Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean, and like other Bantu-speaking communities, they brought with them cattle, seeds to cultivate, and handmade iron, wood, animal skin, and clay products.

The Swazi people trace their origins to the Embo-Dlamini, a branch of the Embo-Nguni that originally settled in Tembeland, near present-day Delagoa Bay (Maputo) in Mozambique during the Bantu expansion. According to oral history, Chief Langa had two sons, Dlamini I and Hlubi, who led their factions of the Embo in different directions. Dlamini's followers, later known as the Embo-Dlamini or the Embo-Nguni of Dlamini, moved northward and formed the early Ngwane communities (bakaNgwane), from which the Swazi polity later developed. Several scholars emphasise that the ethnic and political formation that is today called the Kingdom of Eswatini particularly emerged in the eastern Maputaland-Lubombo region. During their settlement in present-day Lavumisa, followers of the two brothers, Dlamini and Hlubi, were called EmaLangeni ("people of Chief Langa"). and Mngomezulu.

Nineteenth-century British colonial records also linked the Tembe and Swazi chieftaincies. One document noted: “We observe that the words Kings are intended to signify the Kings of Swazi and Tembe.”

Portuguese explorers in 1589 recorded meeting a group of people in the Limpopo River region who called themselves "Vhambedzi" or "BaMbo". Historian J.S.M. Matsebula states that this was an earlier form of the present day Swazi people, who were identified by their use of reeds in the Zambezi River. He writes, it "infers that the Swazi people arrived in southern Africa through the use of reeds to cross the Zambezi (Vhambedzi) River". This is also evidenced in their praise names: ..tsine lesavela eluhlangeni ("..we originated from the reeds") and nine beluhlanga ("you of the reeds") referring to the Dlamini clan. The Vhambedzi or Vhambo were the Embo during their gradual movement southward to the Maputaland-Lubombo region. This is also evidenced in the fact that some early Bemdzabuko clans are surnamed Mhlanga ("reeds").

In the Crocodile River region, the Nguni separated into Ntungwa-Nguni, Embo-Nguni and Embo-Dlamini (also called Tekela-Nguni), the earliest form of the current Swazi people. The Embo-Nguni continued with their movement southward until they reached Delagoa Bay (Maputo) between the Lubombo Mountains and Indian Ocean, becoming one of the small chiefdoms under the Nyaka east of the Maputo River and the Tembe west of the river.

Before the Swazi moved to the Pongola River to seek independence, they had for many years been settled on the Tembe River and submitted to Tembe chiefs, who were powerful and wealthy from coastal trade The Tembe commanded influence across the Lubombo Mountains and southwards to the Lusutfu River., who became king or iNgwenyama of the Swazi people approximately between 1720 until 1744. King Dlamini III moved from the coast to settle in the Ngwavuma area of the Lubombo Mountains, where his subjects included the Nyawo, Mngomezulu, and Matsenjwa. He also built Hhohho as an administrative centre, governed by Mndindane Shiba. Ngwane III's praise names were Imamba letalela emacandza lalishumi nakubili itidlele ("The Mamba that lays twelve eggs and eats them"), in reference to his killing of all his male children. The Swazis were in constant conflict with their neighbours, the Ndwandwes under King Zwide kaLanga, a very capable war leader. This pushed the Swazi further north, with Ngwane III establishing his capital at Shiselweni at the foot of the Mhlosheni hills. His only remaining son, Ndvungunye, was spared and ascended the throne in 1780 following his death. Ndvungunye was married to the two KoNtjingila sisters, Lojiba Simelane and Somnjalose Simelane, after the Simelane clan escaped the Ndwandwe wars to Swaziland following the death of their chief, Mabonya Simelane, in a battle with Ndwandwe forces after the mid 18th century. Somnjalo bore King Sobhuza I. Ndvungunye had his royal kraal at Shiselweni at the foothills of the eMhlosheni mountains. He died in 1815 after being struck by lightning, and his son Sobhuza I, nicknamed Somhlolo, ("Mysterious man"), became the king. Sobhuza married the daughter of Ndwandwe King Zwide, Tsandzile Ndwandwe, who gave birth to King Mswati II, as part of ending the wars between the two nations. Under Sobhuza I, the Ngwane people eventually established their capital at Zombodze in the heartland of present-day Swaziland. In this process, they conquered and incorporated the long established clans who had been in the region before the Swazi's arrival, known to the Swazi as Emakhandzambili.

From the late 20th century, early Swazi history was further documented by the emergency of writers like J.S.M. Matsebula of A History of Swaziland editions and later through systematic oral-history research following the formation of the Swaziland Oral History Project in 1985.

Consolidation of the Swazi Nation (1740s–1868)

thumbnail|left|A 19th-century Swazi artifact

Swazis established a polity based on Kingship accompanied by Queen Mothers and during the minority of a crown prince a Queen Regent. Thus when Ngwane III died, LaYaka Ndwandwe, his mother, became the Queen Regent until Ngwane III's son Ndvungunye became the King in 1780, serving until 1815 when he was struck and killed by lightning. His administrative capital was in Shiselweni. He was succeeded by Sobhuza I after the regency of his Queen Regent Lomvula Mndzebele. Ngwane IV or Somhlolo, as Sobhuza I was also known as Sobhuza I, continued to expand the territory of Swaziland.

The conflict of Swaziland and the Ndwandwe kingdom led Somhlolo to move his capital from Zombodze in Shiselweni to the centre of Swaziland at another kraal called Zombodze. Somhlolo who became king in 1815 consolidated the order of the Ngwane state by incorporating the Emakhandzambili clans into his kingdom adding to the Bemdzabuko or true Swazi. Somhlolo was a strategic leader between 1815 and 1839 a period including the Mfecane period of Shaka Zulu a Zulu illegitimate child of Senzangakhona who created his kingdom from the

Mtetwa polity established by Dingiswayo. Sobhuza used his diplomatic skills to avoid conflict with Shaka by allying with him when it suited him. As a

result, Swaziland was left unaffected by the Mfecane wars. Somhlolo was succeeded in 1839 by his son Mswati II who is known as the greatest of the Swazi fighting kings.

Mswati inherited an area which extended as far as present-day Barberton in the north and included the Nomahasha district in the Portuguese territory of Mozambique. Following this, many governmental and non-governmental bodies, corporations and international organizations changed all mention of Swaziland to Eswatini.

On 19 April 2018, King Mswati III announced that the Kingdom of Swaziland had renamed itself the Kingdom of Eswatini to mark the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence. The new name, Eswatini, means "land of the Swazis" in the Swazi language, and was partially intended to prevent confusion with the similarly named Switzerland.

List of Eswatini kings

References

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  • Background Note: Swaziland