During the 1800s and much of the 1900s, the glass factories of Murano, Venice, held the secret and the monopoly of seed bead manufacture. After the mid-1800s, these beads became increasingly available to southern African peoples through trade. At first, beads were the reserve of kings and chiefs. As aristocratic controls eased, supply increased, and cost fell, beadwork was embraced by all, resulting in extraordinary beadwork traditions in southern Africa.

By the 1870s, Venetian factories could produce seed beads of almost regular diameter and width in hundreds of colors, shapes, and sizes. By the turn of the century they were experimenting with proto-plastics. This wide range was available to indigenous peoples worldwide, but Southern African peoples were particular about the colors and sizes they chose. Their tastes also changed rapidly and could bankrupt traders who didn't keep up with fashion. Today, these shifts in fashion help experts date beadwork.

The Zulu and other Nguni peoples never carved masks or ancestor figures; instead, they venerated their ancestors through ceremonial events and gatherings. Beadwork became a vital ingredient in ceremonial and therefore religious life. Unfortunately, this is largely ignored in current conceptions of African Art. That beadwork is exclusively a women's art might be a contributing factor.

Venetian export statistics show that southern Africa was the largest importer of beads from 1932 to 1955. Consumption exceeded the rest of Africa combined, and all of North America. This is an index of the significance of beadwork in South Africa.

Beadwork always testified to the artistry of its maker. Apart from its religious function and fashion power, beadwork could also proclaim the wearer's age group and marital, social, and religious status, and his or her ethnic, sub-ethnic and regional identity.

Some beadwork, including "love letter" necklaces with a rectangular panel, used local color symbolism to convey specific messages about the status of courtship. The tourist industry seized upon this fact, and "Zulu Love Letters" are now made in Asia for resale to visitors to South Africa.