Bantu expansion

Theories on expansion Bantuists believe that the Bantu expansion most likely began on the highlands between Cameroon and Nigeria . [ 1 ] The 60,000-km 2 Mambilla region straddling the borderlands here has been identified as containing remnants of "the Bantu who stayed home" as the bulk of Bantu-speakers moved away from the region. Archaeological evidence from the separate works of Jean Hurault (1979, 1986 and 1988) and Rigobert Tueché (2000) in the region indicates cultural continuity from 3000 BC until today. [ 2 ] The majority of the groups of the Bamenda highlands (occupied for 2000 years until today), somewhat south and contiguous with the Mambilla region, have an ancient history of descent from the north in the direction of the Mambilla region. Initially, archaeologists assumed that they could find archaeological similarities in the region's ancient cultures that the Bantu-speakers were held to have traversed. Linguists, classifying the languages and creating a genealogical table of relationships, thought they could reconstruct material culture elements. They presumed that the expansion was caused by the development of agriculture, the making of ceramics, and the use of iron, which permitted new ecological zones to be exploited. In 1966, Roland Oliver published an article presenting these correlations as a reasonable hypothesis. [ 3 ] The hypothesized Bantu expansion pushed out or assimilated the hunter-forager proto- Khoisan , who had formerly inhabited Southern Africa. In Eastern and 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. Archaeological , linguistic , genetic , and environmental evidence all support the conclusion that the Bantu expansion was a significant human migration. Generally, the movements of Bantu language-speaking peoples from the Cameroon/Nigeria border region throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa radically reshaped the genetic structure of the continent and led to extensive admixture between migrants and local populations. [ 4 ] A 2023 genetic study of 1,487 Bantu speakers sampled from 143 populations across 14 African countries revealed that the expansion occurred ~4,000 years ago in Western Africa. The results showed that Bantu speakers received significant gene-flow from local groups in regions they expanded into. [ 5 ] The predominant paternal haplogroup among the Bantu is E1b1a1-M2 . [ 6 ] The ancestors of the Bantu originally came from Northeast Africa and moved around the Green Sahara . [ 7 ] Based on dental evidence, Irish (2016) concluded that the common ancestors of West African and Proto-Bantu peoples may have originated in the western region of the Sahara , amid the Kiffian period at Gobero , and may have migrated southward, from the Sahara into various parts of West Africa (e.g., Benin , Cameroon , Ghana , Nigeria , Togo ), as a result of desertification of the Green Sahara around 7000 BC. [ 8 ] From Nigeria and Cameroon, agricultural Proto-Bantu peoples began to migrate , and amid migration, diverged into East Bantu peoples (e.g., Democratic Republic of Congo ) and West Bantu peoples (e.g., Congo, Gabon ) between 2500 BC and 1200 BC. [ 8 ] He suggests that Igbo people and Yoruba people may have admixture from back-migrated Bantu peoples. [ 8 ] [ dubious  – discuss ] ^ Koile, Ezequiel; Greenhill, Simon J.; Blasi, Damián E.; Bouckaert, Remco; Gray, Russell D. (9 August 2022). "Phylogeographic analysis of the Bantu language expansion supports a rainforest route" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 119 (32) e2112853119. Bibcode : 2022PNAS..11912853K . doi : 10.1073/pnas.2112853119 . ISSN   0027-8424 . PMC   9372543 . PMID   35914165 . ^ Zeitlyn, David; Connell, Bruce (2003). "Ethnogenesis and Fractal History on an African Frontier: Mambila-Njerep-Mandulu" . The Journal of African History . 44 (1): 117– 138. doi : 10.1017/S002185370200823X . JSTOR   4100385 . ^ Oliver, Roland (1966). "The Problem of the Bantu Expansion". The Journal of African History . 7 (3): 361– 376. doi : 10.1017/S0021853700006472 . JSTOR   180108 . S2CID   162287894 . ^ Bird, Nancy; et al. (2023). "Dense sampling of ethnic groups within African countries reveals fine-scale genetic structure and extensive historical admixture" . Science Advances . 9 (13) eabq2616. Bibcode : 2023SciA....9.2616B . doi : 10.1126/sciadv.abq2616 . ISSN   2375-2548 . PMC   10058250 . PMID   36989356 . ^ Fortes-Lima, Cesar A.; et al. (5 April 2023). "The genetic legacy of the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples in Africa" . Nature . 625 (7995): 540– 547. Bibcode : 2024Natur.625..540F . bioRxiv   10.1101/2023.04.03.535432 . doi : 10.1038/s41586-023-06770-6 . hdl : 1854/LU-01GYSSJZXPWXA5Z7DVSNTP0DQA . PMC   10794141 . PMID   38030719 . S2CID   258009425 . ^ "Y-DNA Haplogroup E: E1b1b and E1b1a - Your DNA Guide - November 2021" . ^ Shriner, Daniel; Rotimi, Charles N. (April 2018). "Whole-Genome-Sequence-Based Haplotypes Reveal Single Origin of the Sickle Allele during the Holocene Wet Phase" . American Journal of Human Genetics . 102 (4): 547– 556. doi : 10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.02.003 . ISSN   0002-9297 . OCLC   7353789016 . PMC   5985360 . PMID   29526279 . ^ a b c Irish, Joel D (2016). Tracing the 'Bantu Expansion' from its source: Dental nonmetric affinities among West African and neighboring populations . American Association of Physical Anthropologists. doi : 10.13140/RG.2.2.14163.78880 . S2CID   131878510 .

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Pre-expansion-era demography Before the expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers, Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa were likely populated by Pygmy foragers, Khoisan -speaking hunter-gatherers , Nilo-Saharan -speaking herders, and Cushitic -speaking pastoralists . Central Africa It is thought that Central African Pygmies and Bantu speakers branched out from a common ancestral population c.  70,000 years ago . [ 1 ] Many Batwa groups speak Bantu languages; however, a considerable portion of their vocabulary is not Bantu in origin. Much of this vocabulary is botanical, deals with honey collecting, or is otherwise specialised for the forest and is shared between western Batwa groups. It has been proposed that this is the remnant of an independent western Batwa ( Mbenga or "Baaka") language. [ 2 ] Southeast Africa Prior to the arrival of Bantu speakers in Southeast Africa, Cushitic -speaking peoples had migrated into the region from the Ethiopian Highlands and other more northerly areas. The first waves consisted of Southern Cushitic speakers, who settled around Lake Turkana and parts of Tanzania beginning around 5,000 years ago. Many centuries later, around 1000 AD, some Eastern Cushitic speakers also settled in northern and coastal Kenya . [ 3 ] Khoisan -speaking hunter-gatherers also inhabited Southeast Africa before the Bantu expansion. [ 4 ] Nilo-Saharan -speaking herder populations comprised a third group of the area's pre-Bantu expansion inhabitants. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Southern Africa Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan -speaking peoples inhabited Southern Africa. Their descendants have largely mixed with other peoples and adopted other languages. A few still live by foraging, often supplemented by working for neighbouring farmers in the arid regions around the Kalahari desert, while a larger number of Nama continue their traditional subsistence by raising livestock in Namibia and adjacent South Africa. ^ Awad, Elias. "Common Origins of Pygmies and Bantus" . CNRS International Magazine . Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique . Retrieved 27 November 2014 . ^ Bahuchet, Serge (1993). "History of the Inhabitants of the Central African Rain Forest: Perspectives from Comparative Linguistics". In Hladik, C.M. (ed.). Tropical Forests, People, and Food: Biocultural Interactions and Applications to Development . Paris: Unesco/Parthenon. pp.  37– 54. ISBN   978-9-2310-2879-3 . ^ "Early migrations into East Africa | Enzi" . ^ Ambrose, Stanley H. (1986). "Hunter-gatherer adaptations to non-marginal environments: an ecological and archaeological assessment of the Dorobo model". Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika . 7 (2): 11– 42. ^ Ehret, Christopher (1980). The Historical Reconstruction of Southern Cushitic Phonology and Vocabulary . Vol. 5 of Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik. Berlin: Reimer. p. 407. ^ Ehret, Christopher (1983). Mack, John; Robertshaw, Peter (eds.). Culture History in the Southern Sudan . Nairobi, Kenya: British Institute in Eastern Africa. pp.  19– 48. ISBN   978-1-872566-04-7 . ^ Ambrose, Stanley H. (1982). "Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstructions of History in East Africa" . In Ehert, Christopher; Posnansky, Merrick (eds.). The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History . University of California Press. pp.  104– 157. ISBN   978-0-5200-4593-4 .

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History and development The oldest pottery found in an area inhabited by Bantu speakers ( Shum Laka in northern Cameroon) dates to 5000 BC. The Proto-Bantu speakers lived in villages and grew palm oil , nuts , grains , and possibly yams . They used stone tools, had goats and guinea fowl , and built boats used for fishing. [ 1 ] : 24  Despite intensive research, the cause of the Bantu expansion, and that of the directions taken, is still unclear, [ a ] leading some scholars to think it began by accident. There is however consensus that there were multiple dispersal events. [ 1 ] : 23  c. 5000   BC to c. 500 AD   It is unclear whether the first dispersal scenario resulted in migration or multiple smaller dispersals occurring at different times. [ 1 ] : 23  Although early models posited that the early speakers were both iron-using and agricultural, definitive archaeological evidence that they used iron does not appear until as late as 400   BC, though they were agricultural. [ 2 ] The Bantu-speaking people split into two broad groups which dispersed in different directions, termed the "Western Stream" and the "Eastern Stream". [ 1 ] : 23–24  Western Stream Sites south of Shum Laka (in southern Cameroon and Gabon) indicate the Western Stream began between 5000 and 3000 BC. [ 1 ] : 24  Initial progress was very slow, and central Cameroon was only reached around 1500 BC. This slowness was due to the initial lack of iron tools which would have made clearing the forest considerably easier, and the Western Stream likely followed the coast and the major rivers of the Congo system southward. They may also have used the sea to reach the southern end of the rainforest. [ 1 ] : 25  It is thought that the degradation of the West-Central African rainforest by climate change between 2000 BC and 500 BC aided the expansion. They reached the southern fringe of the forest by around 500   BC. [ 3 ] Eastern Stream The Eastern Stream, thought to have started later than the Western Stream, dispersed east, possibly along the northern edge of the rainforest, or along the Ubangi River . Urewe pottery indicates they reached west of Lake Victoria by 500   BC. [ 1 ] : 25–26  It was one of Africa's oldest iron-smelting centres. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] By the first century BC, Bantu speaking communities in the Great Lakes region developed iron forging techniques that enabled them to produce carbon steel . [ 6 ] Dispersal from the Great Lakes region occurred in two more streams. One went west to meet the Western Stream in the DR Congo and Angola, while the other went south and spread across Eastern and Southern Africa. [ 1 ] : 26  Archaeological findings have shown that by 100 BC to 300 AD, Bantu speaking communities were present at the coastal areas of Misasa in Tanzania and Kwale in Kenya. These communities also integrated and intermarried with the communities already present at the coast. Other pioneering groups had reached modern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa by 300 AD along the coast, and the modern Limpopo Province by 500 AD. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Interactions between Bantu speakers and hunter-gatherers San rock art depicting a shield-carrying warrior. Previously interpreted as depicting historical events, recent studies of San art indicate that those termed as "contact paintings" are religious in nature and express abstract conflict of varying nature. [ 10 ] : 65–6  Throughout the expansion, Bantu speakers interacted with various Pygmy groups and Khoisan speakers ( hunter-gatherer groups), and Nilo-Saharan , Afro-Asiatic , and other Niger-Congo speakers (agricultural groups). [ 3 ] Research indicates there was copious cultural and physical contact between Bantu speakers and hunter-gatherers, with intermarriages common. Relations were complex as languages, technologies, rituals, and genes were shared. [ 11 ] The larger Bantu-speaking populations, aided by animal herding, would have often absorbed the smaller hunter-gatherer populations, with hunter-gatherer women migrating to Bantu-speaking groups, and Bantu-speaking men migrating to hunter-gatherer groups (this is supported by contemporary cultural customs that women from agricultural groups shouldn't marry men from foraging groups, while the reverse is more accepted [ b ] ). [ 12 ] The use of click sounds (usually associated with Khoisan languages) in southern Bantu languages can be viewed as evidence of this. [ 13 ] Oral traditions suggest displacement was sometimes the result of conflict. [ 1 ] : 32  There is a lack of evidence for admixture in Angola, causing speculation of population replacement, however not enough to make a conclusion. [ 12 ] ^ a b c d e f g h i Juwayeyi, Yusuf M. (2020). "The Bantu origins of the Chewa". Archaeology and Oral Tradition in Malawi: Origins and Early History of the Chewa . Boydell & Brewer. ISBN   978-1-84701-253-1 . ^ Vansina, Jan (1990). Paths in the Rainforest: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa . Madison: University of Wisconsin Press . ISBN   978-0-2991-2573-8 . [ page needed ] ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page ). ^ Clist, Bernard-Olivier (1987). "A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the Early Iron Age Urewe Industry". MUNTU . 6 : 35– 62. hdl : 1854/LU-3118804 . ^ Lane, Paul; Ashley, Ceri; Oteyo, Gilbert (January 2006). "New Dates for Kansyore and Urewe Wares from Northern Nyanza, Kenya". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa . 41 (1): 123– 138. doi : 10.1080/00672700609480438 . S2CID   162233816 . ^ Schmidt, Peter; Avery, Donald H. (22 September 1978). "Complex Iron Smelting and Prehistoric Culture in Tanzania: Recent discoveries show complex technological achievement in African iron production". Science . 201 (4361): 1085– 1089. doi : 10.1126/science.201.4361.1085 . PMID   17830304 . S2CID   37926350 . ^ Ehret, Christopher (1998). An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to AD 400 . London: James Currey. ISBN   978-0-8139-2057-3 . [ page needed ] ^ Newman, James L. (1995). The Peopling of Africa: A Geographic Interpretation . New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press . ISBN   978-0-300-07280-8 . [ page needed ] ^ Shillington, Kevin (2005). History of Africa (3rd ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. [ page needed ] ^ Chirikure, Shadreck; Delius, Peter; Esterhuysen, Amanda; Hall, Simon; Lekgoathi, Sekibakiba; Maulaudzi, Maanda; Neluvhalani, Vele; Ntsoane, Otsile; Pearce, David (1 October 2015). Mapungubwe Reconsidered: A Living Legacy: Exploring Beyond the Rise and Decline of the Mapungubwe State . Real African Publishers Pty Ltd. ISBN   978-1-920655-06-8 . ^ de Maret, Pierre (4 July 2013), "Archaeologies of the Bantu Expansion" , in Mitchell, Peter; Lane, Paul J. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology , Oxford University Press, p. 0, ISBN   978-0-19-956988-5 , retrieved 16 March 2025 ^ a b Pakendorf, Brigitte; Filippo, Cesare de; Bostoen, Koen (1 January 2011). "Molecular Perspectives on the Bantu Expansion: A Synthesis" . Language Dynamics and Change . 1 (1): 50– 88. doi : 10.1163/221058211X570349 . ISSN   2210-5832 . ^ Pakendorf, Brigitte; Gunnink, Hilde; Sands, Bonny; Bostoen, Koen (1 January 2017). "Prehistoric Bantu-Khoisan language contact: A cross-disciplinary approach" . Language Dynamics and Change . 7 (1): 1– 46. doi : 10.1163/22105832-00701002 . hdl : 1854/LU-8519242 . ISSN   2210-5832 . 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