For most of the ancient period, the majority of Africans
lived as hunter-gatherers who did not necessarily inhabit
permanent homes, instead choosing to move about the coun-
tryside in search of food supplies. A major trend in ancient
population movement was the displacement of hunter-gath-
erers by agricultural peoples. Agricultural societies tended
to have better technology and larger populations, which
allowed them to take land from the less organized hunter-
gatherers. For example, one of the most signifi cant popula-
tion movements of the ancient period was the expansion of
the Bantu peoples throughout sub-Saharan Africa between
about 3000 b.c.e. and c.e. 500. Th e Bantu peoples were farm-
ers who gradually claimed almost the entire continent south
of the Sahara, displacing local hunter-gathering populations
as they went.
Population movement did involve some warfare, and
certainly some indigenous peoples were pushed out of their
homelands at great personal cost. In many cases, though,
the movement of populations was not as violent as it sounds.
Historians track the spread of ancient populations partly
by the spread of languages and technologies because it is
impossible to track the movements of actual ethnic groups.
Th e Bantu expansion and other movements almost certainly
included a large amount of intermarriage with local groups,
or local peoples’ adoption of Bantu language and customs.
In North Africa and northeastern Africa there was much
blending of populations and cultural exchange as well as
some wholesale warfare.
Th e geography of the African continent prevented the
easy movement of peoples and ideas from place to place. Af-
rica is very large and covers a vast range of latitudes. Its terri-
tory lies in both the northern and the southern hemispheres
as well as on the equator. Africa also contains a variety of
terrains, from extremely dry deserts to very wet rain forests.
Th e range of latitudes and climates made it diffi cult for people
to move agricultural plants from north to south, which im-
peded the movement of agricultural societies.
Th e main exceptions to the diffi culty of free movement
were the Nile, the coastal areas of North Africa and north-
eastern Africa and the Sahara. Traders did not begin regularly
traversing the Sahara until the Islamic period, but ancient Af-
ricans had some desert trading networks. Towns that lay on
the edge of the desert became important centers of cultural
exchange. Th e Mediterranean coast was easily accessible to
ancient sailors, and North Africa received many visitors and
settlers from Rome, Greece, and the eastern Mediterranean.
Th e Red Sea coast was close to Arabia and Yemen, so there
was regular movement between the two areas. Th e Nile River
also allowed free movement between Egypt and parts south,
particularly Nubia. In all of these areas population movement
happened more frequently than it did in the rest of Africa.
NORTH AFRICA AND EASTERN SAHARA
Th e Berber people lived in North Africa throughout the an-
cient period, despite repeated invasions by foreigners who
wanted to settle there. Th eir population stretched from
Egypt to the Atlantic coast of Morocco and gradually moved
south into the Sahara. Th e origin of the name Berber is un-
known. Th e ancient Greeks called the Berbers “Libyans,” and
the Romans called them “Numidians,” “Moors,” and other
names based on the region of North Africa from which they
hailed. Th e Berbers generally had a Semitic appearance, with
lighter skin and straighter hair than Bantu and other Afri-
can peoples.
Language off ers some clues about the movements of peo-
ple in this area. Th e Berber people, like the peoples of East
Africa (Ethiopia and surrounding countries) spoke Afro-Asi-
atic languages. Afro-Asiatic languages include the Semitic
languages of the Middle East. Scholars disagree about the
origin of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Some believe that they
originated in the Middle East and were brought to Africa by
people traveling from Yemen to Ethiopia and Eritrea. Oth-
ers believe they originated in Ethiopia and spread from there
throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Archaeologists have found evidence that the ancestors of
the Berber were living in North Africa as early as 9500 b.c.e.
Th e Berber people were living in North Africa by 3000 b.c.e.,
when the ancient Egyptians fi rst wrote about them. Th e Mesh-
wesh Berbers of Libya had extensive contact with Egypt. Dur-
ing the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1307 b.c.e.) they traded
cattle with the Egyptian rulers. Th e Meshwesh moved into
Egypt from Libya during the 12th century b.c.e. During the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Egyptian Dynasties Berber rulers
fought constantly with the Egyptian kings. Finally, around
945 b.c.e., the Berbers took control of Egypt and ruled it until
native Egyptians reclaimed the throne around 720 b.c.e.
Between 1000 and 600 b.c.e. the Phoenician people
sailed from their home in Lebanon and colonized North Af-
rica from Libya to Morocco. Th ey brought Near Eastern crops
such as wheat to the region and used the fertile coastal plain
to grow grain for export. During the fi ft h century b.c.e. Car-
thage in modern Tunisia became a cosmopolitan city with a
large Phoenician population. Romans moved into North Af-
rica during the second century b.c.e. Th ey turned North Af-
rica into public land and rented it to absentee landlords who
cont inued to fa rm gra in t here. Th e local population remained
largely Berber.THE SAHARA AND NORTHWESTERN AFRICA
Several groups of people lived in northwest Africa in ancient
times. Berbers had begun moving into the Sahara long before
the time of the Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote of a
desert people called the Garamantes. Th e Garamentes lived
in the Libyan Sahara between 500 b.c.e. and c.e. 500. Histo-
rians believe that the ancestors of the Garamantes probably
moved into the Fezzan area of the Sahara around 1000 b.c.e.
Herodotus wrote that the Garamantes herded cattle and
drove chariots. Th ey oft en fought with the Ethiopian people
who lived in caves, and they were also known to raid Roman
towns on the Libyan coast. Th ey grew wheat to trade with690 migration and population movements: Africa