The Bantu Migration

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The Bantu Migration

• Chapter 8, Section 2
• Pages 220-224

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Bantu Migrations

• Migration
• a permanent move from one country or region to
  another
• Human history is a repeating pattern of movement,
  collision, settlement, and more movement
• Early Africans made some of historys greatest
  migrations
• The Bantu society an example

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Causes of Migration

• They push (force) people out of an area

• Push-Pull Factors influence movement
• They pull (attract) people into an area

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Migration Push-Pull Factors
Push Examples Factors Pull Examples
Climate changes Lack of resources Earthquakes, Drought/famine Environmental Abundant land New resources Good climate
Unemployment Slavery Economic Employment opportunities
Religious, ethnic, political persecution War Political Political and/or religious freedom
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Bantu Migrations

• Took place 3000 B.C. A.D. 1100
• The Bantu a group of people who speak related
  languages have related cultural characteristics
• First lived south of Sahara Desert in what is
  Nigeria today
• Mostly farmers nomadic herders
• Developed excellent ironworking skills

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Migration Begins

• Forced to moveevery few yearsbecause of
  slash-and-burn farmingtechniques
• After moving, they shared skills with people they
  met, adapted to new environments, learned new
  customs

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Migration Routes

• From their home area, the Bantu began moving to
  the east and south
• They learned new ways to herd goats sheep, and
  to raise cattle
• They learned to grow new crops like bananas, yams

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Reasons for Migrating

• Why did they migrate? Possible push-pull
  factors
• Overpopulation in West Africa ? farmers needed
  more fertile land
• Sahara slowly moving southward
• Conflict within communities or with neighbors
• Diseases
• Natural disasters
• Quest for adventure

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Sahara Desert
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African
Savannas
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Effects of Migration on Africa

• Encounters with other peoples
• Get along, move along, or fight for land
• Diffusion of
• iron-working methods for tools, weapons
• agriculture techniques
• centralized government systems
• language some 240 million people today speak
  some form of Bantu as their first language
• Better quality of life perhaps

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Diffusion of Bantu Languages
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Griots Important Citizens

• Few African societies had written languages

• They depended on Griots (storytellers) to keep
  their history alive
• Griots orally shared the history literature of
  a culture
• They were the links between the past and present

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Be a Griot
Use a separate sheet of paper to write part of
the Bantu story

• Imagine you are a young griot-in-training sitting
  around the fire in your village
• Tell why the people in your village left the
  Bantu homelands of West Africa
• Describe the influence of your Bantu heritage on
  the people you encountered
• Tell how the Bantu migration affected Africa both
  culturally and agriculturally?