With the development of the iron blade, reaping became easier for the bantu people and agriculture took on a whole new meaning.

Populations grew faster than before and people were encroaching on each other's land.

This necessitated an enlargement of territory, which led to the migration of African black tribes from the Great Lakes in central Africa, to the south of Africa. The Bantu migration spread through sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara Desert), over some 2,000 years.

Map showing origination and southward migration of the black people in Africa

A linguistically related group of about 60 million people living in equatorial and southern Africa, they probably originated in West Africa, migrating downward gradually into southern Africa. This migration was one of the largest in human history.

The cause of this movement is uncertain, but is believed to have been related to population increase, a result of the introduction of new crops, such as the banana (native to south Asia), allowing more efficient food production.

Open air museum scene of a Tsonga kraal, showing the way of life of the early black settlers in South Africa
copyright © South African tourism
Societies typically depended on subsistence agriculture or, in the savannas, pastoral pursuits. Political organization was normally local, although large kingdoms would later develop in western and central Africa.

Early in their history, the Bantu split into two major linguistic branches, the Eastern and Western language branches. The Eastern branch migrated through present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique, down to South Africa. The Western branch moved into what is now Angola, Namibia, and north-western Botswana.

Map showing the distribution of African language families and some major African languages

Today, among the Bantu language groups, the most widely spoken language is Arab-influenced Swahili, which is used as a lingua franca (a language used in common by different peoples to facilitate commerce and trade) by up to 50 million speakers on the eastern coast of Africa.

Ethnic groups descended from the Bantu include the Shona, the Xhosa, the Kikuyu, and the Zulu, of the Eastern Bantu language branch; and the Herero and Tonga peoples, of the Western Bantu language branch.

Map showing the distribution of the population in South Africa by language group

Some 2 000 years ago, when the first waves of black settlers began arriving in southern Africa, they brought with them the advantages of an Iron Age culture, farming skills and domesticated crops.

After they had settled in the eastern parts of South Africa, they eventually spread out across the highveld some 1 000 years ago, because of their need for more land on which to practise their growing cattle culture. The first African settlements in South Africa were mainly in the Transvaal and Natal areas.

Ndebele women showing off the traditional decoration of her home
copyright © South African tourism
In the African culture, chiefdoms were based on control over cattle, which gave rise to social systems of protection (patronage) and hierarchies of authority within communities. The exchange of cattle formed the basis of polygamous marriage arrangements. This system operated on the basis of social power built through control over the labour of kin groups and dependants.

The development of metalworking skills promoted specialisation of products and trade between regions followed. The different chiefdoms settled in different patterns; dispersed homesteads were found in the fertile coastal regions to the east, and concentrated in towns in the desert fringes to the west.

Zulus ploughing their land like they did in the old days
copyright © South African tourism
In the western half of the country, rainfall was low and desert conditions prevailed and the African farmers were not interested in settling there. These dry regions remained a safe haven of the Khoi and the San.

The African settlement patterns had the effect that, for the first century and a half of European settlement, the African farmers were hardly affected by the white presence at all. The black population of South Africa is divided into several ethnic groups, of which the Nguni forms a major part. Other main groups are the Sotho, the Venda and the Shangaan-Tsonga.

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