A-level Notes History - Lifestyle of The Bantu - Economic System
The Bantu were involved in a plethora of economic activities.They were miners ,smelters and black smiths in various metals .They made jewellery,tools and weapons for the Local and Internal trade. Metals enabled the Bantu to domesticate Sudanese cereals like millet and sorghum, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, gourds, nuts and cow peas.
Lifestyle of The Bantu - Economic System
The Bantu were involved in a plethora of economic activities .They were miners ,smelters and black smiths in various metals .They made jewellery ,tools and weapons for the Local and Internal trade. Metals enabled the Bantu to domesticate Sudanese cereals like millet and sorghum, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, gourds, nuts and cow peas. They also domesticated animals like cattle, pigs and goats for mainly supplement of meat, milk, skins, hoofs for glue and horns for musical trumpets. They also hunted to supplement food and skin cloth. Pottery making was lucrative business for local and international entrepreneurship. Pottery making provided an identity for all the Bantu societies, through distinct decorations of the Chevron decoration which was the decoration found in houses, art and other products. These depicted female and male organs. Baskets and mats were made for local use and exports .There were also a variety of other economic activities like masonry, drum making, leather loin making and carving, raids and tribute.
Social Organisation
The Bantu settled permanently in villages according to totemic lineages. They built homesteads from pole, dagga and thatched with grass. The houses were circular in shape. They made loin leather clothes. They believed in one God whom they worshipped through ancestral spirits. The Bantu were morally sound and cultural. They maintained a tribal
'griot'-gree -yaws which were oral records of tribal history and culture. They formally paid
dowry-'roora/bride price' in marriage which cemented social relations. Matrimonial relations were used to unite the states. They slaughtered cattle in rituals and ceremonies characterised by beer, music, dance and lots of food
Chiefs and Kings ruled with the help of advisory councils. Armies were created to consolidate power. Much of the political, social and economic organisations are covered under the Bantu or Iron Age societies and states. Metallurgy impacted on settlement and there was increased food production. From wild animals and other societies knowledge of food increased and exploitation of resources intensified. Agricultural production increased security of food and demand for more land.They forced the migrations of the San and Khoikhoi from Southern and Central Africa into deserts of the Namibia and Kalahari. Bantu languages spread throughout all these other societies like pygmy in the Great Lakes region.
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