The Spread of Farming in Sub-Saharan Africa:Bantu MigrationBy Tony MaccarellaHumans perfected foraging in Africa, but many turned tofarming when the right tools, and the right crops, becameavailable.Connections across a wide regionOne of the most fascinating stories in the history of agriculture involves the Bantu migrations acrossthe sub-Saharan regions of Africa. This is a part of the world whos
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The Spread of Farming in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Bantu Migration
By Tony Maccarella
Humans perfected foraging in Africa, but many turned to
farming when the right tools, and the right crops, became
available.
Connections across a wide region
One of the most fascinating stories in the history of agriculture involves the Bantu migrations across
the sub-Saharan regions of Africa. This is a part of the world whose people passed information down
through a rich oral tradition, but left very little in writing until the Middle Ages. Researchers have found
ways to trace the movement of Bantu-speaking peoples that began possibly as early as 2000 BCE.
Evidence suggests that they moved rapidly across the continent, south and east, sometime between
2000 BCE and 1000 CE. By about 1200 CE, "Bantu-ness" was a cultural and technological network
across the vast trunk of Africa. Bantu expansion reached almost all the way to the southern tip of the
continent. The result was a great web of trade, cultural exchange, and shared technology across this
wide region.
The Lynderburg head, one of several sculptures from early Bantu-speaking peoples in
southern Africa. The decorative motifs show a great continuity with Bantu figures and
decorations across large areas of Africa. By Rexford Nkansah, African Center, Cape Town,
CC BY 3.0.
One reason the movements of ancient West African peoples are so
fascinating is the timing. The agricultural revolution that transformed
much of Afro-Eurasia starting at about 8,000 to 10,000 years ago
seems to have begun much later in most of sub-Saharan Africa. But
why? Cattle herding emerged as an early technology in northern
Africa—perhaps earlier than anywhere else in the world—yet farming
seems to have come much later. We do have some evidence of
farming in the northwestern area of modern-day Cameroon—
originally home to Bantu-speaking peoples—as early as 7000 BCE.
Foragers, however, seem to have dominated most of the other
regions until at least 2000 BCE. Archaeologists have unearthed
pottery, iron tools, and settlements—all pretty good evidence of
agriculture. These artifacts radiated south and east from the Bantu homeland and date to between
2000 BCE and 1000 CE. These technologies, along with the agricultural and pastoral people that
used them, then spread out across most of Africa. (Yes, pottery and iron tools are technologies.)
But why and how did these technologies move to create this vast network across the continent?
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