prevalent within the Empire due largely to the new reality and they adopted the Xitsonga language in the Transvaal but still largely identify with Nguni customs. In modern South Africa, the integration of such tribes has led to a social cohesion drive where some of the Tsonga people believe they face an identity crisis as a result of perceived tribalism of the Ndwandwe Shangaan tribe against the original Tsonga tribes. Another factor is the Gaza-Shangaan people's association with a history of oppression and exploitation that the inhabitants of Mozambique suffered under the rule of the Gaza Empire during the 1800s, which has been well-documented by reliable sources and is a subject of much controversy and debate. Clan structures The Tsonga ethnic group has been united by the gradual assimilation of various nearing tribes found in abundance within Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa respectively. Historical research indicates that the development of a common language (Xitsonga) as well as cultural integration within the Tsonga ethnic group has been occurring ever since the 1200s (over 800 years ago). It is possible that different conflicting groups sought to establish protection alliances and thus integrated their tribes into a common establishment or to secure trade. Language appears to be the dominant factor in uniting the Tsonga tribes, similarly to the Venda people who are also of various tribes united by the Venda language. The Tembe nation is probably one of the most influential in the east coast and one of the first people to settle in the northern parts of Kwazulu natal and southern Mozambique, and various clans like the Dlamini, Gumedes, mashabanes, Matshinyes, Nyakas To mention a few identify themselves with Tembe nations or being identical with the Tembe. One of earliest Northern Tsonga kingdom within South African territory was located in between the confluence of Levhuvhu River and Shingwedzi River from time immemorial to the late 1800s under the Hlengwe Dynasty of Mahimi Mkhumuli Mabasa/Chauke and in the late 1900s was the Mhinga Dynasty, who founded Malamulele (the Rescuer) and further formed the leadership of the Gazankulu territorial authority around the 1960s in what is today the eastern parts of the Limpopo province. The Van'wanati clan according to Henry A. Junod (1912) are also the ones who re-assimilated the Baloyi and Vanyayi clans who left the Kalanga country and became Tsonga-speaking. However the Baloyi were part of the original Thonga cluster of clans