The text of this article was commissioned by History Guild as part of our work to improve historical literacy. 285.Google Scholar, 16 Mathew, Gervase, The East African coast until the coming of the Portuguese, in Oliver, R. and Mathew, G., History of East Africa I (Oxford, 1963), 96.Google Scholar, 17 This was an Iron Age Colonization; therefore it Cannot have been earlier in time than the spread of the Iron Age in Indonesia around the first century A.D.Google Scholar, 18 Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P., The East African Coast (1962), 15, etc.Google Scholar, 19 Guthrie, Malcolm, loc. Starving Herero Tribesmen Source: Wikimedia. The Urewe culture dominated the Great Lakes region between 650BC and 550BC. Currently, only the governments of Australia, Argentina, Georgia, Estonia, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Poland, the USA and Hungary accept that the events of the Holodomor conform to the legal definition of genocide. The Bantu Expansion stands for the concurrent dispersal of Bantu languages and Bantu-speaking people from an ancestral homeland situated in the Grassfields region in the borderland between current-day Nigeria and Cameroon. It is a relatively well-known story, or at least one that African history . In Eastern and Southern Africa, Bantu speakers may have adopted livestock husbandry from other unrelated Cushitic-and Nilotic-speaking peoples they encountered. Because he's literate And using reason to research DNA and other recorded information. False and dangerous equivalency. Remaining in Africa, we now shift our attention to an episode of colonial genocide that deeply scarred the legacy of the German colonization of Africa. Bantu Expansion | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History Until the 1980s, International academic interest in the issue was limited by Soviet censorship, so at the time that it was occurring, very few people were aware of it. 21128. The result was the decimation of the interior population of South Africa, and the ruination of the social and productive landscape. Archaeological, linguistic, genetic, and environmental evidence all support the conclusion that the Bantu expansion was a significant human migration. However, the US Ambassador to Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau Sr, was able to rouse the attention of the Woodrow Wilson administration, and an enormous amount of money and resource was eventually raised to help Armenian refugees affected by the crisis. The Ottoman Empire allied with the Central Powers during WWI, and, of course, the German defeat in that war brought the Ottoman Empire down with it. The departure of the British would naturally bring about democratic rule, and in a society where Hindus vastly outnumbered Muslims, universal suffrage meant Muslim marginalization. The raw facts of the Irish Famine are quite simple. There are reports that during the last ten years of the Dutch East India Company's rule (1795), 2,504 "Bushmen" were killed, 669 captured and 276 colonists ( Khoikhoi) slain. Almost immediately, as British officials handed over, Hindus in India began attacking and killing Muslims, and in Pakistan, vice versa. What area? For example, one study found this to be the case in Bantu language speakers who are African Pygmies or are in Mozambique,[27] while another population genetic study found this to be the case in the Bantu language-speaking Lemba of Southern Africa. The methods employed are by now familiar to students of genocide, and included the staples of forced labor, mass deportations, death marches, direct attack and massacre, concentration and starvation. The primary evidence for the Bantu Expansion is linguistic: the diffusion of Bantu languages throughout the continent. Bantu Genocide View source Bantu peoples is used as a general label for the 300-600 ethnic groups in Africa who speak Bantu languages. Between 1904 and 1907, up to 100,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama were killed, many in concentration camps, dying of disease and starvation. Bearing in mind, however, the likely ramifications of a civil war between Hindus and Muslims in India, it seemed, in the end, the only viable solution. As for (2), the chapter argues that the earliest Bantu speakers had their own archeologically visible culture, but they were not farmers. The dominance of Bantu-speaking people is evident in their movement and control over the areas they encountered. However, attempts to trace the exact route of the expansion, to correlate it with archaeological evidence and genetic evidence, have not been conclusive; thus although the expansion is widely accepted as having taken place, many aspects of it remain in doubt or are highly contested. In 1884, it was agreed among European powers that all expansion into Africa would be by treaty with local, indigenous authority. The expansion reached South Africa, probably as early as AD 300.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. This paper outlines four stages of the Bantu expansion: first, the initial push through the equatorial forest from the northern to the southern woodlands; second, the occupation of the southern woodland belt from coast to coast; third, the colonization of the Tanzania, Kenya and southern Somali coastline and of the northern sector of the lake The Partition of India is such a case, and while Hindu/Muslim sectarianism lies at the heart of the debate, there is also the question of whether the British washed their hands of India, and walked away knowing that genocide was inevitable. These deaths were distributed across all of the most populous regions of Russia, but the greatest impact was felt in Ukraine. This began its extreme animus towards the west, a sentiment reinforced by the overspill of the Vietnam War. 18091. Did the Bantu mainly kill of the existing populations during - Quora Yet, was it all bloodshed and oppression? What Caused the Rwandan Genocide? - WorldAtlas From what ik the bantu expansion is that it was a migration of people over a long period of time that did result in some cases as conflict but not wholesale coordinated genocide, in the most cases communties assimilated and mixed into each other and not some mass replacement and removal. The German Empire claimed the colony in 1884, as part of what was known as the Scramble for Africa. This response quickly escalated to orchestrated genocide, and was extended beyond the Herero to the neighboring Namaqua people, who were of Khoisan origin, and the San, or Bushmen as well. Linguists, classifying the languages and creating a genealogical table of relationships, believed they could reconstruct material culture elements. No genocide to date had been based so completely on myths, on hallucinations, on abstract, nonpragmatic ideology which was then executed by very rational, pragmatic means.. Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. Numerous individual countries, however, twenty-nine in total, including forty-eight states within the United States, classify what took place as genocide. No such policy was implemented in 1845, and as such, the famine has been described as artificial, and attributable to a deliberate policy of punishing a stubborn and difficult constituent territory of the Kingdom. Evidence of the existence of previous African races and tribes can be found in present day DNA records of today's Bantu people. III and VII.Google Scholar, 25 For example, Fagan, Brian, Southern Africa, 110.Google Scholar, 26 Ihle, A., Das alte Knigreich Kongo (Leipzig, 1929).Google Scholar, 27 Oliver and Mathew, op. The last major act of defiance of a native race in southern Africa against European domination was the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Granted, there was defo some conflict between the Bantu and Hunter-Gatherers (as well Nilotic and Cushitic pastoralists) but that doesn't mean there was a genocide. View the institutional accounts that are providing access. They suffered a genocide, at the hands of europeans and bantu peoples. If you would like to reproduce it please get in touch via this form. They are from Western Africa and East African countries like Tanzania. Proto-Bantu speakers, a linguistic branch of the Niger-Congo language family, were concentrated in the region between modern-day Cameroon and Nigeria in West Africa. There was, of course, a great deal of mercantile resistance, but the British government held firm. of the Congo rainforest at its periphery, for instance along the coasts of South Cameroon, Gabon, and Congo (11, 16, 19).A second event at 2,500 B.P. The Khmer Rouge regime was characterized by extreme and indiscriminate brutality. Was the Great Irish Famine genocide? and were massacred in great numbers by Dutch, British, and German settlers in acts of genocide (e.g. fall into the classification of genocide. The Bantu first originated around the Benue-Cross rivers area in southeastern Nigeria and spread over Africa to the Zambia area. A prime example is the Southern African Kingdom of Mapungubwe. Render date: 2023-03-04T14:32:22.407Z This was to ensure that all food produced in Ireland remained in Ireland, guaranteeing that everyone had enough to eat, even during the leanest times. With death and destruction occurring on such a vast scale, the relatively minor plight of a fringe minority of Turkish Christians attracted very little attention. Millions? The rough chronology established on genealogical evidence has recently been confirmed by radiocarbon dates from Bigo, the earliest site identifiable in the dynastic tradition of the region. The scope of the Armenian genocide is usually defined as the physical extermination of Armenian Christians living within the geographic boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, between 1915 and 1916. Personal communication from Mr Fagg.Google Scholar, 14 Unless otherwise stated, all carbon dates are taken from the summaries published in the Journal of African History, II (1961), 1379, and IV (1963), 5278.Google Scholar, 15 Guthrie, Malcolm, loc. It seems likely that the expansion of the Bantu-speaking people from their core region in West Africa began around 40003500BC. Population collapse in Congo rainforest from 400 CE urges - Science The Cambodian Genocide was ideological, but it was also random and inexplicable, and in the end, its ideological basis dissolved in undiluted murder. Two such factoids are that (1) the Bantu Expansion would have been a single migratory macro-event and (2) it would have been driven by agriculture. Other academic opinion tends to point to a typically dogmatic refusal on the part of the British government to acknowledge a failed policy. However, I've been told by numerous South Africans that the Khoisan have peacefully lived by Nguni peoples for thousands of years and that it is a division tactic. Archaeological evidence from the separate works of Jean Hurault (1979, 1986 & 1988) and Rigobert Tuech (2000) in the region reveals that this region has been inhabited by the same culture for 5 millennia, from 3000 B.C to date. This ideological aversion soon extended to ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Thais, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, and indeed anyone at all perceived in any way to be an enemy of the revolution. The Tutsi's . cit. Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, Francis A. Boyle, argues that these actions, according to sections (a), (b), and (c) of Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, constitute genocide. Nope, it was the English colonizers who killed the Khoisan or San people. A few still live by foraging often supplemented by working for neighbouring farmers in the arid regions around the Kalahari desert, while a larger number of Nama continue their traditional subsistence by raising livestock in Namibia and adjacent South Africa. The debate has never been so much the classification of the event as genocide, although that is, of course, debatable. Genocide in Somalia's Jubba Valley and Somali Bantu Refugees - Items In other words, a ridiculous idea with no basis in rational thought was undertaken and executed with brilliant and systematic precision. https://investigativegenetics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2041-2223-1-6https://investigativegenetics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2041-2223-1-6/tables/3. Notes on some early pottery cultures in North Katanga, The spread of food production in sub-Saharan Africa. They believed that the expansion was caused by the development of agriculture, the making of ceramics, and the use of iron, which permitted new ecological zones to be exploited. [30], It is clear that there were human populations in the region at the time of the expansion, and pygmies are their closest living relatives. Hostname: page-component-7fc98996b9-ttbxf Its a MYTH. Does this action fall into the classification of genocide? The name of the country was changed in 1976 to Democratic Kampuchea, and Pol Pot, or Brother Number One, declared the day of victory Year Zero as he set about building his Utopian republic. In the 1840s, Ireland existed as part of Great Britain and Ireland, and as such, it was ruled directly from London by the British Government. The Partition of India is such a case, and while Hindu/Muslim sectarianism lies at the heart of the debate, there is also the question of whether the British washed their hands of India, and walked away knowing that genocide was inevitable. Rape and slavery was common practice among the Bantu colonists. Any proof of their numbers? Of course what i have said may not be 100% but for better clarification pls ask a real historian. The primary evidence for this expansion is linguistic a great many of the languages which are spoken across sub-Equatorial Africa are remarkably similar to each other, suggesting the common cultural origin of their original speakers. The young woman, whose name was Nandi, was, with ageless injustice, cast out to give birth to her illegitimate child in exile. The Bantu Expansion: How Bantu People Changed Sub-Saharan Africa The result was a mass slaughter as Muslims trapped in India sought to flee to Pakistan, and Hindus and Sikhs caught in Pakistan tried to make it across the border into India. The Germans found both of these races difficult to integrate into their colonial economy, simply because they were inimical to labor and were often nomadic in lifestyle. Quite as the Turkish government and people reject outright the definition of the Armenian deportation as genocide, so the British government also regard the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852. Bantu Genocide | Alternative History | Fandom If he was, it might make it easier to explain. The result of this was an extraordinarily cohesive and violent nation, glorifying in bloodshed, and celebrating with utter fanaticism the personality cult of their leader. Between 1.5 and 3 million Cambodians died, or were killed by the regime. The Russians, of course, be it in WWI or WWII, always did big numbers, but this certainly was a big one. PEOPLE OF AFRICA - The Diversity of African People | African Race But Pol Pot was not alone in perpetuating the horrors of his rule. Other unreliable ethnic groups, such as Greeks and Assyrians, were also sucked into the maelstrom, and are now subject to separate genocide classifications. As is often the case with hotly debated issues, certain factoids bearing little relation to factual evidence emerge. Accompanying charcoal carbon-dated to 266 s.c. 120. Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. This monumental event has attracted significant debate and speculation that recent research has endeavored to resolve. Muslim nationalists then began demanding a two-state solution, which neither the British nor nationalists like Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi particularly wanted. In his Twitter profile he had academic historian but doesnt have a PhD. It is described as one of the most momentous events in African history. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. These are huge areas. The discussion concludes that the Bantu phenomenon is best understood as a colonisation, migration, expansion, dispersal, or diffusion. But he also displayed a dangerous pathology, perhaps born of his reduced birth, and the suffering that his mother endured on his behalf, but also, perhaps, because of hidden homosexuality. A boundary commission, sponsored by the British government, attempted to divide India along Hindu and Muslim lines. The economic suffering of the German people that followed, and the rise of nationalism that this set in motion, created ideal circumstances for a merchant and banking class to attract the attention of a disposed population. Their descendants have largely mixed with other peoples and adopted other languages. [28] Where Bantu was adopted via language shift of existing populations, prior African languages were spoken, probably from African language families that are now lost, except as substrate influences of local Bantu languages (such as click sounds in local Bantu languages). The ideological underpinning of all of this was simply the Maoist principle of transforming Cambodia into rural and classless society, with a population consigned to labor on collectivized farms. Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan-speaking peoples inhabited Southern Africa. This further reinforced a popular anti-West, anti-US movement in Cambodia, on the back of which, in April 1975, Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge to victory. However, the US Ambassador to Constantinople, Henry Morgenthau Sr, was able to rouse the attention of the Woodrow Wilson administration, and an enormous amount of money and resource was eventually raised to help Armenian refugees affected by the crisis. It has sparked speculation, debate, and curiosity among scholars within the continent and beyond. The causes of the 1932-33 famine can be attributed to nothing more complicated than state interference in production. However, mtDNA genetic research from Cabinda suggests that only haplogroups that originated in West Africa are found there today, and the distinctive L0 of the pre-Bantu population is missing, suggesting that there was a complete population replacement. The question is rather whether Muslim nationalists were to blame for demanding a two-state solution, whether Hindu nationalists were to blame for allowing it, or whether the British were to blame for leaving India knowing that genocide was inevitable. This movement sought not only to replace the traditional leadership of the empire with the constitutional government but also to expand and solidify Muslim Turkish control of central and eastern Anatolia. The most famous of this race is the San, or Bushmen. Required fields are marked *. A minor tribe or clan was attacked and utterly obliterated, with only those able to fight or breed spared, to then be assimilated into the Zulu race. Prior to the arrival of Bantus in Southeast Africa, Cushitic-speaking peoples had migrated into the region from the Ethiopian Highlands and other more northerly areas. Under the rule of both Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, numerous document examples of unnatural mass deaths have been recorded. That child, a boy, was given the name Shaka, a pejorative reference to an intestinal parasite. In 2004, Somali Bantus from this group began arriving for permanent resettlement in the U.S. Acts of genocide are normally committed by state agents, for example by soldiers in the employ of the national military or by militias who have the support of those who hold state power. What followed was an extreme Maoist, Marxist-Leninist movement in Cambodia, and an extreme, and inexplicable antipathy towards intellectuals and professionals. [36][37][38], Between the 11th and 16th centuries, powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. These migrants changed population demographics, spread farming across sub-equatorial Africa, introduced iron technology, and built powerful states that continue to influence the African continent today. Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, Francis A. Boyle, argues that these actions, according to sections (a), (b), and (c) of Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, constitute genocide. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian. Sutton, J. E. G. The result was death and mayhem on truly epic proportions. How do you study history? Their spread was occasioned by a phenomenon known as the Bantu Migration, or Bantu Expansion, which began in the first millennium and concluded towards the end of the 18th century. This inspired the Bantu to conquer more areas to capture more slaves and expand further . For over 5,000 years the Eastern, Southeastern, and the Midwestern U.S. were populated by mound-building, Native American cultures that constructed anywhere from tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of earthen mounds. If one was to point the finger at the former Soviet Union for acts of genocide, then one would be able to point in many different directions. The Nazi extermination of the Jews, on the other hand, was strictly ideological and remained so until its conclusion. Murdock, G. P., Africa: Its Peoples and their Culture History (New York), 2901.Google Scholar, 10 Greenberg, J. H., Studies in African Linguistic Classification (New Haven, 1955), 40.Google Scholar, 12 Guthrie, Malcolm, Some developments in the pre-history of the Bantu languages, Journal of African History, III (1962), 27382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 13 From Mr Bernard Fagg's layer 3 at Taruga, containing iron slag and Nok figurines. One of the many ways used by white supremacists and apologists to legitimize colonialism of the African continent & genocide of its people. In the East, Bantu-speakers settled around the Great Lakes region and created a new population centre supported by a resource-rich environment. Their two-metre-long assegais were no match for the Zulus' iKlwa, and they died in their hundreds. Click the account icon in the top right to: Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. Archaeologists have found physical evidence of the migration in pottery, iron-smelting technology, and subsistence farming techniques that originated in the Bantu West African region, creating a timeline of movement across the continent. Nonetheless, in the unfathomable complexity of the Anglo-Irish relationship, there are no small number of historians who point the finger at the British government, not so much for acts of commission, but acts of omission. Unfortunately, it is also greatly understudied and often unknown to history enthusiasts. The mechanics of the Holocaust are now so universally understood that nothing can be added here. These were, and are the Bantu and the Koi-koi, or Khoisan. Historical Maps, Prints, Photographs and Books, Off Green Island, Bass Strait, 1893 Framed Print, Port Jackson from Vaucluse, c1800 Framed Print, Taking back the Homeland Ethiopian Guerrillas in World War II, Doggerland: The Lost World Beneath the North Sea, Interesting Stories of the Mound-Building Native American Civilizations of the Midwest, Map of New Holland and Asiatic Isles, 1814 Framed Print, reproduce it please get in touch via this form, The Conquerors Perspective: Why Europe Has so Many Different Languages, A Continents Currency: 20 years of the Euro, The Roman dead: new techniques are revealing just how diverse Roman Britainwas, Secondary school textbooks teach our kids the myth that Aboriginal Australians were nomadic hunter-gatherers.