There was a range of indigenous monuments, structures and landmarks that reflected the rich history and cultural diversity of the region's indigenous communities.
In the region of present day North West Province and parts of Gauteng, large stone-walled settlements built by the Tswana speaking communities had already been established years before the settlers arrived. The Tswana speaking people constructed expansive sophisticated settlements with stone walls that marked residences, livestock pens and public areas.
These structures reflected a high degree of social organisation and served as centres of trade and governance within these communities.
When the Europeans came they encountered evidence of complex societies with well-developed cultural practices, social structures and spiritual monuments.
The indigenous groups they encountered, such as the Tswana, Venda, Khoisan, and later Zulu and Xhosa, each had distinct cultural landmarks, from rock art and stone circles to sacred sites which often settlers overlooked, as they still do to date but that were integral to the communities they represented.
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