This study examines the complicated and ambiguous process of identity formation over several centuries in a corner of southeast Africa. In the region of eastern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique, the Ndau of the highlands and coastal plain drew on cultural, social, and political aspects of their identity to craft a sense of Ndauness between 1500 and 1900. The histories and material culture that shaped this sense of identity form the subject of this book. Ndau speakers came to be called Ndau long before the arrival of formal colonialism in the late nineteenth century, and I trace here the relationship between social identity and political power as far back as the fifteenth century to reveal how intriguing historical factors led to shifts in Ndauness before the arrival of missionaries and colonial officials on the continent. Drawing on rich historical data gathered from Ndau elders and gleaned in written documents, I contend that the shared Ndau identity that emerged in twentieth-century Zimbabwe and Mozambique stems from a long period of transformation that included the development of common cultural traits, mutually intelligible dialects, and a political history of both state formation and fragmentation.