A-level Notes History - The Bantu Migration
Bantu-speaking people originated from North Africa and for various economic, social, and political reasons migrated in masses from the Northern plains of the Mediterranean, leaving only pockets of some mostly in Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Even Egypt has a sizeable population of the Bantu Society with a Hermite and Negroid darker brown skin pigment.
A-level Notes History - The Bantu Migration
There is no mystery on the Origins of the Bantu people given that all the archaeological excavations of the Egyptian pyramids are littered by the dark brown skin pigment of the Bantu. All the Pharaohs excavated yesterday and today are Bantu though historians of the Caucasian apologists have remained silent and uninterested to acknowledge on who these people are. Bantu is a romantic linguistic term derived from various dialectical terms of the word people. Various groups give similar words like bantu, vanhu, abantu, which all mean
a person or people. So Bantu speaking people originated from North Africa and for various economic, social and political reasons migrated enmasse from the Northern plains of the Mediterranean, leaving only pockets of some mostly in Mauritania, Morocco,
Tunisia and Algeria. Even Egypt has a sizeable population of the Bantu Society with a
Hermite and Negroid darker brown skin pigment. Large movements from these northern plains has led historians to call it migrations. The large scale movements happened over centuries in various periodic droves. What unites the Bantu people is not only the language but the Iron Age technical skills and other customs and traditions. A common religion has also helped to reconstruct the history of this unique human race. They all believe in one God they worshipped through ancestral spirits. The migrations took different dimensions and directions. Most of the migrations took the North Eastwards, North Westwards and Central Southwards directions. There is nothing that separates people in Nigeria from people in Chad and Sudan and those in the Great lakes region of the Congo to those in Ethiopia, Buganda, Bunyoro, the Shona of Zimbabwe and Xhosa and Zulu of South Africa and even the Tswana and Mwata Yamvo led groups in the Central African and the Cameroon regions. Their Language, religion, iron technology, pots and cultures are similar. It's not only the prefix 'ba' and suffix --'ntu' but also on the skin pigment and folklores and fairy tales, riddles and proverbs that will spin heads of historians like in a dream and lot others evacuation soothsayers through charm in the sea.
Causes of the Bantu Migrations
The main indisputable reason for the migration of the Bantu was the Arabisation of the North. During the first to the second centuries AD there was a clash of civilisations which pitted Christian Caucasian Europe with much resistance from the Arab World. There were political upheavals which took a religious dimension in North Africa and became a battle field of these conflicts. Wars among the Arabs also saw massive migrations of the Asians into North Africa. Armed with better organisation and technology, they subdued the Bantu forcing them to migrate leaving pyramids throughout North Africa into the Sudan. This was catastrophic for the Bantu who travelled thousands of kilometres through the forests and large rivers of Africa to their final destinations.
The desertification of the Sahara grasslands had a huge impact on the migrations of the
livestock and crops in their settled communities. As agricultural land shrunk, conflicts over resources increased and forced many to look for better prospects beyond the horizons. They migrated in search of woodlands, grasslands and fertile soils. They also followed rainfall patterns for survival. Movements were also influenced by overpopulation concentrated in a few climatic friendly agricultural regions.
Thus many people migrated in search of arable and ecologically friendly regions southwards. It is prudent to realise that the diversification of economic activities increased demand for raw materials. Discovery in metallurgy had phenomenal environmental impact in North and West Africa. Natural resources depleted and forced people to migrate .There was shortage of iron ore and other metals which affected the modern Iron Age Society. Increase in Agricultural activities demanded more pastoral and crop cultivation land. Woodlands for hunting also depleted forcing others to migrate.
Due to the infiltration of the Arab and Caucasian European groups in North and West Africa, there were increased succession disputes, resulting in the beleaguered groups rallying support of sympathisers to move away. Many Bantu ethnic groups experienced these succession disputes which could also be caused by the rise of boring, uncharismatic leaders who failed to come up to expectations. When strong kings died royal family members often quarrelled and fought over the crown resulting in these migrations though also induced by other factors. Some migrations resulted from even outcasts who moved away with their families where there was always space. Some were accused of witchcraft and brought bad omen and in fear of reprisals and revenge they opted out into the new World. Others were criminals who feared for their lives and moved away to safe heavens with abundance of reasons. In the same category were many people who ran away from enslavement. Incessant wars caused by the new dispensation of surplus capital or r esources which required a constant supply of captives who were enslaved. So many of the weaker and vulnerable ethnic groups migrated into safe heavens .These were joined by former slaves and slaves who escaped from their inhuman bondage into the new world. These added up the numbers.
Many other groups were victims of civil wars within the Northern plains. These often fought for meagre resources, forcing many to emigrate from aggressors and prevaricators. In this way they avoided subjugation and enslavement. Thus slavery and later slave trade contributed in the large migrations of various groups southwards. However there were many groups who had an affinity for nomadism. Those whose DNA was mobility and migration simply migrated. Given that there was lot of space to explore, many with that affinity pulled out of North and West Africa to look for new opportunities in social, political and economic field. They needed space.
Expansionism, coming from state formation and empires of ambitious leaders was a mantra for migration. Many of those who wanted more space and resources migrated to where they were spacely settled with lots of resources. After the 13th century AD the lslamisation of the North completed the occupation of the North by the Moslems who even spread with other new Bantu settlements of Mauritania, Chad, Niger and Sudan. Forced Islamic conversions in Northern and Western Africa forced many other groups to opt out. The migrations eclipsed spacely populated regions along and South of the Equator.
Course of Migrations
Around the 1st to the 3rd century AD, one group travelled South West and South from the fringes of Egypt and Sudan. It was here that they introduced the Sudanic cereals like sorghum and millet. They exploited fertile soils and vast pastoral foliage and grasslands. Wild life roamed wild. These became the Trans-Sahara-traders, some of whom were later converted to Islam. The other groups came through the Congo rain forests and settled in Katanga or Shaba during the 5th century .They exploited vast woodlands and fertile arable lands. The rainfall pattern promoted agricultural growth. There were also minerals and
rivers to exploit. By the 15th century they interacted with Portuguese and Swahili Arabs and brought in maize, sweet potatoes and lemons. The third groups included the Sotho and the Nguni. They came through Kenya and Tanzania into Malawi, then settled in Mashonaland where they later formed the Ziwa Leopard Kopje, Bambadyanalo, Matopos, Gokomere, Mapungubwe, great Zimbabwe, Mutapa and the Rozvi. The other group went south of the Limpopo into today's South Africa between the 9th and 11th centuries. The forth group migrated during the 14th century and settled in Malawi forming the Tumumbuka, Nsenga, Kamanga and Tonga in Zambia and Malawi.
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