Bantu expansion - Wikipedia

Bantu expansion - Wikipedia
Jump to content
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Postulated millennia-long series of migrations
Chronological overview after Nurse and Philippson (2003):
= 4,000–3,500
BP
: origin
= 3,500
BP: initial expansion
"early split":
2.a
= Eastern,
2.b
= Western
= 2,000–1,500
BP:
Urewe
nucleus of Eastern Bantu
: southward advance
= 2,500
BP: Congo nucleus
10
= 2,000–1,000
BP: last phase
Map indicating the spread of the Early Iron Age across Africa; all numbers are AD dates except for the "250 BC" date.
The
Bantu expansion
was a major series of prehistoric-
migrations
of the original
Proto-Bantu
-speaking
group
which spread from an original nucleus around
West
Central Africa
across Central Africa,
Eastern Africa
, and
Southern Africa
. In the process, the Proto-Bantu-speaking settlers absorbed, displaced, and possibly in some cases replaced pre-existing
hunter-gatherer
and
pastoralist
groups that they encountered.
There is linguistic evidence for this expansion – a great many of the languages which are spoken across
sub-Equatorial Africa
are remarkably similar to each other, suggesting a recent common cultural origin of their original speakers. The linguistic core of the Bantu languages, which constitute a branch of the
Atlantic-Congo language family
, was located in the southern regions of
Cameroon
Genetic evidence also indicates that there was a large human migration from central Africa, with varying levels of admixture with local population.
The expansion is believed to have taken place between about 6,000 and 1,500 years ago (approximately 4,000 BC to 500 AD). Linguistic analysis suggests that the expansion proceeded in two directions: the first (termed the "Western Stream") proceeded south either along the
Atlantic
coast or following rivers through the
Congo rainforest
, reaching central Angola around 500 BC. The second (termed the "Eastern Stream") proceeded east either along the northern fringe of the forest or along the
Ubangi River
, and reached west of
Lake Victoria
around 500 BC. From there, they split into two groups, with one heading west to regroup with the Western Stream, and the other dispersing over Eastern and Southern Africa. The expansion reached South Africa, probably as early as 300 AD.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Theories on expansion
edit
Bantuists believe that the Bantu expansion most likely began on the highlands between
Cameroon
and
Nigeria
17
The 60,000-km
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.
18
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.
19
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.
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.
The predominant paternal haplogroup among the Bantu is
E1b1a1-M2
20
The ancestors of the Bantu originally came from
Northeast Africa
and moved around the
Green Sahara
21
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
in 7000 BC.
22
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.
22
He suggests that
Igbo people
and
Yoruba people
may have admixture from back-migrated Bantu peoples.
22
dubious
discuss
Pre-expansion-era demography
edit
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
edit
It is thought that
Central African Pygmies
and Bantu speakers branched out from a common ancestral population
c.
70,000 years ago
23
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.
24
Southeast Africa
edit
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
25
Khoisan
-speaking hunter-gatherers also inhabited Southeast Africa before the Bantu expansion.
26
Nilo-Saharan
-speaking herder populations comprised a third group of the area's pre-Bantu expansion inhabitants.
27
28
29
Southern Africa
edit
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.
History and development
edit
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.
30
: 24
Despite intensive research, the cause of the Bantu expansion, and that of the directions taken, is still unclear,
leading some scholars to think it began by accident. There is however consensus that there were multiple dispersal events.
30
: 23
c. 5000
BC to c. 500 AD
edit
It is unclear whether the first dispersal scenario resulted in migration or multiple smaller dispersals occurring at different times.
30
: 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.
31
The Bantu-speaking people split into two broad groups which dispersed in different directions, termed the "Western Stream" and the "Eastern Stream".
30
: 23–24
Western Stream
edit
Sites south of
Shum Laka
(in southern Cameroon and Gabon) indicate the Western Stream began between 5000 and 3000 BC.
30
: 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.
30
: 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.
Eastern Stream
edit
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.
30
: 25–26
It was one of Africa's oldest iron-smelting centres.
32
33
By the first century BC, Bantu speaking communities in the
Great Lakes
region developed iron forging techniques that enabled them to produce
carbon steel
34
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.
30
: 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.
35
36
37
Interactions between Bantu speakers and hunter-gatherers
edit
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.
38
: 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).
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.
39
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
).
40
The use of
click sounds
(usually associated with Khoisan languages) in southern Bantu languages can be viewed as evidence of this.
41
Oral traditions
suggest displacement was sometimes the result of conflict.
30
: 32
There is a lack of evidence for admixture in Angola, causing speculation of population replacement, however not enough to make a conclusion.
40
Criticism
edit
Manfred K. H. Eggert stated that "the current archaeological record in the Central African rainforest is extremely spotty and consequently far from convincing so as to be taken as a reflection of a steady influx of Bantu speakers into the forest, let alone movement on a larger scale."
42
Seidensticker (2024) indicates that the prevalent paradigm for the Bantu expansion has a forced connection between Central African
ceramics
and Central African
languages
, where the geographic location of speakers of the
Bantu languages
are treated as synonymous with the geographic location of ceramic remnants; the popular approach of attempting to correlate
linguistic reconstructions
with
archaeological
data has resulted in propagation of the
faulty presumption
and
circular reasoning
that the earliest ceramic manufacturing in a given area is evidence for the earliest presence of
Bantu-speakers
43
Within the fierce debate among linguists about the word "Bantu", Seidensticker (2024) indicates that there has been a "profound conceptual trend in which a "purely technical [term] without any non-linguistic connotations was transformed into a designation referring indiscriminately to language, culture, society, and race"."
43
Notes
edit
An initial idea that the dispersal was caused by population pressure following the introduction of farming is generally now discounted.
One reason for this could be that the
bride price
for a hunter-gatherer woman is lower than for a Bantu-speaking woman.
See also
edit
Bantu peoples
Matrilineal belt
Pre-modern human migration
References
edit
Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard (2003).
The Bantu Languages
. Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-7007-1134-5
page needed
Patin, Etienne; et al. (5 May 2017).
"Dispersals and genetic adaptation of Bantu-speaking populations in Africa and North America"
Science
356
(6337):
543–
546.
Bibcode
2017Sci...356..543P
doi
10.1126/science.aal1988
hdl
10216/109265
PMID
28473590
S2CID
3094410
Bostoen, Koen (2018). "The Bantu Expansion".
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History
doi
10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.191
ISBN
978-0-19-027773-4
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
Grollemund, Rebecca; Branford, Simon; Bostoen, Koen; Meade, Andrew; Venditti, Chris; Pagel, Mark (27 October 2015).
"Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
112
(43):
13296–
13301.
Bibcode
2015PNAS..11213296G
doi
10.1073/pnas.1503793112
PMC
4629331
PMID
26371302
Clark, John Desmond
; Brandt, Steven A. (1984).
From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa
University of California Press
. p. 33.
ISBN
978-0-520-04574-3
Adler, Philip J.; Pouwels, Randall L. (2007).
World Civilizations: Since 1500
Cengage Learning
. p. 169.
ISBN
978-0-495-50262-3
Berniell-Lee, Gemma; Calafell, Francesc; Bosch, Elena; et al. (2006).
"Genetic and Demographic Implications of the Bantu Expansion: Insights from Human Paternal Lineages"
Molecular Biology and Evolution
26
(7):
1581–
9.
doi
10.1093/molbev/msp069
PMID
19369595
Bird, Nancy; et al. (2023).
"Dense sampling of ethnic groups within African countries reveals fine-scale genetic structure and extensive historical admixture"
Science Advances
(13) eabq2616.
Bibcode
2023SciA....9.2616B
doi
10.1126/sciadv.abq2616
ISSN
2375-2548
PMC
10058250
PMID
36989356
Vansina, J. (1995). "New Linguistic Evidence and 'The Bantu Expansion'
".
Journal of African History
36
(2):
173–
195.
doi
10.1017/S0021853700034101
JSTOR
182309
S2CID
162117464
Tishkoff, S. A.; Reed, F. A.; Friedlaender, F. R.; et al. (2009).
"The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans"
Science
324
(5930):
1035–
44.
Bibcode
2009Sci...324.1035T
doi
10.1126/science.1172257
PMC
2947357
PMID
19407144
Plaza, S; Salas, A; Calafell, F; Corte-Real, F; Bertranpetit, J; Carracedo, A; Comas, D (2004). "Insights into the western Bantu dispersal: MtDNA lineage analysis in Angola".
Human Genetics
115
(5):
439–
47.
doi
10.1007/s00439-004-1164-0
PMID
15340834
S2CID
13213447
Coelho, M; Sequeira, F; Luiselli, D; Beleza, S; Rocha, J (2009).
"On the edge of Bantu expansions: MtDNA, Y chromosome and lactase persistence genetic variation in southwestern Angola"
BMC Evolutionary Biology
(1): 80.
Bibcode
2009BMCEE...9...80C
doi
10.1186/1471-2148-9-80
PMC
2682489
PMID
19383166
S2CID
7760419
De Filippo, C; Barbieri, C; Whitten, M; et al. (2011).
"Y-chromosomal variation in sub-Saharan Africa: Insights into the history of Niger–Congo groups"
Molecular Biology and Evolution
28
(3):
1255–
69.
doi
10.1093/molbev/msq312
PMC
3561512
PMID
21109585
Alves, I; Coelho, M; Gignoux, C; et al. (2011). "Genetic homogeneity across Bantu-speaking groups from Mozambique and Angola challenges early split scenarios between East and West Bantu populations".
Human Biology
83
(1):
13–
38.
doi
10.3378/027.083.0102
PMID
21453002
S2CID
20841059
Castrì, L; Tofanelli, S; Garagnani, P; et al. (2009). "MtDNA variability in two Bantu-speaking populations (Shona and Hutu) from Eastern Africa: Implications for peopling and migration patterns in sub-Saharan Africa".
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
140
(2):
302–
11.
doi
10.1002/ajpa.21070
PMID
19425093
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
(3):
361–
376.
doi
10.1017/S0021853700006472
JSTOR
180108
S2CID
162287894
"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
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
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
(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
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
Clist, Bernard-Olivier (1987). "A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the Early Iron Age Urewe Industry".
MUNTU
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), Mitchell, Peter; Lane, Paul J. (eds.),
"Archaeologies of the Bantu Expansion"
The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology
, Oxford University Press, p. 0,
ISBN
978-0-19-956988-5
, retrieved
16 March
2025
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (
link
Pakendorf, Brigitte; Filippo, Cesare de; Bostoen, Koen (1 January 2011).
"Molecular Perspectives on the Bantu Expansion: A Synthesis"
Language Dynamics and Change
(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
(1):
1–
46.
doi
10.1163/22105832-00701002
hdl
1854/LU-8519242
ISSN
2210-5832
Eggert, Manfred K. H. (2016).
"Genetizing Bantu: Historical Insight or Historical Trilemma?"
Medieval Worlds
(4):
79–
90.
doi
10.1553/medievalworlds_no4_2016s79
Seidensticker, Dirk (28 March 2024).
"Pikunda-Munda and Batalimo-Maluba Archaeological Investigations of the Iron Age Settlement History of the Western and Northern Congo Basin"
African Archaeological Review
41
(2):
5–
6.
doi
10.1007/s10437-024-09576-7
ISSN
0263-0338
OCLC
10194943180
S2CID
268802330
Further reading
edit
Bostoen, Koen; Clist, Bernard; Doumenge, Charles; Grollemund, Rebecca; Hombert, Jean-Marie; Muluwa, Joseph Koni; Maley, Jean (June 2015). "Middle to Late Holocene Paleoclimatic Change and the Early Bantu Expansion in the Rain Forests of Western Central Africa".
Current Anthropology
56
(3):
354–
384.
doi
10.1086/681436
S2CID
129501938
Bousman, C. Britt (June 1998). "The Chronological Evidence for the Introduction of Domestic Stock into Southern Africa".
The African Archaeological Review
15
(2):
133–
150.
doi
10.1023/A:1022110818616
JSTOR
25130649
S2CID
161428419
Currie, Thomas E.; Meade, Andrew; Guillon, Myrtille; Mace, Ruth (2013).
"Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa"
Proceedings: Biological Sciences
280
(1762):
1–
8.
doi
10.1098/rspb.2013.0695
JSTOR
23478639
PMC
3673054
PMID
23658203
de Filippo, Cesare; Bostoen, Koen; Stoneking, Mark;
Pakendorf, Brigitte
(2012).
"Bringing together linguistic and genetic evidence to test the Bantu expansion"
Proceedings: Biological Sciences
279
(1741):
3256–
3263.
doi
10.1098/rspb.2012.0318
JSTOR
41622670
PMC
3385717
PMID
22628476
Grollemund, Rebecca; Branford, Simon; Bostoen, Koen; Meade, Andrew; Venditti, Chris; Pagel, Mark (2015).
"Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
112
(43):
13296–
13301.
Bibcode
2015PNAS..11213296G
doi
10.1073/pnas.1503793112
JSTOR
26465769
PMC
4629331
PMID
26371302
Holden, Clare Janaki (2002).
"Bantu Language Trees Reflect the Spread of Farming across Sub-Saharan Africa: A Maximum-Parsimony Analysis"
Proceedings: Biological Sciences
269
(1493):
793–
799.
doi
10.1098/rspb.2002.1955
JSTOR
3067712
PMC
1690959
PMID
11958710
Li, Sen; Schlebusch, Carina; Jakobsson, Mattias (2014). "Genetic variation reveals large-scale population expansion and migration during the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples".
Proceedings: Biological Sciences
281
(1793):
1–
9.
JSTOR
43600725
Njoku, Raphael Chijioke (2020). "Bantu Migrations and Cultural Transnationalism in the Ancient Global Age, c. 2500 BCE–1400 CE".
West African Masking Traditions and Diaspora Masquerade Carnivals
. Boydell & Brewer. pp.
67–
88.
ISBN
978-1-58046-984-5
JSTOR
j.ctv114c79k.8
Vansina, Jan (1984). "Western Bantu Expansion".
The Journal of African History
25
(2):
129–
45.
doi
10.1017/S0021853700022829
JSTOR
181385
S2CID
163034445
External links
edit
Berniell-Lee, G.; Calafell, F.; Bosch, E.; Heyer, E.; Sica, L.; Mouguiama-Daouda, P.; van der Veen, L.; Hombert, J.-M.; Quintana-Murci, L.; Comas, D. (1 July 2009).
"Genetic and Demographic Implications of the Bantu Expansion: Insights from Human Paternal Lineages"
Molecular Biology and Evolution
26
(7):
1581–
1589.
doi
10.1093/molbev/msp069
PMID
19369595
Bantu Expansion and Hunter-gatherers
Patin, Etienne; Lopez, Marie; Grollemund, Rebecca; Verdu, Paul; Harmant, Christine; Quach, Hélène; Laval, Guillaume; Perry, George H.; Barreiro, Luis B.; Froment, Alain; Heyer, Evelyne; Massougbodji, Achille; Fortes-Lima, Cesar; Migot-Nabias, Florence; Bellis, Gil; Dugoujon, Jean-Michel; Pereira, Joana B.; Fernandes, Verónica; Pereira, Luisa; Van der Veen, Lolke; Mouguiama-Daouda, Patrick; Bustamante, Carlos D.; Hombert, Jean-Marie; Quintana-Murci, Lluís (5 May 2017).
"Dispersals and genetic adaptation of Bantu-speaking populations in Africa and North America"
Science
356
(6337):
543–
546.
Bibcode
2017Sci...356..543P
doi
10.1126/science.aal1988
hdl
10216/109265
PMID
28473590
S2CID
3094410
Bantu religion and folklore
Main topics
Bantu peoples
Bantu expansion
Proto-Bantu language
Bantu languages
Religion
Religions
Bantu religion
Badimo
Dini Ya Msambwa
Luhya
Kongo religion
Nyau
Chewa
Zimbabwean
Ndebele
Shona
Zulu religion
Deities
Akongo
Bunzi
Kalumba
Kianda
Kibuka
Mebege
Mukasa
Muisa
Mwari
Njambe
Nyambe
Nzambi Mpungu
Nzambici
Nzame
Spirits
Jengu
Mami Wata
Nkisi
Nkondi
Shetani
Simbi
Concepts
Kalûnga Line
Kongo cosmogram
Nkisi
Nkondi
Nganga
Okuyi
Zebola
Artefacts
Niombo
Nsiba
Nkondi
Mbulu Ngulu
Culture
Legendary beings
Kimanaueze
Mwindo
Mwuetsi
Nambi
Nyongo society
Sudika-mbambi
Legendary creatures
Abada
Eloko
Koolakamba
Mbwiri
Mokele-mbembe
Obambo
Bantu diaspora
Religion
African diaspora religions
Black cat bone
Candomblé Bantu
Brazil
Goofer dust
Hoodoo
USA
Hot foot powder
Kumbaya
Mojo bag
Ring shout
Culture
Boo hag
Congo Square
Gullah Jack
John the Conqueror
Zombie
Category
Portals
History
Languages
Retrieved from "
Categories
Demographic history of Africa
Prehistoric migrations
Prehistoric Africa
Internal migrations in Africa
1st millennium BC
Archaeology of Central Africa
Archaeology of Southern Africa
Archaeology of Eastern Africa
Hidden categories:
Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from March 2024
CS1: long volume value
Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2022
Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2015
CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN
Articles with short description
Short description is different from Wikidata
Use British English from April 2014
All Wikipedia articles written in British English
Use dmy dates from April 2014
All accuracy disputes
Articles with disputed statements from December 2025
Bantu expansion
Add topic