Nigeria developed both agriculture and ironworking during
the fi rst millennium b.c.e. Th e Nigerian Bantu were believed
to have somehow learned ironwork in the Middle East and
brought it back to Nigeria with them; Nigeria’s Nok people
were believed to be some of the fi rst expert metal workers.
According to this scenario, by about 500 b.c.e. the Bantu
were skilled enough at working metal that they were able to
quickly conquer the hunter-gatherers of southern Africa.
Historians today believe that the Bantu migration hap-
pened over a much longer period of time and was probably a
process of gradual cultural transmission instead of a sudden
burst of ethnic conquerors. According to the present inter-
pretation of the data, starting around 3000 b.c.e. the Bantu
people of Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger started moving slow-
ing south and east. Th e reasons for this move are unknown.
Th e Sahara became very dry during the second millennium
b.c.e., and Berber inhabitants of the desert may have pushed
the Bantu south as they moved into wetter regions. Th is would
have forced the Bantu into the rainforests of central Africa.
Th e Bantu migration was not necessarily a journey of
conquest. As the Bantu moved south and east, local peoples
adopted Bantu languages and intermarried with the mi-
grants. Over the generations the Bantu language slowly spread
southward, and Bantu physical traits appeared in popula-
tions where intermarriage occurred. Modern historians also
believe that the Bantu-speaking peoples did not bring iron-
working to Nigeria from the Middle East but instead discov-
ered it when they arrived in eastern Africa. Th e non-Bantu
people of Tanzania and Rwanda may have started working
with iron around 800 b.c.e., without any infl uence from the
Middle East or Europe, and the Bantu may have learned the
craft from them.
However the Bantu learned to work with iron, by the
fourth century c.e. they were quite skilled at it and could make
good metal farming tools. Th ese tools made it much easier for
Bantu farmers to cut grain from tough sorghum and millet
stalks, which gave them an advantage over peoples who did
not have metal tools. Even if they did not kill native peoples
to take their land, the Bantu were much better equipped to
raise food, which helped them become the dominant culture.
However it happened, the Bantu languages spread down the
coast of east Africa by 400 c.e.
Th e Pygmy groups came into early contact with the
Bantu, who lived near them. Pygmy hunters traded with
Bantu farmers, exchanging meat and hides for vegetables,
pottery, baskets, and metal items. In areas where the Bantu
population grew rapidly, the Pygmies were sometimes forced
to move, and this could have resulted in decreased Pygmy
populations. For example, the Twa of Rwanda gradually dis-
appeared when the Bantu Hutu arrived in the second half of
the fi rst millennium c.e.
Around 1000 b.c.e. the Bantu moved into the southern
Africa, bringing agriculture and herding techniques with
them. Th eir progress was slow; Africa’s terrain does not al-
low for rapid transmission of crops and livestock, and dis-
eases spread by tsetse fl ies killed large numbers of people and
animals. As the Bantu population grew in Khoisan territory,
the Khoisan Bushmen split into two groups. Th e Khoisan re-
mained hunter-gatherers, but they moved into more marginal
habitats, such as the Kalahari Desert. Th e Khoi, or Khoikhoi,
became pastoralists. Th ey acquired livestock, brought to their
region by the Bantu, and lived by herding. Th e Khoi lived
throughout the pastureland of South Africa. As the Bantu
spread through the region, they adopted some Khoisan prac-
tices. Th e southern Bantu language, for example, acquired
some click sounds and Khoisan words.
Around 1 c.e. Bantu culture had moved into Uganda,
bringing along agriculture and metalworking. Nilotic peo-
ples also moved into Uganda from the north during the
fi rst century c.e. Th ese people included the Luo and Ateker
groups. Th ey herded cattle and practiced subsistence farm-
ing. Although there were some confl icts, the Luo soon inter-
married with the Bantu and adopted Bantu customs. Some
Luo continued moving south into Tanzania and Kenya. Th e
Bantu arrived in northern South Africa around 450 c.e. Th is
event corresponds with a period in which local animals such
as wildebeest and white rhino began to disappear from the
area, presumably displaced by Bantu cattle.
Th e Bantu included many groups that emerged as sepa-
rate tribes during the ancient and subsequent periods. Th e
Nguni people spoke the Nguni group of Bantu languages.
Th ey lived throughout southeast Africa, inching their way
south over the centuries. Th e Nguni included peoples that de-
veloped into the Zulu, Swati, Phithi, and Ndbele. Th e Xhosa
were Nguni people who appear to have arrived in South Af-
rica sometime in the fi ft h century c.e.EGYPT
BY KATHARINA ZINN AND MICHAEL J. O’NEAL
One way to know of migration (both emigration and exile) is
to study the archaeological evidence of prehistoric societies.
Th e material culture found in excavations tells the story of
the links between diff erent cultures. Th us, for example, ar-
chaeologists have found tombs that contain luxury goods that
were clearly manufactured elsewhere, using processes and
materials that were not available at the time in the area of the
tomb. It is oft en diffi cult to decide whether these links devel-
oped from intensive trade exchanges, invasions, or migration
movements. Concerning ancient Egypt, another important
source used to explain migration movements—and some-
times the only fruitful one—is Egyptian texts, along with
the artwork in tombs. While surviving texts do not provide a
complete, continuous record, those that do survive give hints
about the movement of people throughout ancient Egypt.
Egyptians sometimes migrated to other countries. Such
migration movements were recorded in ancient texts, but
the number of people who went to other countries was not
high, and many wanted to return to Egypt to have an Egyp-
tian burial with all the attendant funerary rituals. Further,migration and population movements: Egypt 693