The Venda (VhaVenda or Vhangona) are a Southern African Bantu people living mostly near the South African-Zimbabwean border. The history of the Venda starts from the Kingdom of Mapungubwe (9th Century) where King Shiriyadenga wasthe first king of Venda and Mapungubwe. The Mapungubwe Kingdom stretched from the Soutpansberg inthe south, across the Limpopo River to the Matopos in the north. The Kingdom declined from 1240, andpower moved north to the Great Zimbabwe Kingdom.The first Venda settlement in the Soutpansberg was that of the legendary chief Thoho-ya-Ndou (Head of theElephant). His royal kraal was called D’zata, the remains of this have been declared a National Monument. The Mapungubwe Collection is amuseum collection of artifacts found at the archaeological site and is housed in the