The Peopling of Africa

[Misreeya]

A few questions after this great post:
- What ancestral peoples conquered the Hausa and pushed their Afro-Asiatic culture on them? My guess is that it's peoples who were similar to Saharan cultures (those who painted caves in the Sahara) who moved south and subjugated the Hausa.
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Let me first say, this is a very good thread. It is hard to speculate that MansaMusa, so it can be many factors that contribute to that. For example in what is today North Sudan and parts of Egypt this what some scholars speculated that the language spoken in what was Kerma was originally Afro Asiatic until they later switch to NiloSaharan language for unknown reasons, and if you look at the features of many( definitely not all but a considerable amount more than half) nile valley Sudanese, it looks similar to our neighbors in the horn, and it shows

Afar tribe man from the horn.

Here is what some linguist discovered in regards to the language of the region.

Language[edit]
According to Peter Behrens (1981) and Marianne Bechaus-Gerst (2000), linguistic evidence indicates that the Kerma peoples spoke Afro-Asiatic languages of the Cushytic branch.[11][12] The Nilo-Saharan Nobiin language today contains a number of key pastoralism related loanwords that are of proto-Highland East Cushytic origin, including the terms for sheep/goatskin, hen/cock, livestock enclosure, butter and milk. This in turn suggests that the Kerma population — which, along with the C-Group Culture, inhabited the Nile Valley immediately before the arrival of the first Nubian speakers — spoke Afro-Asiatic languages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushytic_languages

Kerma Culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's been presumed that Nubians absorbed Egyptian cultural features because they had to, but we found cultural entanglement ? that there was a new identity that combined aspects of their Nubian and Egyptian heritages. And based on biological and isotopic features, we believe they were interacting, intermarrying and eventually becoming a community of Egyptians and Nubians," said Buzon, who just returned from the excavation site.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-05-burial-sites-nubians-egyptians-thousands.html#jCp

This link shows it could had been similar to the Hausa, not NiloSharan nor AfroAsiatic, but a combination of both. This mixture of population was a common practice throughout history to maintain the peace in many ancient cultures, and to prevent conflict by intermarriage.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

Subs on this very interesting subject.

Peace

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Let me first say, this is a very good thread. It is hard to speculate that MansaMusa, so it can be many factors that contribute to that. For example in what is today North Sudan and parts of Egypt this what some scholars speculated that the language spoken in what was Kerma was originally Afro Asiatic until they later switch to NiloSaharan language for unknown reasons, and if you look at the features of many( definitely not all but a considerable amount more than half) nile valley Sudanese, it looks similar to our neighbors in the horn, and it shows

Afar tribe man from the horn.

Here is what some linguist discovered in regards to the language of the region.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushytic_languages

Kerma Culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



This link shows it could had been similar to the Hausa, not NiloSharan nor AfroAsiatic, but a combination of both. This mixture of population was a common practice throughout history to maintain the peace in many ancient cultures, and to prevent conflict by intermarriage.

Very fascinating. We may be seeing that today with the so-called Hausa-Fulani of Northern Nigeria. Although the Fulani toppled the Hausa ruled emirates, they did so with the support of Hausa Muslims. Additionally, there has been intermarriage between Fulani urban dwellers and Hausas leading to the Hausa-Fulani term.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

@Misreeya

Your Kerma culture points probably adds further evidence that the inhabitants of the far Upper Nile (Sudan) and Egyptians were part of a similar culture or sister-culture. And even after the arrival of Nilo-Saharans, the cultural similarities endured. Is that interpretation correct?

 

[OD-MELA]

Nigerians eat yam 365 days of the year lool

The Bantu migration is interesting. Wonder what made them stop at Uganda and not go further east.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Nigerians eat yam 365 days of the year lool

The Bantu migration is interesting. Wonder what made them stop at Uganda and not go further east.

Early Peopling of East Africa

• According to this book, Bantu peoples reached the Great Lakes region of East Africa (ex. Uganda) 3000 years ago. Bordering them were earlier arrivals: Central Sudanic peoples (ex. Alur, Lugbara), Eastern Sudanic and Southern Cushytic peoples.
• The Bantu picked up millet agriculture and cattle keeping from these peoples and thus gained the means for further expansion into the climatic zones of East Africa. The Bantu also had iron which put them at an advantage over the earlier arrivals. By 500 AD, the Great Lakes region was basically Bantu.
• The Bantu utilized cattle, sorghum, yams, bananas and plantains in addition to fish and rich grasslands to vastly increase their population sizes. However, Western Nilotes began entering the region from 1500 AD onwards. Population movements expanded the Nuer at the expense of the Dinka, the Dinka at the expense of the Luo which travelled all the way down to Kenya from their initial homelands in Sudan and South Sudan.
• Interestingly enough, the Nuer had an advantage over the Dinka because they developed a high-yielding, hardy variety of cadatum sorghum. This allowed them to keep more cattle which was the centre of their food production. The Nuer soon began to take ridge tops which were above the clay plains that were regularly flooded during the rainy season. Giving them more dominance.

Nuer Man

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Early Peopling of East Africa cont'd

• The Luo began to absorb Central Sudanic peoples like the Alur during their migration out of Sudan to the Great Lakes region. However, they had difficulty against the Bantu peoples. The Luo group of the Bito were the only Luo group who managed to overwhelm a Bantu kingdom, Bantu Nyoro.
• Other Nilotic groups who migrated such as the Hinda and the Hima established themselves in what is now Western Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The book is essentially arguing that the Tutsis are Nilotic...which I think is true. Their culture seems very Nilotic/cattle-centric. Tutsis are probably a complete amalgam of Bantu and Nilotic culture.

Questions

• Why do the Dinka outnumber the Nuers if the Nuer had a clear advantage over them for a few centuries?
• Why couldn't the Luo defeat the Bantu but other Nilotic groups like the Hima were able to create states or proto-states in the Great Lakes?

 

[Apollo Creed]

The Hausa are Chadic. Did they migrate to Lake Chad after the Sahara tried up but were pushed west by Nilo-Saharans like the Kanuri?

I don't believe the Fulani are Sudanese. They seem to have migrated from Futa Toro and Futa Jollon. Both in West Africa. They also don't speak a Afro-Asiatic or Nilo-Saharan langauge.

C. Is a mystery. I imagine that people similar to Baka Pygmies lived there, if there were any human populations in coastal West Africa.

I Know for Liberia the Mythos is that there were Pygmies that inhabited the area 1st, I use mythos due to it being said the Pygmies had "powers".

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Interior Mosaic of East Africa

• Southern Cushytic peoples left Southern Ethiopia 5,000 years ago and journeyed down to Central Kenya and the highlands there. They were predominantly a cattle culture though there's evidence that they also grew food. They got as far as the southern shore of Lake Victoria. Their descendants may include the Iraqw, Gorowa and Burunge peoples.
• Eastern Cushytic peoples also went South. Their descendants were probably absorbed by the Oromo and Somali expansions.
• By 500 BC, Southern Nilotes from northwest of Lake Turkana entered Central Kenya, giving rise to the Dadog (in Tanzania) and Kalenjin (Rift Valley Kenya) peoples later on.
• When the Bantu arrived, they migrated around the Nilotes to gain control of highland areas such as around Mounts Kilimanjaro, Meru and Kenya. Yams, plantains and bananas grew well there. Southern Cushytes were also absorbed by them though the Mbugu people of the Pare Mountains are a remnant of that ancient Southern Cushytic migration. Ancient irrigation channels have been discovered on Mount Kilimanjaro.
• Bantu groups also skirted around Lake Taganyika on both sides. A variety of cereal agriculture based Bantu groups formed. A myriad of Bantu groups formed (too many to name but the Nyamwezi, Langi, Sukuma and Hehe are among them).
• Important to note that Khoisan survived in the interior of East Africa too. The Hadza and Sandawe.
• Finally, Eastern Nilotes should be discussed. From them we have the Maasai, Arusha, Turkana and Samburu. Their expansion was checked by the Bantu speaking Gogo in the 19th century (!). Herding was practiced by nearly all Nilotic groups although cultivation of Sorghum and millet occurred among many of these groups too. Ethnic identity was permeable in the mosaic for many groups. Cultural identity was a function of lifestyle and not genealogy. For instance, taking up cattle herding might make you more akin to be Maasai than Dorobo.
  
  

Tanzanian Maasai

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

I Know for Liberia the Mythos is that there were Pygmies that inhabited the area 1st, I use mythos due to it being said the Pygmies had "powers".

Little people in many West African cultures are seen as wizards. You're onto something here...

 

[Apollo Creed]

Little people in many West African cultures are seen as wizards. You're onto something here...

Yeah I`m not going to get into all that stuff on here, but there is consistency in West African Culture regarding them. But the Legend is that they still exist in the "Bush" and still get busy lol

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Yeah I`m not going to get into all that stuff on here, but there is consistency in West African Culture regarding them. But the Legend is that they still exist in the "Bush" and still get busy lol

If they still existed, that would be amazing. Barring major ethical concerns, we could learn a lot about the history of Africa from them.

 

[Apollo Creed]

If they still existed, that would be amazing. Barring major ethical concerns, we could learn a lot about the history of Africa from them.

Yeah. This knowledge is probably limited to those who go to "Bush Schools" and other Secret Societies though. The sad thing is Missionaries pretty much came in and demonized anything they didnt understand thus making it seem Demonic if anyone tries to obtain this knowledge. I think the elders (people born pre 1945) may be the last generation with the knowledge of old.

 

[Misreeya]

@Misreeya

Your Kerma culture points probably adds further evidence that the inhabitants of the far Upper Nile (Sudan) and Egyptians were part of a similar culture or sister-culture. And even after the arrival of Nilo-Saharans, the cultural similarities endured. Is that interpretation correct?

Kerma culture was similar but it differ as well. They and what is now called ancient Egypt (because you had many different ruling families in Egypt and "Ta seti" seems to be the most prominent for some reasons which eludes historians). In regards to burial customs both Kerma and ancient Egypt contrast a great deal.

And even after the arrival of Nilo-Saharans, the cultural similarities endured. Is that interpretation correct

I am assuming that the culture did endure, but only a language shift or according to linguist a mixture of both language, hence a possible mix population.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

- What is the Central-West Africa genetic heritage mean?

looks like south western africans who have heavier bantu affinities

- What does the West Africa genetic heritage mean?

more geared towards upper west africans