In this first article of this Bantu series, we present the Bantu expansion theory.

Most of Central, Eastern and Southen Africa are inhabited by people speaking Bantu languages. These languages, which belong to the Niger-Congo family, have been classified as one linguistic group based on the common use of the term “ntu” for the human being. As an example, here are the words for humans in some Bantu languages :

• Zulu (South Africa) : umuntu
• Kikongo (Congo, Angola) : muntu
• Kiswahili (Kenya, Tanzania) : mtu
• Luganda (Uganda) : omuntu
• Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) : umuntu
• Shona (Zimbabwe) : munhu
• Duala (Cameroon) : Moto

This similarity has been noticed by early scientists and missionnaries in Africa as early as the mid-19th century. The linguistic closeness between Bantu languages and their extension across the continent have been considered a proof of a recent and rapid expansion.

According to the Bantu expansion model, around 3000-4000 BCE, following the dessication of the Sahara, populations started moving southwards in research of more fertile land. Coming from the Mount Cameroon region (near the Nigeria-Cameroon border), Bantu groups begin to spread through a series of migrations across Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. At the beginning of their expansion, Bantu people are believed to have acquired the knowledge of agriculture and iron metallurgy, giving them a technological advantage over hunter-gatherers groups. In the region where they arrived, the newcomers are believed to have absorbed, displaced or replaced pre-existing hunter-gatherers or pastoralists they encountered.

From the Bantu homeland, the migration is believed to have split (either before or after the cross of the Equatorial forest) in two streams :

• The Western stream, moving along the Atlantic coast towards Congo and Angola. This stream will lead to the emergence of Western Bantu languages (Kikongo, Duala, Kimbundu…)
• The Eastern stream, moving toward the Great Lakes, from which it spreads southward down to Southern Africa. The Eastern stream gave birth to the Eastern Bantu languages (Zulu, Luganda, Kiswahili…)

It is estimated that Bantu migrants reached the southern tip of the continent around the beginning of this era (300-500 AD), marking the end of the expansion.

Nowadays, Bantu languages are spoken by about 400 millions people across most of subequatorial Africa, extending from Mount Cameroon in the North West to the Indian Ocean in the East, and down to the Cape region in the South. Many ethnics groups, very diverse in terms of culture or appearance, speak Bantu languages, such as the Akka people of Cameroon, the Himbas of Namibia, the Hima of Uganda, the Makonde of Mozambique.

The Bantu expansion theory seems to explain quite efficiently the origin of Bantu-speaking people, however, as we will see in the next articles, this theory raises many questions, such as how the Bantu moved so easily across this large area, how they have manage to rise above so many pre-existing groups, where are the traces of pre-existing non-bantu languages…

The first question we will look into in the next article is : how did the Bantu pass the Equatorial forest barrier ?