Africa: Difference between revisions

 

====Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa====

In Central Africa the [[Sao civilisation|Sao Civilisation]] flourished for over a millennium beginning in the 6th century BC. The Sao lived by the [[Chari River]] south of [[Lake Chad]] in territory that later became part of present-day [[Cameroon]] and [[Chad]]. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in [[bronze]], [[copper]], and [[iron]],<ref name="Fanso 19">Fanso 19.</ref> with finds including bronze sculptures, terracotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewellery, highly decorated pottery, and spears.<ref>Fanso 19; Hudgens and Trillo 1051.</ref> Nearby, around [[Lake Ejagham]] in south-west [[Cameroon]], the [[Ekoi people#History|Ekoi Civilisation]] rose circa 2nd century AD, and are most notable for constructing the [[Ikom monoliths]]. Further east, the northern part of the [[Swahili coast]] was home to the elusive [[Azania]], most likely a [[Southern Cushitic language|Southern Cushitic]] polity.<ref>{{Cite book |title=JournalInsert Hilton, John (1993-10). "Peoples of Azania". Electronic Antiquity: Communicating the Classics. 1 (5). ISSN 1320-3606. Check date values in: {{!}}date= (help)}}</ref>

 

The [[Bantu expansion]] constituted a major series of migrations of [[Bantu peoples]] from central Africa to eastern and southern Africa and was substantial in the settling of the continent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Amazing Bantu Migration and the Fascinating Bantu People |url=https://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/bantu.html |website=www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com |access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref> Commencing in the 2nd millennium BC, the Bantu began to migrate from [[Cameroon]] to central, eastern, and southern Africa, laying the foundations for future states such as the [[Kingdom of Kongo]] in the [[Congo Basin]], the [[Empire of Kitara]] in the [[African Great Lakes]], the [[Luba Empire]] in the [[Upemba Depression]], the [[Kilwa Sultanate]] in the [[Swahili coast]] by crowding crowded out [[Azania]], with [[Rhapta]] being its last stronghold by the 1st century AD,<ref name="Fage2526">{{cite book |last1=Fage |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXa4AQAAQBAJ |title=A History of Africa |date=23 October 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317797272 |pages=25–26 |access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> and forming [[List of Swahili settlements of the East African coast|various city states]] constituting the decentralised [[Zanj|Zanj Empire]], and the [[Kingdom of Mapungubwe]] in the [[Zambezi]] valley. After reaching the Zambezi, the Bantu continued southward, with eastern groups continuing to modern-day [[Mozambique]] and reaching [[Maputo]] in the 2nd century AD. Further to the south, settlements of Bantu peoples who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen were well established south of the [[Limpopo River]] by the 4th century AD, displacing and absorbing the original [[Khoisan languages|Khoisan]]. To their west in the [[Tsodilo|Tsodilo hills]] of [[Botswana]] there were the [[San people|San]], a [[semi-nomadic]] [[hunter-gatherer]] people who are thought to have descended from the first inhabitants of Southern Africa 100,000 years [[Before Present|BP]], making them one of the oldest cultures on Earth.<ref name="Anton & Shelton">{{cite book |last1=Anton |first1=Donald K. |last2=Shelton |first2=Dinah L. |title=Environmental Protection and Human Rights |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76638-8 |page=640 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_dFYq4oFeYC&q=san+kalahari }}</ref>

 

===Ninth to eighteenth centuries===