2. Migration of the Bantus & Great Zimbabwe Chapter 7 Section 3

3. The Bantu People Starting in 1000 BC the Bantu people began migrating from Northwest Central Africa to the rest of Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa.

4. Who Were They ? The Bantu were semi-nomadic subsistence farmers who followed Africa’s river systems to plant their crops. As they peacefully moved across Africa, they spread knowledge of iron working and important crops like sorghum, millet, and yams. They also spread their language and culture. Even today the national language of Kenya and Tanzania is Swahili—a Bantu language with Arabic influence.

5. Great Zimbabwe Around 1000 AD descendents of the Bantu migration into southern Africa founded Great Zimbabwe along the Zambezi River. Between 1300 and 1450 AD Great Zimbabwe was the most wealthy and powerful civilization in Southern Africa The ruins of The Great Enclosure are the most impressive evidence of Zimbabwe’s power and global trade.