Four Groups And Periods Of Bantu Migration
Historical sources contends that the migration of the Bantu people was in groups. Four different groups were highlighted at four different periods.
The first group traveled southeast and southwest from the fringes of the Sahara desert to the region of Western and Eastern Sudan. This first group migration took place around the first to the third century A.D. They settled there because the land was fertile and was a gazing land for the cattle.
The second group that passed through the Congo Forest, Avoided Zaira River, and settled in Katanga or Shaba. This took place around the fifth century. The major reason why they settled there was because the land was fertile, good rainfall, minerals and available grazing land. Their interactions with Europeans like the Portuguese in the early fifteenth century led them to cultivation of new crops like maize, sweet potatoes and others.
The third group included the Sotho and Nguni who went North East through Tanzania and through the Western side of Lake Malawi. They settled in Mashona land. Here, they were forced out by the Rozwi, Shoma and the Karanga. The group later relocated to South Africa. This movement occurred during Ninth and the fourteenth century.
The fourth group migrated around the fourteenth century. They settled in Lake Malawi.
These different Bantu groups that migrated had their own unique civilization and culture. But as a result of migration, there were cultural and technological exchange among the people. This eventually resulted to different civilization and culture among the people. The Bantu speaking with other groups together built civilization empires and culture that remained a source of ride and historical study among the people.
However, it is important to note that it was their farming technique which is called slash and burn that made them to be migrating to different locations in search of fertile land.
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