Sena | |
|---|---|
 A Lemba man from the Gutu District | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| South Africa (esp. Limpopo Province), Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe | |
| Languages | |
| Presently Venda, Karanga and Pedi (Previously Old South Arabian languages) | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Islam, Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Swahili, Shirazi, Hadhrami |
The Lemba, Remba, or Mwenye[1] are an ethnic group which is native to South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe of mixed Bantu and Yemeni heritage. Within South Africa, they are particularly concentrated in the Limpopo province (historically around Sekhukuneland) and the Mpumalanga province.
Since the late twentieth century, there has been increased media and scholarly attention about the Lemba's common descent from Semitic peoples.[2][3] Genetic Y-DNA analyses have established a paternal Middle-Eastern origin for the majority of the Lemba population.[4][5]
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor (4 April 2000). Journey to the Vanished City: The Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-375-72454-1. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
- ^ Parfitt, Tudor (1993/2000) Journey to the Vanished City: the Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel, New York: Random House (2nd edition)
- ^ Parfitt(2002), "The Lemba", p. 39
- ^ Spurdle, AB; Jenkins, T (November 1996), "The origins of the Lemba "Black Jews" of southern Africa: evidence from p12F2 and other Y-chromosome markers.", Am. J. Hum. Genet., 59 (5): 1126–33, PMC 1914832, PMID 8900243
- ^ Soodyal, H (2013). "Lemba origins revisited: Tracing the ancestry of Y chromosomes in South African and Zimbabwean Lemba". South African Medical Journal. 103 (12). Retrieved 9 May 2014.