The Peopling of Africa

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Peopling of Southern Africa cont'd.

The Shona States

• After Great Zimbabwe slipped into decline in the 15th century, perhaps because of overpopulation - the Shona founded a new state, Mutapa. That state was undermined and destroyed by Portuguese intrusions from their base at Sofala. However, its decline was managed better than Great Zimbabwe. Furthermore, Mutapa still retained great wealth.
• Another state, Butua, gained control of the Zimbabwe plateau where the Shona were centred and closed-off access to the Portuguese. The Changmire dynasty extended its land-holdings and used a 'tribute-paying system' (meaning vassalage but they deliberately avoided a European term for it) to organize their territory.
• Other Shona states like Barwe, Uteve, Mandanda and Manyika controlled lands east of the plateau.
• Competition came from the Prazos. Mixed group of colonialists paid by the Portuguese crown to build forts and utilize slave armies to extract human and natural resources from the region.

Tsonga

• The Tsonga dominate southern modern-day Mozambique. They developed from the earliest Bantu migration to the area. Their economy was based on fishing, shellfish collection and farming.
• Since their land is infested by the tsetse fly, cattle herding wasn't a dominant form of economic production. As Europeans increasingly came to their region, the Tsonga migrated closer to the coast (Delgoa Bay). Their widespread, but low population density, population kept a slave trade from forming. There are only 4 million Tsonga today compared to 40,000,000 Hausa in Nigeria or 30,000,000 Oromos in Ethiopia.

Sotho-Tswana

• Their origins can be traced to the migration to the Vaal River Valley nearly 2,000 years ago. The first distinctive lineages that formed were Fokeng and Kgalagadi.
• For the region, they had large settlements. Often up to 10,000 inhabitants:
  
  

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Questions
1) How did the Khoikhoi acquire animal husbandry technologies but not agriculture?
2) What are the shared origins of the Khoikhoi and the San?
3) What can explain the relatively low population of South Africa despite not having the disease-burden of West Africa (malaria, yellow fever, tsetse/sleeping sickness)?

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Bantu Expansion 500 BCE - 500 CE (roughly 1000 years)

 

[Kitsch]

Just started reading this and already came across some juicy parts.
Stories of Migration and State Formation in Yorubaland: A Re-assessment of Yoruba Myth and Legend of Creation

Anyways the author(who is Yoruba himself) has noted the similarities between Yoruba and ancient Egyptian religious custom, cultural customs, divine leadership, polygamy, rituals, body scarification. Which I was aware of. But what so far really got my interest is when he claims many traditional Yoruba claim Egypt as their original homeland.

I want actual Nigerian thoughts on that part... @MansaMusa @Don Drogo @Kitsch @Hiphoplives4eva

I have heard that the Yoruba MAY have been apart of a population that migrated from Egypt after the Hyksos invaded, but I still doubt Ancient Egypt, and see Nubia as more as a possibility than Egypt.

I still think this should not be dismissed, because I continue to hear that Yoruba origins and the origins of Yorubaland is still a hot topic. And I agree because with most coastal West Africans like the Yoruba there is big historical gap. For example Yourbaland was not settled until the 7th century BC. Now of course they could have most likely migrated from the Sahel/Sahara like some West Africans like the Sonnike, but Yoruba oral traditions do not point towards that location. They always say "east." Again going by what the Yorubas say.

Now... If repeat IF the Yoruba did migrate from Nubia/Sudan I can see Lake Chad acting as a refugee/stop.

Also the Yoruba Orisha Child of Obatala.

Is quite similar looking to the Egyptian god Bes.

But of course this can be due to sharing a common culture from the green Sahara.

Again the people I tagged, thoughts?

I've got an update on this, will post later with pictures.

 

[Kitsch]

I've got an update on this, will post later with pictures.

For context, my father is Egun. A few months ago (I want to say June but I'm not too sure), he and a few others from Badagry went to Cotonou to reunite with some of our family across the border (in Benin). My father said the elders say prior to colonialism that they were snake (which reaffirms this, the first paragraph) and thunder worshippers and they claim their origin is Egypt.

Here are some pictures from the day the met, courtesy of my father.

Spoiler: ...

I did my Googles on Hebiosso and found this:

Voodoo. Hebiosso the god of thunder. by Christa Neuenhofer

Voodoo. Hebiosso, the dangerous god of thunder, near Abomey. by Christa Neuenhofer

The above links aren't from the same place but it's the same God.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

For context, my father is Egun. A few months ago (I want to say June but I'm not too sure), he and a few others from Badagry went to Cotonou to reunite with some of our family across the border (in Benin). My father said the elders say prior to colonialism that they were snake (which reaffirms this, the first paragraph) and thunder worshippers and they claim their origin is Egypt.

Here are some pictures from the day the met, courtesy of my father.

Spoiler: ...

I did my Googles on Hebiosso and found this:

Voodoo. Hebiosso the god of thunder. by Christa Neuenhofer

Voodoo. Hebiosso, the dangerous god of thunder, near Abomey. by Christa Neuenhofer

The above links aren't from the same place but it's the same God.

This isn't different from how some Hausas claim their ancestor is from Baghdad and that some Igbo claim they are Jews.

Nigerian ethnic groups claiming origin outside of Nigeria is a post-colonial phenomenon.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Nguni Peoples

• The Nguni derive from a fusion of the Tsonga and Sotho after 1000 AD. Their homeland in St. Lucia Bay was bounded by dense forests and valleys.
• The adoption of maize (from the Americas) caused a greater population expansion. The area north of the Tugela River experienced the greatest expansion and starting in the 18th century we saw the rise of states like Ngwame, Mthethwa, Ndwandwe and Qwabe.
• Across the Tugela, the Thembu, Mpondo, Mpondomise and Xhosa arose.
• The Xhosa came face to face with the Khoisan Gonaqua because they were the leading edge of the Nguni expansion. Today, the Xhosa have many linguistic elements from the Gonaqua. Also, the Xhosa have DNA pointing to peaceful absorption of the Gonaqua.
• The Xhosa were the first Bantu to meet Europeans in South Africa.

Xhosa Warrior

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Herero

• The origins of the Herero are obscure, although they are linguistically related to the Ovambo people. That ties them to Luba-Lunda peoples in Central Africa. All of whom had a traditional matrilineal leaning, agro-economy.
• But the Herero are patrilineal and are cattle dependent - not grain dependent.
• Perhaps they adopted the cattle-keeping ways of the Nguni?
• By the mid 1500s, they reached the Namibian Highlands (which are suited for grazing) and groups of Nama Khoikhoi. Their expansion came to a halt when the Nama purchased guns from Cape-based European traders.
  
  
  

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Destruction of the Cape Khoikhoi

• In the 1590s, Dutch and English ships sailed to the Cape of Good Hope for fresh supplies of water and meet. In return, the Khoikhoi got knives, iron, copper, brass and tobacco.
• In order to get a constant stream of supplies, the Dutch East India Company established a settlement called 'Cape Town' at the foot of Table Mountain. After their arrival in 1652, things became quite bad for the Khoikhoi and their autonomy.
• The trade destabilized their society. One side-effect was families sold off too many livestock. Grazing lands and water sites were also appropriated by Dutch settlers.
• Khoikhoi entered the money economy by putting themselves up for employment with the Dutch on their farms or with the Dutch East India Company. In essence, being assimilated by the Dutch.
• A smallpox epidemic in 1713 killed off many Khoikhoi. Survivors sought refuge at Cape Town, further entrenching dependence on the Dutch.
• Some tribes took flight towards Namibia. Others (like the Orlams) began to raid European settlements for food/livestock. But, by this time the Cape Khoikhoi had disappeared or had become Coloureds.
  
  
  

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Coloureds

• The origins of the Coloureds lie in the decision by the Dutch East India Company to import slaves. The first shipments came from Angola and Dahomey. Slaves from Madagascar, Bengal, Ceylon, Indonesia and Mozambique began arriving soon thereafter.
• Sexual relations (consensual or not) occurred creating multiracial offspring between these enslaved groups and European colonizers/sailors.
• Some Europeans did take Khoikhoi concubines/wives further inland from the Cape creating the so-called Basters (b*stards in Dutch?). Khoikhoi joined this new group to escape their old ethnic distinction which made them vulnerable to abuse, enslavement or theft. One of the most successful Basters are the Rehoboth of Namibia in the Aures Mountains.
• The Griqua are descended from a group of northern Khoikhoi tribes who were decimated by smallpox and runaway slaves from St. Helena Bay. Taking in more Khoikhoi, European deserters and free Black people from the Cape, some headed eastwards eventually towards the area north of the Orange River. The Griqua became known for their fighting skill against Afrikaner and Bantu ethnicities alike.
  
  
  

Cape Coloureds today

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

*The next section of this ongoing thread is controversial, but since millions of European-descendants live in Africa - it must be discussed. However, the European expansion in Southern Africa should be placed within the context of colonization. Because, unlike the Xhosa who co-existed with the Khoisan, they sought to destroy the indigenous peoples of South Africa*

Early European Expansion in Southern Africa

• After the Dutch East India Company sent employees to Cape Town, land was allocated to free Dutchmen so that they could produce wine and wheat. No size limit was imposed so families claimed up to 2500 hectares (!) - primarily for livestock and hunting. This set the pattern of large landholdings in Southern African colonization.
• By 1717, there were 2,000 Europeans in control of 26,000 square kilometers. They were mainly Dutch though they were joined by a few hundred French Huguenots and a smattering of Germans, Walloons and Scandinavians. From this mix, the Boers (or Afrikaners) would arise.
• They had an extraordinary rate of natural increase. Frontier families, Trekboers, had 10 or more living children. Access to rich land, a relatively disease free environment and the labour of Coloured/Black slaves helped their increase.
  
• Aridity north of the Olifants River/Griqua resistance halted Trekboer expansion to the North. The Europeans were forced through the bushlands of the Karoo and overwhelmed the Khoikhoi and San through their commando system of horse-riding and rifles.
• Eventually, the Trekboers collided with the Xhosa. Both had economies depending on livestock so competition over grazing land ensued. Wars broke out in 1770-81 and 1793.
• Khoisan who were caught in the middle between the Europeans and the Xhosa became absorbed by the Xhosa or the servant-slaves of the Trekboers.
• During the Napoleonic Wars, the Dutch lost the Cape of Good Hope to the British. It also gave them a secure sea route to India. The new government sided with the Boers and fought against the Xhosa. The most devastating war was from 1850-1853, followed by a cattle lung disease and maize blight.
• Many Xhosa joined a millenarian cult which promised that their ancestors would return and provide plenty if they killed their cattle herds. Thousands died of starvation and others migrated in search of wage-labour to survive. Large areas of land was depopulated opening up land to European colonizers. Now, mostly British. By 1858, only a small fraction of Xhosa land was still theirs.
  
  
• 
• 

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Rise of the Zulu and the Mfecane/Difaqane

• In the 1790s, competition over grazing land,population growth and controlling distant sources of ivory erupted among the Northern Nguni. When the contest was over, the Zulu had won. They were once one clan among many who followed their initial successes with a political/military conquest. They had conquered an area stretching from the Indian Ocean, to the Drakensberg Mountains between the Pongola and Tugela Rivers.
• The Zulu assimilated survivors who swelled their nation and the ranks of their impi, or army. Others fled from the Zulu advance. Much of what is now KwaZulu-Natal was abandoned as peoples scattered to find refuge among peoples such as the Thembu and Xhosa. Some went to the Drakensburg Mountains among San gatherer-hunters and coalesced into BaSotho.
• Infighting caused splinters. One splinter, the Ndebele, moved intro Transvaal and engaged in raiding in the 1820s and 1830s. The Ndebele exacted a heavy toll on the Tswana and their towns - many of the Tswana fled towards the Kalahari. Attacks from the Zulu, Trekboers and Griqua forced the Ndebele towards the Limpopo River - catalyzing even more migrations/flight. Eventually the Ndebele settled in South-Western Zimbabwe after conquering the Shona.
• Two other groups which fled the Zulu, the Hlubi and the Ngwame also caused havoc. They forced the Taung to flee who then became raiders before they were defeated by the Ndebele. The Hlubi/Ngwame defeated the Fokeng who re-formed in the Kalolo. The Kalolo in turn trekked across Botswana into Zambia and seized control of the Lozi Kingdom. Their language was the foundation of modern Silozi.
• Another segment of the Kalolo moved into the Shire valley of Malawi where they organized a state which fought off other Nguni. They also repelled the Yao and Prazo slave traders.
• Swaziland has its origins in this period. Various Nguni, Sotho-Tswana and Tsonga gathered in the area during previous centuries but the arrival of the fleeing Ngwame formed the genesis of the Swazi nation. The kingdom crystallized in the 1850s and 1860s and grew strong enough to expand at the Zulu expense.
• The mfecane/diqane redrew the population map of Southern Africa. Some groups disappeared. Others were born or absorbed.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

The Boer 'Great Trek' (European conquest of the Transvaal)

• Xhosa resistance forced the Boers to orient their colonial expansion towards the Orange River, driving out San in the process. By 1825, the Boers reached a land which seemed uninhabited. This was only the case because of the Mfecane and its effect on the BaSotho-Tswana and their towns.
  
• More Boers came as soon as the British outlawed slavery in the 1830s. Wagon trains which included 15,000 rolled North.
• Most settlers favoured the warm climate of Western Natal but that brought them into direct competition with the Zulu. The Trekboers won a victory at Blood River in 1837 securing the area for awhile. But the Trekboers departed due to Zulu resistance and the British claiming control of Natal in the 1850s.
• Malaria and sleeping sickness forced the settlers to leave land close to the Limpopo River valley. Meanwhile Venda resistance forced Trekboers away from the Soutpansberg Mountains. The highveld, which was cooler and more disease free, offered the Boers a chance to settle.
• The Boers created a series of republics such as the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. They also annexed parts of Swaziland and Basutoland. In Trekboer areas, Africans were deprived of access to their lands and were forced to be slaves/servants to the Europeans.
• The British did similar things in their lands. They forced the production of sugar cane on European held estates with slaves/servants brought from their Indian Empire. In the Cape Colony, the British created 'Native Reserves' (prototype of the Bantustans of the 20th century) to separate Europeans and Africans but also taking their lands from them.
• However, Africans soon found themselves outside reserves and became raw labour for the emerging industrial economy.
• The stage was set for the Apartheid state which exploited the land and labour of native Africans.

 

[JahFocus CS]

The Rise of the Zulu and the Mfecane/Difaqane

• In the 1790s, competition over grazing land,population growth and controlling distant sources of ivory erupted among the Northern Nguni. When the contest was over, the Zulu had won. They were once one clan among many who followed their initial successes with a political/military conquest. They had conquered an area stretching from the Indian Ocean, to the Drakensberg Mountains between the Pongola and Tugela Rivers.
• The Zulu assimilated survivors who swelled their nation and the ranks of their impi, or army. Others fled from the Zulu advance. Much of what is now KwaZulu-Natal was abandoned as peoples scattered to find refuge among peoples such as the Thembu and Xhosa. Some went to the Drakensburg Mountains among San gatherer-hunters and coalesced into BaSotho.
• Infighting caused splinters. One splinter, the Ndebele, moved intro Transvaal and engaged in raiding in the 1820s and 1830s. The Ndebele exacted a heavy toll on the Tswana and their towns - many of the Tswana fled towards the Kalahari. Attacks from the Zulu, Trekboers and Griqua forced the Ndebele towards the Limpopo River - catalyzing even more migrations/flight. Eventually the Ndebele settled in South-Western Zimbabwe after conquering the Shona.
• Two other groups which fled the Zulu, the Hlubi and the Ngwame also caused havoc. They forced the Taung to flee who then became raiders before they were defeated by the Ndebele. The Hlubi/Ngwame defeated the Fokeng who re-formed in the Kalolo. The Kalolo in turn trekked across Botswana into Zambia and seized control of the Lozi Kingdom. Their language was the foundation of modern Silozi.
• Another segment of the Kalolo moved into the Shire valley of Malawi where they organized a state which fought off other Nguni. They also repelled the Yao and Prazo slave traders.
• Swaziland has its origins in this period. Various Nguni, Sotho-Tswana and Tsonga gathered in the area during previous centuries but the arrival of the fleeing Ngwame formed the genesis of the Swazi nation. The kingdom crystallized in the 1850s and 1860s and grew strong enough to expand at the Zulu expense.
• The mfecane/diqane redrew the population map of Southern Africa. Some groups disappeared. Others were born or absorbed.

Had nikkas fleeing across the continent

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Had nikkas fleeing across the continent

The Zulu were very formidable. Their combat-system was revolutionary. Their tactics defeated the British Empire which had repeated rifles and cannon! Perhaps one day, I'll make a thread examining African combat systems.