Early Africa
The Bantu Migration
The Bantu expansion, or a postulated millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of the
original proto-Bantu language group, originated from the adjoining regions of Cameroon and
Nigeria about 3,000 years ago, eventually reaching South Africa around 300 CE.
The Bantu expansion is the name for a postulated millennia-long series of migrations of
speakers of the original proto-Bantu language group. The primary evidence for this
expansion has been linguistic, namely that the languages spoken in sub-Equatorial Africa
are remarkably similar to each other.
It seems likely that the expansion of the Bantu-speaking people from their core region in
West Africa began around 1000 BCE. The western branch possibly followed the coast
and the major rivers of the Congo system southward, reaching central Angola by around
500 BCE.
Further east, Bantu-speaking communities had reached the great Central African
rainforest, and by 500 BCE pioneering groups had emerged into the savannas to the
south, in what are now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Zambia.
Another stream of migration, moving east by 1000 BCE, was creating a major new
population center near the Great Lakes of East Africa. Pioneering groups had reached
modern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa by CE 300 along the coast, and the modern
Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Transvaal) by 500 CE.
Before the expansion of farming5and pastoralist5African peoples, Southern Africa was
populated by hunter-gatherers5and earlier pastoralists. The Bantu expansion5first
introduced Bantu peoples to Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa, regions they had
previously been absent from. The proto-Bantu migrants in the process assimilated and/or
displaced a number of earlier inhabitants.
The relatively powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local
chiefdoms5began to emerge in the regions when the Bantu peoples settled from the 13th
century onward. By the 19th century, groups with no previous distinction gained political
and economic prominence.
Key Terms
Trekboers: Nomadic pastoralists descended from mostly Dutch colonists, French
Huguenots, and German Protestants in the Cape Colony5(founded in 1652). They began
migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town during the
late 17th century and throughout the 18th century.
KwaZulu-Natal: A province of South Africa5that was created in 1994 when the Zulu
bantustan5of KwaZulu5(“Place of the Zulu” in Zulu) and Natal Province5were merged. It
is located in the southeast of the country, enjoying a long shoreline beside the Indian
Ocean5and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique,
Swaziland, and Lesotho.
Monomatapa: A Portuguese name for the Kingdom of Mutapa, a Shona5kingdom, which
stretched from the Zambezi5through the Limpopo5rivers to the Indian Ocean in Southern
Africa, in what are the modern states of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland,
Mozambique, and parts of Namibia and Botswana, stretching well into modern Zambia.
Its founders are descendants of the builders who constructed Great Zimbabwe.
The Bantu expansion: A postulated millennia-long series of migrations of speakers of
the original proto-Bantu language group.5The primary evidence for this expansion has
been linguistic, namely that the languages spoken in sub-Equatorial Africa5are
remarkably similar to each other.
Bantu languages: A traditional branch of the Niger-Congo languages. It is not known
how many of them exist today, but Ethnologue5counts 535 languages. They are spoken
mostly east and south of present-day Cameroon, that is, in the regions commonly known
as Central Africa, Southeast Africa, and Southern Africa.
Bantu Migration: Background
The Bantu expansion is the name for a postulated millennia-long series of migrations of speakers
of the original proto- Bantu language group. The primary evidence for this expansion has been
linguistic, namely that the languages spoken in sub-Equatorial Africa are remarkably similar to
each other. Attempts to trace the exact route of the expansion, to correlate it with archaeological
evidence and genetic evidence, have not been conclusive. Many aspects of the expansion remain
in doubt or are highly contested. The linguistic core of the Bantu family of languages, a branch
of the Niger-Congo language family, was located in the adjoining region of Cameroon and
Nigeria. From this core, expansion began about 3,000 years ago, with one stream going into East
Africa, and other streams going south along the African coast of Gabon, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and Angola, or inland along the many south-to-north flowing rivers of
the Congo River system. The expansion eventually reached South Africa as early as 300 CE.
The Expansion
It seems likely that the expansion of the Bantu-speaking people from their core region in West
Africa began around 1000 BCE. Although early models posited that the early speakers were both
iron-using and agricultural, archaeology has shown that they did not use iron until as late as 400
BCE, though they were agricultural. The western branch, not necessarily linguistically distinct,
according to Christopher Ehret, followed the coast and the major rivers of the Congo system
southward, reaching central Angola by around 500 BCE. Further east, Bantu-speaking
communities had reached the great Central African rainforest, and by 500 BCE, pioneering
groups had emerged into the savannas to the south, in what are now the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Angola, and Zambia.
Another stream of migration, moving east by 1000 BCE, was creating a major new population
center near the Great Lakes of East Africa, where a rich environment supported a dense
population. Movements by small groups to the southeast from the Great Lakes region were more
rapid, with initial settlements widely dispersed near the coast and near rivers due to
comparatively harsh farming conditions in areas further from water. Pioneering groups had
reached modern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa by 300 CE along the coast, and the modern
Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Transvaal) by 500 CE.
The Bantu expansion Map legend: 15= 2000–1500 BC origin; 25= ca.1500 BCE first
migrations; 2.a5= Eastern African,5 2.b5= Western African; 35= 1000–500 BCE Urewe5nucleus of
Eastern African; 4–75= southward advance; 9= 500 BCE–0 Congo nucleus; 105= CE 0–1000 last
phase.
5
Effects of the Bantu Migration
Archaeological, linguistic, genetic, and environmental evidence all support the conclusion that
the Bantu expansion was a long process of multiple human migrations. Before the expansion of
farming5and pastoralist5African peoples, Southern Africa was populated by hunter-gatherers5and
earlier pastoralists. The Bantu expansion5first introduced Bantu peoples to Central, Southern, and
Southeast Africa, regions they had previously been absent from. The proto-Bantu migrants in the
process assimilated and/or displaced a number of earlier inhabitants that they came across,
including Pygmy5and Khoisan5populations in the center and south, respectively. They also
encountered some Afro-Asiatic5outlier groups in the southeast, who had migrated down from
Northeast Africa.
In Eastern5and Southern Africa, Bantu speakers may have adopted livestock husbandry from
other unrelated Cushitic- and Nilotic-speaking peoples they encountered. Herding practices
reached the far south several centuries before Bantu-speaking migrants did.
Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the relatively powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale
larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge in the Great Lakes region, in the savanna south of
the Central African rainforest, and on the Zambezi river where the Monomatapa5kings built the
famous Great Zimbabwe 5complex. Such processes of state-formation occurred with increasing
frequency from the 16th century onward. This was probably due to denser populations, which led
to more specialized divisions of labor, including military power, while making outmigration
more difficult. Other factors included increased trade among African communities and with
European and Arab traders on the coasts, technological developments in economic activity, and
new techniques in the political-spiritual ritualization of royalty as the source of national strength
and health.
By the time Great Zimbabwe had ceased being the capital of a large trading empire, speakers of
Bantu languages were present throughout much of Southern Africa. Two main groups developed
—the Nguni (Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi), who occupied the eastern coastal plains, and the Sotho-
Tswana, who lived on the interior plateau.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, two major events occurred. The Trekboers were
colonizing new areas of Southern Africa, moving northeast from the Cape Colony, and they
came into contact with the Xhosa, the Southern Nguni. At the same time the area in modern-day
KwaZulu-Natal was populated by dozens of small clans, one of which was the Zulu, then a
particularly small clan of no local distinction whatsoever. In 1816, Shaka,
one of the most influential monarchs5of the Zulu Kingdom, acceded to the Zulu throne. Within a
year he had conquered the neighboring clans and had made the Zulu into the most important ally
of the large Mtetwa clan, which was in competition with the Ndwandwe clan for domination of
the northern part of modern-day KwaZulu-Natal.
Currently,
300-600 ethnic groups in Africa5speak Bantu languages and are categorized as Bantu peoples. It
is not known how many Bantu language exist today, but Ethnologue5counts 535. They are
spoken mostly5east and south of present-day Cameroon, that is, in the regions commonly known
as Central Africa, Southeast Africa, and Southern Africa. Parts of the Bantu area include
languages from other language families.
