The Bantu People of Africa
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Introduction
The Bantu people refer to an African origin ethnic group that speaks the Bantu language. The ethnic group is estimated to be ranging from 300-600 in total. The Bantu ethnic group, currently, exist in almost all the regions of the African continent. They live in the Western Africa region, the Southern and Eastern parts of Africa, and the Central and the Northern region. However, the Bantus are believed to have originated from the Western parts of Africa on the Easter sides of Nigeria bordering Cameroon (Christopher, 1998). The existence of the Bantu ethnic group in several areas of Africa is a culmination of their expansion and subsequent migration from their cradle land. Many reasons have been advanced to explain their movement. These reasons include population pressure and search for fertile land among others (Christopher, 1998).
The Bantu ethnic group lifestyle has undergone several transitions ranging from their traditional religious activities, their socio-economic activities as well as their languages too. The changes can better be explained by several factors that include their migration, new environment, interaction with new ethnic groups, globalization, as well as the new technology among others. These variations could have been instigated by the people they came across during their migration. Nevertheless, it is not only the Bantus who were affected. They also impacted several changes to the people they came across to besides their environment. Being traditional farmers and ironworkers, they had to clear bushes and forests in order to establish new settlements and start farming (John, 1992).
The history of the Bantu people
The name "Bantu" means "humans" or "people." Although it is not clear where the actual native land of the Bantu people is, however, historians and scholars believe that the original homeland of the Bantu is somewhere in West Africa. They are thought to have originated somewhere along the borders of Nigeria and Cameroon. From there, they migrated towards different direction with some migrating towards the southern regions and other groups taking the eastern direction. Proofs are available to substantiate that their migration indeed occurred. The major evidence is in the similarity of the languages spoken by the Bantu people from different regions (Christopher and Merrick, 1982).
Several theories have been advanced in an effort to justify the expansion of the Bantu people. One major argument is the similarity in language, as indicated above. There are several words that are almost similar within the Bantu ethnic group. For example, taking the word "Bantu”, that means people, there are other words for the diverse ethnic group that refer to people and which sound almost the same as Bantu. In Swahili it is "watu”; "batu" in Lingala; "abantu" in Zulu and "bato" in Duala just to mention a few. There is a list of words tabulated to prove the same (Vansina, 1785). Archeologist, too, have worked extensively to unveil archeological resemblances that support the expansion of the Bantu people. For instance, they are working towards revealing any connection in the prehistoric culture of the Bantus in regions they are alleged to have come across (Christopher and Merrick, 1982).
Historical evidences postulate that the Bantu people were initially practicing farming. Later on, with the development of iron technology, there was a significant development and advance in their agricultural practices. As a result, they started moving as the iron technology had capacitated an enhanced means of expansion. Additionally, the search for fertile land for farming is also another factor alleged to have resulted in the enlargement. For instance, the land they had earlier occupied had lost its fertility and consequently its productivity. The development was furthered by population pressure as well. The increasing population is believed to have caused pressure on the existing resources at that time, and the only solution was to have a group of its members moving to other places (Oliver, 2009).
The migration and expansion of the Bantu people in Africa are believed to have a significant impact. The impact is in both the Bantu group itself, as well as the other ethnic groups they interacted with during the process. Firstly, the Bantu people steered the introduction of iron working in African regions that they settled on during their expansion. For instance, in the interior parts of the Eastern Africa, the early inhabitants of these areas were using stone tools. However, with the arrival of the Bantu people, they borrowed the art of iron working and use of iron tools that subsequently steered high production of food (James, 1995).
The arrival of the Bantu people in some African regions also led to introduction of new agricultural crops such as the bananas and yams. The Bantu people also transferred the same knowledge of farming to areas they moved on. For example, the earlier inhabitants of the East Africa were not cultivators but food gatherers. Nevertheless, with the arrival of the Bantu people in this region new ideas of widespread crop farming were gained. Crop production, thereafter, started in this area and with the resulting iron working and smelting, food production picked up really fast (Clark and Brandt, 1984). Crop production that was introduced by the Bantu also leads to an introduction of the subsistence farming.
Besides spreading the knowledge of agriculture, the Bantu people also absorbed the smaller tribes they met in the process of their movement. For instance, the Khoisan, who were initially hunters and gatherers. Their absorption lead to them abandoning their hunting and gathering practice as the settled and started practicing agriculture (Clark and Brandt, 1984). However, a given group of the Khoisan still practiced the hunting and gathering with some few Bantus included. This group was forced to move towards the southwards. The Bantus also intermarried with the Arabs along the East African coastal region, giving rise to the Swahili community of the Eastern Africa.
The Bantu people had a well-organized system of governance with powers centralized on a king who was the overall leader. Besides the king, there were other chiefs who assisted the king in carrying out administrative duties of leadership. Their migration led to introduction of this system of leadership in the regions they settled on (April and Donald, 1996). In effect, there was an upsurge in bigger states and ethnic group in the Eastern Africa such as the Nyamwezi, Buganda and the Kikuyu among others. The rise of such communities formed the basis upon which the territorial boundaries were drawn.
Impacts and changes over the existence of the Bantu people
Currently, the Bantu people are not only in Africa alone but also found in other parts of the world due to the current globalization. Their impacts are also being recognized in different parts of the world. For example, some Bantu languages are now being taught in other countries outside Africa continent. Swahili language is being taught in some places in the United States of America (Ehret, 2001). The knowledge of crop farming they introduced are still widely practiced, not only in Africa but the rest of the world. Some are even exported to different parts of the world, either as whole or in form of finished product, for example, the bananas juice and yams.
The current trends of globalization have come up with many complex needs that require readjustments to cope up. For example, there has been a considerable shift from agriculture to industrialization and other forms of investments that are not agriculture based. For example, a significant number of the Bantu ethnic group members have v...