3 ms·

Is it fair to say Bantu farmers colonized most of southeast Africa approximately 1500 years ago ?

• thaumasiotes 12y ago
  To your exact question, I'm not sure. The Bantu expanded from a small region of west Africa beginning around 3000 years ago; it's plausible that it took them a while to overwhelm southeast Africa. What I find really interesting is that we have actual historical records from the great civilization of the time, Egypt, that predate the Bantu. We even have records of their diplomacy with the non-Bantu kingdoms to their south. The Africans they write about (and, in some cases, draw artwork of) bear little relation to the Africans we know today. Sure, expanding human populations have wiped out incumbents everywhere in the world, but it's unusual for the eye of recorded history to be so nearby when it happens (North America would be the best example, I guess, but I'm pretty sure the Bantu expansion is #2).