The Peopling of Africa

[Poitier]

You should know that West Africa has a connection straight to Egypt & Sudan. Africa once had a third great River besides the Nile and Niger Rivers which was infact connected straight to the Niger River through Lake Chad, one of Africa's great lakes along with Lake Victoria. Clearly these acted as significant pumps for people when one considers that the Nile River goes straight to its source in mountainous Uganda, the "Mountain of the Moon", which is where the Ancient Egyptians said they came from.

Here is a map of the now non-existent River:

 

[Poitier]

Waits for the next huge reach by the Waits for the next huge reach by the Horners

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Found some notes on Eastern Africa. Will be adding those elements tomorrow.

 

[Robbie3000]

Subs

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Expanded Notes on the Peopling of East Africa

• The people of East Africa are as diverse as the region they settled in. A region defined by massive uplands (like the Ruwenzoris), volcanoes (Ol'Doinyo Lengai), lakes (Lake Victoria) etc. The climate is seasonal and the lengths of seasons and their number vary - creating the conditions for desert to semidesert scrub to savanna to swamp and grassland, to woodland and forest.
• In the Late Stone Age, gatherer-hunters with San like affinities occupied game-rich savannas. Fisherfolk who were probably Eastern Sudanic in origin exploited lakeshore sites. Pygmoid groups could be found in heavily wooded and forested habitats. Then, no later than 4,000 years ago the first farmers and herders showed up. They were Cushytes from Ethiopia who found the highlands flanking the eastern Rift Valley to their liking.

• At the same time, Central Sudanic speakers moved into the interlacrustine area to an undetermined point farther south.

Central Sudanic Lugbara woman

Interlacustrine Developments

• Bantu speakers first reached the western margins of the interlacustrine area 3,000 years ago. Still dependent on yams/fishing, their settlements were on humid lakeshores and riverside locations. Bordering them in drier settings were earlier arrivals: Central/Eastern Sudanics and Southern Cushytic peoples. From several sources, the Bantu took up sorghum and millet cultivation along with cattle-herding, gaining the means for extending their settlements beyond their initial settlements.
• The Bantu also acquired iron-working technology. Iron-working sites more than 2,200 years old have been found in Buhaya, west of Lake Victoria. These developments were probably independent of Taruga and Meroe. By 500 CE, the interlacustrine region essentially was Bantu. Various Sudanic peoples held on in the northern fringes while other Sudanic and Cushytes disappeared from the area, except for what they left behind in terms of technologies and loanwords. The Bantu grew in number while living in a region with high rainfall, fertile soil, lakes/streams for fishing and grasslands rich in game. The Bantu also grew faster after the arrival of plantains and bananas. Yet, some space was still unoccupied for the Western Nilotes to migrate into a bit later.
  
  
  
  Map of Interlacustrine (Great Lakes) Africa

• The expansion of the Western Nilotes took place over 500 years and it did not finish until the late 19th century. Their expansion arose from a complex series of population developments in the flat clay plains surrounding the Bahr-al Ghazal and Nile Rivers. First came the expansion of the Nuer at the expense of the Dinka. Who in turn moved against the Lwo (Luo) speakers, causing many of them to follow the Nile upstream into the savanna country north of Lake Albert and Kyoga.
• Competition was based on access to cattle and ridge tos. Although Western Nilotes relied on grains for primary energy needs; milk, blood and meat were also essential. Also, cattle ownership defined wealth and power. What might have benefited the Nuer was the development of high yielding cadatum varieties of Sorghum. The new varieties of sorghum contributed to cattle growth, overall food production and thus population growth. Then, the Nuer competed with the Dinka with for ridge tops which were the site of permanent villages (similar to ambas in Ethiopia?), The plains were inundated in the rainy season and only a few meters of elevation can determine whether land remains above water during the rains.
• Some of the villages grew unusually large and developed chiefdoms. Armies of up to 1,500 men could be recruited from neighbouring villages to attack the less organized Dinka. A Nuer tactic was to launch attacks during the harvest time to seize their grain and pillage/kill. Many Dinka chose to become Nuer to evade attack.

Nuer man

Dinka woman

• Redistribution among the Dinka and Nuer probably caused the Lwo migrations. In their history, complex movements are recounted in theor stories. The Lwo traveled with their cattle, setting up temporary camps along the way. One such site, Pubungu, was along the Nile north of Lake Albert. The Lwo infiltrated Central Sudanic peoples and gained political control over these communities. Some of the camps became royal courts or capitals of kingdoms. It also caused a lingustic shift among the Alur, who were once Central Sudanic speakers.
  
  
  
  
  The Alur King
• The Lwo met Bantu peoples as well. The first contacts took place north of Lake Kyoga. A Lwo clan, Bito, established hegemony among the Bantu Nyoro. Related to the Bito were the Hinda who formed royal dynasties among the native peoples along the western side of Lake Victoria. Also, the Hima - who rose to political power in Rwanda and Burundi. In each instance, Bantu speech and cultural identity prevailed over the Lwo Nilotes. Only in the Nyanza region of modern Kenya did the Lwo predominate numerically over the Bantu.
• Lwo demographic success may have been based on pre-existing population densities. In Uganda, which agricultural areas were Bantu. Semi arid areas where there were less people became Lwo dominated. In contrast, in Nyanza is not as well endowed as the lands in the western side of Lake Victoria or the highlands to the east. Only less productive lands that were suited for livestock were left for the Lwo.
• Lwo presence and royal lineage is linked to the interlacustrine region. Royal status could indeed be traced to Nuer ridge chiefs (!). But there is a possibility royalty in the region pre-dated the Lwo arrival. Evidence comes from Bantu proto-kingdoms between the Ruwenzori Mountains and Lake Victoria by 1250 CE. There are also references in oral traditions to a royal lineage called the Bacwezi or Chwezi and earthworks at Ntusi and Bigo.
• Furthermore, the royal symbols of the spear, stool and sacred drum of the Alur, Acholi and other Sudanics are not of Nilotic origin. The Padhola maintained a lineage based system of organization despite being Lwo settled. The Luo of Kenya also never politically centralized. Perhaps it was the Bantu presence in the region which was necessary for the creation of states...

Luo man

• Kingship formation dominated the region from the 1600 CE onwards until the colonial era. The dominant power in the north was Bunyoro, but in the 1800s it lost ground to Buganda and the Ankole state of Nkore. Control of interregional trade (salt, iron, hides, skins and agro produce) were the prizes. In the 1830s, Nyamwezi ivory traders arrived and so did Arab-Swahili merchants - but they never became politically or economically important in the pre-colonial era.

British Protectorate of Uganda with map of its constiuent kingdoms

• Farther south, the more feudal kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi were established. From a complicated mix of Hinda, Hima and local Bantu royalty sprang the Tutsi. Using cattle as currency, the Tutsi instituted a system of clientage with the more numerous cultivators as Hutu. Also attached were pygmoid Twa gatherer-hunters. Movement between Tutsi and Hutu status depended on ownership of cattle and the bestowal of royal favour.

Tutsi man

Hutu man

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Peopling of East Africa (continued)

The Interior Mosaic

• In the interior of eastern Africa, at various times was populated by Khoisan, Cushytic, Nilotic and Bantu peoples to produce one of the most complex ethnolinguistic regions in the continent.
• This started with the arrival of Southern Cushytes from Ethiopia 5,000 years ago. They followed the Eastern Rift Valley into Central Kenya then spread out in the highlands.They comprised the Pastoral Neolithic (Stone Bowl) culture. Cattle was at the centre of their economy but agricultural cultivation may have occurred too. Their terms for agriculture indicates that the Southern Cushytes traveled as far east the Uluguru Mountains and as far west as the southern shore of Lake Victoria. Perhaps as far south as the highlands bordering Lake Malawi. In Central Tanzania, they left the physical reminder in the form of the Iraqw, Gorowa and the Burunge.

Iraqw man

Gorowa man

• Eastern Cushytes also headed south. Around 1000 BCE, they took 2 migration routes from a hearth north of Lake Turkana.The Gabaloid moved along the eastern shore of the lake. They abandoned agriculture in the arid environment for hunting, gathering and fishing. Others continued south in the forests surrounding the northern slopes of Mount Kenya, where they remained hunter-gatherers under the name of Yaaku or Qwaku. Still other Gabaloids took the Tana River Valley to the coast and absorbed the Khoisan-speaking peoples. Later Oromo and Somali expansion in this direction incorporating their descendants in castes like Sanye and Boni.
• A second branch of Eastern Cushytes, the Baz, tracked the western side of Lake Turkana. They managed to survive for a short time before succumbing to the Southern Nilotes. The Baz bequeathed livestock-raising techniques adapted to semiarid conditions and such cultural practices as penile circumcision and clitoridectomy, a prohibition against eating fish, and a cycling age-grade system of social organization. By 500 CE Southern Nilotes from northwest Lake Turkana had entered central Kenya, where they divided the space with Southern Cushytes. Southern Nilotes took control of the savannas and lower forest zones in the western highlands, where Elmenteitain archeological sites show that they practiced transhumance with cattle and cultivated sorghum and millet. higher up, gatherer-hunters held sway. These people may have been Southern Cushytes but they were overtaken by Southern Nilotes.

Yaaku women

• Southern Nilotes split into many branches. The Kitoki headed for Lake Victoria. The Kenya-Kadem for the Cherangany Hills. A third stayed in west-central Kenya and gave rise to the Kalenjin and Dadog peoples. The Dadog pushed south into modern-day Tanzania.
• Then the Bantu arrived. They met the Kitoki and displaced them from around the Kavirondo Gulf. The Bantu moved around the Kalenjin in favour of highland areas around Mount Kilimanjaro, Meru, Kenya, Pare and Usambara. They were able to cultivate grains, yams, plantains and bananas.
• Southern Cushytes lost out to the Shambaa, Pare, Chaga, Taveta, Kamba and the Kikuyu-Meru-Embu. They were absorbed by the newcomers. The Cushytes left their mark in the oral traditions of the Bantu, loanwords, irrigation works and more. An example of this is the Mbugu who peak a Southern Cushytic language in vocabulary but Bantu in grammar.

Kalenjin women

• Another early Bantu migration route skirted around Lake Taganyika on both sides. Here a variety of Bantu groups formed, differentiated by their agricultural systems. The Nyiha, Safwa, Lambwa and Nyamwanga relied on cereal-based agriculture. The Nyakusa of the warmer slopes leading to Lake Malawi became plantain and banana cultivators. Some grain cultivators moved east and became the Hehe-Bena-Sangu linguistic cluster. Expansion into semiarid center of Tanzania created teh Gogo and Kaguru groups. They added a cattle economy to their growing of sorghum and millet. The cattle from eastern Nilotic Maasai.
• A gradual incursion by Bantu occurred east of Lake Tanganyika. Malarial swamps, poor soils, drought and sleeping sickness made this area uninviting to farming peoples. But some people were able to eke out life here - from them we get the Nyamwezi, Kimbu, Fipa, Sukuma, Turu and Langi. The movement into central Tanzania began in the 1500s CE and represents the last phase of Bantu displacement of Khoisan groups like the Hadza. They found protection in the dry, tsetse infested lands surrounding Lake Eyasi. 150 KM south the Sandawe held out by adding crop cultivation and animal husbandry into their economy.

Hadza man

• Eastern Nilotes had the most dramatic migration. They gained control over the semi-arid rangelands of present day Kenya and Tanzania. The first branching appeared 3,000 years ago. In the following centuries, Bari speakers moved westward across the Nile into central Sudanic territory in the Sudd. Loanwords indicate communication between the 2 groups. Southern Cushytes headed south slowly and by 100-500 CE they split into the Teso-Turkana and Lotuko-Maasaian divisions. The Lotuko-Maasaians interacted with the Eastern Cushytes around the juncture of present-day Ethiopia, the Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. From the Eastern Cushytes, Lotuko-Maasaians developed their aversion to eating wild game.
• The Lotuko settled in the vicintiy of the Kinyiti River in southeastern Sudan, where they are today. Maasaians continued into Kenya. They encountered Cushytes, Nilotes and Bantu in various phases of expansion and retreat. They competed for pasturelands. The Ongamo split off and settled on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
• The Maa also hived off and went through the Kenyan Rift Valley and into the open savanna and steppe lands extending from southern Kenya into central Tanzania. They displaced the Kalenjin in the 18th century. The Gogo halted the Maa expansion in the 19th century. A secondary movement carried the Samburu Maa north towards Lake Turkana.
• The Teso-Turkana eliminated the Kenya-Kandem Southern Nilotic presence and expanded along the Kenya Uganda border north of Mount Elgon. The Tso broke off in the 19th century. Others went north to form the Karamojong, Jie, Dodos and Topotha while the Turkana pushed northwards to Lake Turkana and encountered the Samburu and Eastern Cushytic Rendile and Oromo. Fascinatingly, in a reversal of rends the Southern Nilotic Pokot expanded at the expense of Karamojong.

Turkana couple

• Eastern Nilotes kept livestock, fished and grew sorghum and millet. Some peoples like the Maa discarded fishing. Other areas with high rainfall had groups like the Teso and Ongamo settling down. The Maa took nomadic herding to their fullest extent but even some Maa around Mount Meru adopted a farming way of life.
• The norm of interaction between Eastern Nilotes and the peoples they encountered was gradual displacement, absorption or co-existence. Conflict wasn't the norm in pre-colonial times. Displacement and assimilation characterizes the Southern Cushytes and Kalenjins who proceeded the Maasai into Tanzania. Stripped of their herds, they became gatherer hunters called the Dorobo. The Maasai have displaced historical cultural contempt for them but there hasn't been hostility. Ethnic boundaries are permeable to an extent. A Dorobo can become a Maasai by obtaining cattle and adopting Maasai customs. A Maasai can become a Dorobo by losing cattle and becoming a gatherer-hunter.

Dorobo family

Maasai man

• Co-existence between Kikuyu and Maasai occurred to. Milk and skins were regularly exchanged for flour and tobacco and some inter-marriage occured. For some groups, inter-marriage was essential. The Rendile have an age grade system which makes many women ineligible for marriage until they're quite old. Rendile men took wives from the Samburu, who were able to marry at an earlier age.
• The image of war-like Eastern Nilotes is likely due to the age-grade system and the cultural pressure for young men to do battle. Also Arab-Swahilis discouraged others from going into the interior to protect their trade monopoly. Finally, during the 18th and 19th centuries the Maa Iloikop and Maasai fought over who would control the most important grazing rounds and watering sites.

Kikuyu woman

Rendile woman

• In the 19th century, the Ngoni peoples arrived from Southern Africa fleeing Shaka Zulu's mfecane. The Ngoni fought their way north alongside Lake Malawi. Smaller, less organized peoples were vanquished by their tactics and battle strategy. Much of the area around the Ruvuma Rive was depopualted. The Hehe-Bena-Sangu resisted the Ngoni and forged alliances to defeat them.
• The second event affected population growth was the expansion of trade from the coast - with ivory being the start of the trade. After 1860, slaves became the most important item of commerce. Slaves went to plantations on Mauritius and Reunion and the Arabian peninsula for domestic use. Caravans crossed Central Tanzania on the way to the coast. Gogo warriors demanded tribute for caravans crossing their territory, thus caravans tried toa void them. The Maasai also blocked Arab-Swahili movement into the highlands.
• The Kamba engaged in long-distance trade from the 18th century onwards. They traded poisoned arrows, iron, salt, cattle and other commodities. They sent expeditions across East Africa to supplement the ivory trade.
• The Nyamwezi seized opportunity to involve themselves in the ivory and slave trades - opening the door for Arab-Swahilis. The Yao also brouht ivory too to exchange for manufactured items.
• No true states on the part of the Great Lakes ever developed in the Interior Mosaic. Poor agricultural resource bases kept the population density low and even trade failed to create more political centralization. One exception is the Kilindini which were the unification of Shambaa chiefedoms in the late 18th century.

Shambaa women

Kamba men

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Peopling of East Africa (the continued)

The Nilotic Impulse

• Though few in number, Nilotes had a big impact on Eastern Africa. Livestock grazing may have been the impetus for their migrations. After all, excessive grazing diminishes the quality of grasses and soil. Migrating to new pastures may be necessary to maintain the health of flocks of domesticated albums. However, this is the case for Eastern and Southern Nilotes. For Western Nilotics, who had plenty land available, the need to attain power and privilege may have inspired population movements to settle among the Bantus.

The Swahili Coast

• The Swahili people are very distinctive and are characterized by: their mercantile tradition on the Indian Ocean trade, town dwelling, unique coral/stone architecture, Islam, literacy, sense of belonging to a wider civilization and social stratification with ruling elites expressing Persian and Arab lineages. But it is obvious that the Asian elements are only a veneer over the Bantu framework of the Swahili.
• The Swahili language is Bantu in origin. They are related to the Sabaki cluster of Northeast Coastal Bantu that formed in the Lower Tana River-Lamu Archipelago in 500 CE. The Sabaki lived in coastal and offshore island-villages where they both fished and farmed. Some Sabaki took up trading with merchants from Arabia and Persia. The coastal trade was made possible by Indian Ocean monsoons which dhows took advantage of, the winds blow reliably form the northeast as far as Cape Delgado beginning in January. They then reverse in April.

Map of the Swahili Coast (sites in Somalia have some controversy though given that Somalis are not Bantu)

• Trade goes back 2000 years in the region. The Peripus of the Erythraen Sea recpints previous visits to the coast to satisfy Rome's taste for ivory. Arabs also got in the trade early as well. It is likely the first Africans Arabs met on the coast were Cushytes.
• The formative years for the Swahili was between the 800-1200s when all their major towns were established. First mentioned are Rhapta (Rhapta is quite ancient. Will post a link later) and Kambalu. They were followed by pate, Shanga, and Manda (all around the Lamu Archipelago). Kisimani Mafia and Kilwa Kisiwani formed too. Malindi and Mombasa are among the cities in the Coast. Some Swahilis claim Mogadishu but that is unlikely given that Mogadishu travellers of the time noted the Somali elites and population that resided in the city. In any case, Mogadishu was part of the coastal African Indian Ocean trade. Probably more than a hundred settlements sprouted up but many disappeared.
• Each town was independent and competed with each other to trade. They sold ivory, ambergris, tortoise shell, leopard skins, mangrove poles, gold and slaves to various peoples. Slaves went to the Arabian Peninsula and India to work as domestics and to Southern Iraq (look up the Zanj Revolt). Imports were cotton, beads and chinaware.
• The founding of each town typically has a Waungwana (free born) person who did it. They might have been real people who left established families to look for trade opportunities. Whatever the case, they used their new wealth to build quarters built of stone and coral. They also fashioned new geneologies to recreate their images.

Swahili woman

Old fort in Zanzibar

 

[Grano-Grano]

Somalis were trading with AE. I don't know why Niger-Congo folks always catch feelings and try to disprove our history. We don't do that with them. shyt is amusing.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Peopling of East Africa (conclusion)

• • Two other important events were the coming of Islam and the Waungwana claiming Shirazi descent. Islam accompanied traders who converted most of the populace within a couple of centuries. The Shirazi claims by the Swahili elites were just a means of validating their rule, although there were no Persian settlements in East Africa. Perhaps it was a means of separating themselves from Arab Muslims in their midst?
  • Starting in the 1500s, the Swahili towns entered into a period of decline that lasted 2 centuries. This is because of the Portuguese. They used a divide and rule strategy to weaken the Swahili cities and prevent others powers from gaining autonomy in the region. Events in the hinterland such as the Oromo expansion made things worse. The Oromo raided towns on a regular basis in southern Somalia and Northern Kenya. The incursions triggered numerous coastal Bantu migrations which formed peoples like the Mijikenda.

Mijikenda men

• 
  
  
  • Some revitalization took place in the 1600s. The Portuguese were expelled by Oman and Mombasa emerged as the major center in the region, largely due to its superior harbour. However the Oromo expansion continued to wreak havoc on the interior. Farther south at Malindi, the interior had stabilized and trade relations resumed witth the Yao, Nyamwezi and the Kamba - extending trade to the Kenyan Highlands, Great Lakes and Central Africa. The number of Omani Arabs increased which paved the way for the moving of the Omani capital from Muscat (in Arabia) to Zanzibar. Ivory and slaves were essential for the Omani-Swahilis. Plantation-style groves of cloves also depended on slaves.
  • Caravans from the interior regularly arrived on the coast and it prompted some Arabs (and Indians) to migrate to the coast to found cities like Tanga and Bagamoyo to exploit trade.
  • Arab culture rubbed off on the Swahili. Nearly all Arabic words in the language date from the 19th century. Arab styles of architecture replaced traditional Swahili style too. A more Middle Eastern style of Islam became predominant as well as more Swahilis claiming Arab heritage.
  
  
  Swahili Mtepe boat (built without nails!)
  
  A link below on the re-discovery of Rhapta:
  The Lost City of Rhapta May Have Just Been Discovered Near One Of Africa's Most Luxurious New Retreats

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Somalis were trading with AE. I don't know why Niger-Congo folks always catch feelings and try to disprove our history. We don't do that with them. shyt is amusing.

What do you mean? It's mainly Europeans who produce works on Somali history.

 

[Grano-Grano]

What do you mean? It's mainly Europeans who produce works on Somali history.

Poitier. He's annoying. Always trying to discredit other ethnic African groups not just us either. He's caping for his inferiority complex or something idk at this point

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Poitier. He's annoying. Always trying to discredit other ethnic African groups not just us either. He's caping for his inferiority complex or something idk at this point

Are you referencing the debate over the location of Punt? Are you sure the Somali people had formed around the time of Kemet's expeditions to Punt? When did the ethnogenesis of the Somali occur?

 

[Poitier]

Horners mad I called out the BS

 

[Bawon Samedi]

A video you guys may enjoy.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Okay reading through the recent posts I have to address somethings.

No offense to my Somali brehs(and not saying that its you guy in this thread). But I notice a bit exaggeration when it comes to Somali history. And I mean A LOT... I still do not see much credible evidence that states Punt was in Somalia. However, I do see more evidence with it being in Southeast Sudan and Highlander Eritrea. Somalis DID trade with many people during classical times tho. But I doubt Punt even had an extensive maritime culture otherwise it would have multiple historic texts besides the Egyptians would have noted that. Especially the Romans who recorded everything including trade with.... *drum roll* Southeast Bantus.

But also I still do not see much evidence that Punt was founded by pygmies and that one quote is not significant enough.

The "Niger-Congo" influence is definitely there. And was there. I.e in Egypt and Sudan. From cultural customs, genetic lineages, Benin sickle cell, physical remains and among other things. This would obviously represent refugees from the drying green Sahara. I would say the "Niger-Congo side" has bit of advantage with release of King Ramesse III paternal DNA and King Tut possible dying of sickle cells. How much Niger-Congo influence there was is the bigger question. But thats for another time.

The "Afro-Asiatic" side has the Ancient Egyptians speaking an AA language, lineages associated with AA speakers in Egypt and Horners being used as proxies for the Ancient Egyptians. However, certain Horners especially Somalis I see online mistake this for them directly descending from the Ancient Egyptians. When all its saying is that them, Ancient Egyptians AND Nilotics/Nilo-Saharan people are all Northeast Africans.

But all in all both Afro-Asiatic speakers(especially in the Horn) and Niger-Congo speakers barely trump the influence of Nilo-Saharan speakers. While the Ancient Egyptians were diverse, the major genetic influenced would have been Nilo-Saharans, Nilotics and Ancient pre-Neolithic Egyptian/Lower Sudan people. The predmoinate Ancient Egyptian paternal lineages would have most likely been Haplogroups A and B which are associated with Nilo-Saharan speakers(and psskkk Pygmies!).

The AFRICAN lineages in modern day Egyptians shows who the Ancient Egyptians are and I am talking about OLDER lineages like A and B...

Uganda wasn't no major trade center breh.. stop it.

Besides, this is way before the Bantu expansion so my ppls were in those quarters too

With recent archaeological findings we already know that the precursors of the Swahili States were trading with Romans, Greeks and Persians. And these people were in fact Bantu.

But also we are to believe(and Egyptian texts backs it up) that Egyptians with their Phenoician sailers DID go down the coast of East Africa and possibly trade with Bantus in areas like.... *drum roll* Uganda. This happened under Pharaoh Necho II. The Phoenicians got their tin from Uganda according to this source.
African circumnavigation by Africans. Carthaginians discover Mount Cameroon, the Ugandan tin Phoenicians sold in Europe. Two thousand years old African lighthouses in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic
African circumnavigation by Africans. Carthaginians discover Mount Cameroon, the Ugandan tin Phoenicians sold in Europe. Two thousand years old African lighthouses in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic

Also it is also possible to some scholars that Nubians could have acted as middle men using the Nile for Egyptians and other Mediterraneans(in geographical sense) and interior Africans like in Uganda.

As for the Bantu expansion it would have started around the time dynastic Egypt began. me personally do not believe the origins of Egypt was Bantu(that would be a stretch), but like I said any Niger-Congo influence would have been from the Green Sahara.

@Poitier how were the AE getting to Uganda since the Nile is not navigable by ship?

By walking(like they did) or just sailing around the East African coast which they and EVERYONE did including the Romans when they traded with the people of Azania.

There is CLEAR culture interaction between Egypt and the Great Lakes that is not seen with the Horn. You have no gods that made it into their culture, no musical instruments, the word for the land you are trying to claim originates from a Bantu word. Just stop. Its ridiculous.

The Ancient Egyptians DID speak an Afro-Asiatic language. Which "Afro-Asiatic group" brought it there is another story. I personally believe people from the eastern desert.