AENEAS

CHIGWEDERE
BIRTH OF BANTU AFRICA

This is the author's third publication. lt deals with a subject in which

he is deeply involved - history. ln this book he traces and analyses
the various communities on the continent. For he believesthat"the
study of the history of Black Af rica is largely a study of the history of
tde Bantu race."

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*

CONTENTS t

Page
INTRODUCTION .i
Background to The Birth of The Bantu Race. .1
/
MAP 1
Approximate Course Followe4 by The Hottentots
CHAPTER 2
The Bantu Up to About 600 A.D. .9
MAP 2
Ancient Egypt and Kush
MAP 3 !

Negro Position Around,350 A.D. at The Time

of the Axumite Invasion. l8
MAP 4
' Negro Position Around 630 A.D. Just Before The
Moslem Invasion of E.gypt ,' 2o
CHAPTER 3
Bantu Migration After 600 A.D. ..23
MAP 5
Moslem Invasion of Egypt Around 640 A.D. and
Consequences on ThJilintu by 800 A.D. .27
MAP 6
Bantu Position in Eastern and South Eastern Africa
\ ,Around 900 .A..D. . i4l
MAPT .
Bantu Position in Eastern and'South Eastern Africa
Around 1200 A,.D. 52
CHAPTER 4 \
West Africa . .53-
M.A.P 8
Bantu Position In The Western Sudan Around 900 A.D. . s5
MAP 9
Bantu Position ln The Western Sudan Around lz0(l. A.D. 58
CHAPTER 5
The Unity of Bantu Africa. .71
EPILOGUE . :
. 131
-Notes . : l4l
* \'

!NTRODUCTION
llr: birth of Bantu Africa herein referred to has nothing to do with the crearion
of the physical mass of the continent of Africa. It conciernitfri .ilarion of ttre
racewe today call Bantu and $e occupation by this race of the land ,^r.i ih;
continent of Africa. It is historical in ihe rense that it concerns the emergence
of -a new race; it is'both historical and geographical in that it concerns
the
physical occuparion of the land mass of ltriia by this race-
*t
,1#:'

tt It isrecessary to be aware of the dericate differences between the Negro and

,[fl'
fi the Bantu. The birth of the Negro al5o meant the birth of the ancestors of the
;,:
't
Bantu. ToduJ histoqians and inthropologists tend to talk about the ..true
.

{a Negroes" and the Bantu. However, if we gJback to the days irr" slave trade,
,', we find that every African was describe? as Negro, and no"treferences were
i' ,*9 to any differences between Negro and Banti. In linguitti" i"r.r, there is
a difference. But these linguistic and other cultural differJnces
came about sr Es
as e
a
result of later historical developments and not diffe r"n, .it ni"ojil;.
To many.historians
1nd anthropologists, it.may appear too adventurous of me
to delve into the subject of the birth and spreadinto all Africa .i tt. nuni,
race. But those who have read my "From Mutapa to Rhodes'; might po*iUty
have anticipared s39h a developmint. There; I emphasized that ttri Uobf itrrit
was of more than Zimbabweanlignificance. And I stated that it could
mark the
beginning of a new-history of Afrlca. I can claim that I am now in u p"ritilil;
prove the validity of my argument. ,

Whiht the Negro might be at least ten thousand years old, the Bantu is less than
tyo tho.uqld-years old. Indeed, while the Bantu were certainly in existen"" Uy
the sixth Christian century, there was no Bantu Africa in the'year OOO A.D. I
would go-eY9l fur$e1.t9 say that Bantu Africa was very much in trbr infancy
by
th9 Year I 000 A.D. This rnay sound startling but the evidence available,
asi
will show, is almost conclusive on this pointl
We cannot escape the fact that Africa south of the Sahara is largely Bantu,
which is tantamount to saying that Black Africa is largely Banru. inlr beingthe
case, it means that the study
9f t-9 history of Bhck itri"u is largely a stui'y of
the his.tory-of the Bantu race. It follows too that the role played b! Bhctc Africa
in world affairs to$ayjs largely the role played by the Bantu racr.th" history bi
Africa south of the Sahaia without the bant,i be a tirtory of ihe.
"un'only
Khoikhoi and the.San peo-ple (.Bushmen and Hottentots) -political
*ho ar" of no
consequence in the world community of today. This therefore means'that for
gs long as we do not know the histoiy of the buntu race, *r .unni;-"-ffi;;;
know the history of the continent of Africa.
The seed of historical Bantu Africa was sown in the north-eastern corner of the
continentand ger4inated in the same corner. the stem of the new Bant, ptuot
8trew up g the Nile valley; the main branchesbt tn. ne* gantu plunt
Sowards East Africa,-Central Equatorial Africa and West atrica.'gy d1g;J
th; y"*
t m0 A.D. the tips of the strb-branches of the new nantu
fun;;;.; L*teoiting
 \'.flIf,,.
at
to almost every corner of the continent sauth of the Satrara. At this stage, we
can almost legitimately talk of Bantu Africa as being irl existence. This is not to
say that there was no further growth.
Any student of African customs and traditions who has managed to study two
or more vastly separated regions of Africa must have been startled by the
sir.nilarities between those regions. Differences there are and must be, as a
result of different historical and cultural developments after the initial separatiirn"
of the communities studied. In spite of these differences and the fact that the
communities might have parted a thousand years ago, the similarities are
nevertheless striking. It.may be only now that we can really start to appreciate
that those similaritiesare accounted for by a common ancestry in one geographi,'al
region. Many there are who guessed this possibility but it has not been so far
looked upon as a historical fact.
The most abiding element of African culture is its religion. Material aspects of
culture change easily, but not African religion. The material culture of South-
East Africa altered due to contacts with the Moorish traders in the centuries
around I 000 A.D.; it changed further as a result of contacts with the Portuguese
after I 500. West African culture changed as a result of Berber and Arab
intrusion before I 500 and European intrusion after I 500; South African
riraterial culture changed after the advent of the Dutch from 1652. But in all
these areas, African rtiligion tenaCiously held on and, to this day, it is a force to
be reckoned with.
It is largely through African religion that we will be able to unearth our history,
just as it is largely through Shona religion that I have been able to unearth
Shona history. African religion is not independent of African history. One
cannot unravel the history of the religion of any African community without at
the same time becoming involved in the political history of that community;
and vice versa. Archaeology helps us to discover occupation sites, the periods
of the occupation of those sites and elements of the material culture of the
communities who occupied them. But it is not able to tell us the full identity of
the occupants of the sites. African religion can provide this information. If the
colonial regimes had managed to destroy our religion permanently, I am afraid
that most of our history would remain in the realms of legend. But because this
religion is so tenacious and because it is not independent of our history, it
eniibles us to unravel important threads of that history.
To give a good example of this, our West African cousins look upon their
"divinities", or most of them, urs emanations of God and hever as historical
filures. For as long as this remains the position, they will never manage to
uncover their early history. Until the publication of my "From Mutapa to
Rhodes", the great African spirits of Zimbabwe were brushed aside iN emanatiorlq
of God and equivalent to the great West African divinities. But it is now
through them that we have been able to unearth the early history of this
country. It is they who are now enabling us to link the early history of this
country with the early histories of their cousins in other regions of Africa.
s,i.',
,t,
ti
{.,
They have emerged as pure.and simpie histortcal figures. This demonstrates
not only the tenacity of African religion but its usefulness, its reliability as a
. source of our history.
', The most important fact that emerges clearly from this research is that after a
i period of development, the new Bantu race segmented into three Families
:l fuhich severed their blood relationships and in that way developed into three
", independent communities or tribes, as some would choose to call them. For
; centuries, each of these three segments has retained its major distinguishing
l;,r marks. Of course, as the centuries rolled by, each of the three segments sub-
, ', .. divided again and again, to create a multiplicity of new communities and sub-
, communities which today rfe call tribes and sub-tribeg But in spite of this, the
of these communities and sub-communities have retained.the main
+ majority
distinguishing features of the original three segments that started in north'east
Africa more than two thousand years ago. By virtue of this, it is possible to
trace the modern Bantu communities backwards to the original three Bantu
segments. That is the main objective of this study.
It is not my aim at present or in the future to trace every Bantu community
South of the Sahara to one of the original three segments. Such would be an
impossible task for one historian or anthropologist to undertake. However, to
prove the vatidity of my argument, I am going to analyse in detail one big region
of the continent and trace all the major communities in that region back to the
original three Bantu segments. At the same time, I am going to'point out
cousins of the segments so analysed in the particular region who live in the
other parts of the-continent. It is my hope that once the existence of the original
three segments is appreciated and once their original main characteristics are
known, the historians and anthropologists in the remaining regions can also
trace the communities in those regions back to the original three with reasonable '
!
ffi" time the original three Bantu segments started to migrate from North-
East Africa in large numbers, they had already been converted to Chrisdanity"
This very much helps us to date the time the migration started. Although this
Christianity was bastardized over the centuries, elements of it are still alive.and
are still easily distinguished all over Bantu Africa to this day.
One remarkable feature of Negro history is its very slow rate of increase and
equally slow rate of territorial expansion after the'initial birth or cration,
There is archaeological evidence that the Negro was already in existence in the
Nile Valley by the year 5 000 B.C. Yet up to 600 A.D. Africa was by no means a
Negro continent. Equally remarkable is the sudden explosion of this race'after
600 A.D. By the year I 000 A.D., the continent'of Africa had become a Negro
continent and aithe same tirne a Bantu continent. This is indeed striking and
must be accounted for by a very drastic and revolutionary event somewhere in
horth-east Africa. That event can only be the Moslem revolution after fhe
death of Mohammed.
j

CHAPTER,T
i

BACKGROUND TO THE BTRTH OF THE BANTU RACE

The human race did not drop from the sky; ityas born. Likewise the Bantu
race did not drop-lom the sky. This being the case, it is necessary to make
references to the frces in thd geographical area under discussion and from
, whom the Bantu race is likely to have descended. I must admit here that I am in
the realm of pure speculation.
' The relevant geographical area is North-East Africa. To be more specific, it is
the Nile Valley, with particular reference to Egypt and what is today the
Republic of the Suddn. I do not think that there-is-any doubt that this is the
. cradle of the Bantu race, just as it is the cradle of all Africans, black apd brown,
short and tall. Nor is there any doubt that, historically and culturally, Ancient
Sudan, just south of Egypt, which was called Nubia, Azania or Kuin', was an
off-shoot of Egypt. Therefore, any references to Nubia orAzania or Kush must
necessarily be an indirect reference to Ancient Egypt. The ancestors of the
Egyptians were undoubtedly the ancestors of the Nubians or Ancient Azanians
or Kushites. It was the Kushites who gave birth to the Bantu race and therefore
reference must be made to the races that existed in this region before the birth
of thb Bantu race itself. The Bantu could not have descended from any races
other than those that existed in north-east Africa, from rphich prea they
1*' migrated to the rest of the contindnt.
1
One race of people that certainly existed in Egypt north of the first Nile
cataract is that of a people with a white morphology'who established the
ancient Egyptian civilization in the Nile Valley. Some scholars call them the
Hamites or the Hamitic race. Others are now of the view that they should not
be called the Hamites and even go further to suggest that the word Hamite
shoutd be withdrawn from usagJaltogether. Foi6ur purposes here,.what is
important is not what we should call them. What matters ii the existence of a
race in Egypt and with a white morphology.
Where these people came from nobody seems. to know and possiply we will
never know-. It is-possible that they came from the Near East or from A'sia.
Archaeologists are more of the impression that the whole human race might
havg started.in North-East .Africa. If so, it might be that the Hamites for
whatever individual scholars choose to call them) wdre the descendants'of the'
first human beings to be created.

That there was a people in Egypt and with a reasonably light skin by the
-
year 10 000 8.C., and that ancient Egypfian civilization was well under- way by
the year 3 000 8.C., are historical facts. Whether this civitization developed
'independently or as a result of foreign influences is not clear and might neu6r
be known. But that there was no comparable civilization anywhere in Africa
contemporaneous with this Egyptiiirrffi lization is indisputable.
 t,
A further virtual certainty is that these ancient Egyptians were in contact with
people-of Jewish origil. Iiere iiii ;il; R ggryidering them after the Hamites, Igm in noray implying that they came
fgain, t t *ai trr" ancient eg;ffi;; to Africa or wereBreated in Africa afiei the Hamit6r; irialid
off'shoot of the Jews or"ttvice.versa, might
9-1lturyll.y.rrfr Bn il;;-# ;t"Uilrt indications
Wlat isimportant is that these Hamitic peopli are that they had dlw-ays been associated with Airica;il[;t;oiild "rr
"o.
cultural have
trai[s with the people of Jewish grigln. T[e Neg.o, "rd;A;;i;iit-""*."n
tt rorgt ttr"r" Hamites,
been the first race of people ever to appear on the cohtinent "r"nI have
of Africa.
acquired_elements of Jewish cultuie such done so for the reasbn ihat their civiiization was not as dominant
ritgion. hideea, similarities and as
between Jewish religion and the religion of some, "s if n-ot all, Bantu communities influencial as that of the Haniites. The reader sh_ould n"t
concern iswith the-emergenceof the-Negro race.Itwilt ueprul?
itrg;;#;ft:;
all over Africa are remarkable. ThiJwas the most prominent feature that snortty tlrat ttie
first
struck me when started my work on the Shona 6t ZimUabwe. But from
-I the N"g- are cr;lturally, if not geneticallyJ,It""ri 'r-
' Boskopoid race. products of the Hamites and the
southern-tip of the contin",it, *; ;;;;;il fi" il;;.fi iio, the Xcisa,
-h";;
who, as I am gping to show in this work, i"re ttre ,angrirJ of the lVhilst the Hamites were confined for thousands of years to the
- e---- - Bantu north-eastern
migrants from the north-east: corner of Africa, the Bushmen sprga! r9.ev:ry corner of the contineni.
ih;t
'Jh9r9 at", hor""rer, one or two things the consideration of which incline legitimately- claim to be the briginal indiglnour int-uUitu*"
to "-can
they are truly A{ric.an. one important eremeniof their culturi
rt Africa, for
the belief that the tribe (Xosa) is of East African origin. it iir"t and most ;";'k;;;il;
to this d-avt So far, ihere has been no other African -community
ipR-oltant of these is a certain similarity between ro*"i"f&;r"
of -hassurvives
been known to indulgeln rock-paintings" ihil is why all the
that
the Xosas and those of the Jews, which cannot be set aside ashere "brervances rock-paintings
coincidences.' in Africa are referred to is Bushmen painti"ng.. ih"
0) gbiquity of these paintings
leaves us in no doubt that peopte oi Boskfroid origins
The writer is himself Xosa working on his own tribe and I am Shona, studying rrire ui'on" time or
other lived in almost every pirt 6t the contin"irt-rt
my own tribe. But the two tribes aie more than a thousand miles found in
th"y"n;;;;;"en
the heart of the Sahara d6sbrt. Indicationr ur" ih"t "y-t *"* n,ua" before the
we shall discover later, parted company pore than a thousand y"i.,
"p"nago. "i
"ri,y"t desiccation of the belt. It is possible that uv irrru"ginning of
ttri ctrristian era,
Jewish-religious elements are cleaily evideni il-b"ih.-il;;'il i", from mere
coincidence.
the Bushmen were already everywhere in Afri"".dlr;;;i;;;-l"gy
' '--" -- --------oJ
can provide
positive proof of this. r
1..9* Nigeria t-q W-e-st Africa, ag-ain thousands of miles away, we hear the It is not clear whether ihey originated in one centre of the continent
and then
following:--"Tle.yoruba people o! Ife and its neighuouifri.a, ; N"grg spreld to all other parts. If sol was this in the souttrern-iip, ,""L-eastern
p-egple, say that their ancestors cLme from the east; and-Biobaku north-western corner, or in the congo region? irri, i,
or
has even felt
able to suggest that the Yoruba must have migrated to their pio"nt ho/nes, interest. what is significanr here q b; ih; time the"ri[i
il;;iy academic
the Bushmen race was ubiquitous in&l
Negro race emerged,
- --:---:--'
I.9, a res1gn-yhere they.came under ancient Egypiiun, EtrurAn and Jewish Africa
influences." (2) Th9ry yg,ru.og.peogfe a1e today i-trdusahas of miG
the Xosa people of South Afriba. Yet Jewish influences can stilt be"*"v
rffi However, as the Hamitic race in Egypt glew in numbery_and srrength,
among them. This cannot be an accident.
d;i";i;; its tentacles graduatly up the Nile v;ll:y:E".uuriit ese
it spread
Hamitrr *""r" physically
,. stronger, and because they.managed io develop a superior
civilization'to ttrai
of the Bushmen,-th"y were ineviti'bly militdriiy"t.ong"r. As they .

expanded up
Thus a people with a white morphology, whose origins are obscure, theNile V.alley, theycame within reach of the"Bushmen, who retreated
existed in further
Egy-pt at least ten thousand years soum and west.
and fathJred the Egvp,i""
civilization. These peoplg had associati6ns "n"i"ni #""irr"
"g,b with the Jewish community. There is evidence of the existence in Africa of these Boskopoid people
nearly
Egyptian lristory q *iU Aoc.rmented, it tras Ueen clearly established that
people existed in Egygl about ten rhousand years ug";-i'fr" ."rn"
J
a
- --e- ' ---- -----' we give to
$f_:*:?i1ry"rs
rnaraoh
aso: rhe best_:],id;ti; ;fi;;il ;;Ginei
Mernere, a.sixth dynasty King. The sixih Egyptian dynasty started
*,itten uy
these people is not reitty material. in
about 2423 B.C. and cameio an-end iround zzizB.C. The pharaohs
of this
The next race of geople we need to consider is a race of dark-skinned, dynasty embarked on a scheme Egvptiurrpo*"iu"v"nd the first '
short "f "-tinairrg
cataract YP the Nile Vallel-Mernere
p"oplglith high cheekbones. Some authorities choose,to call it trre ncriop"id made H".[[i,r tfre goverr;;'of ttre region
bethe peoplg we.today call the San or the Bushmen; it oirgtf rcuth of the first cataract This governor madeeipeoiiiois ,p it Valley
11.";J*-l+lght + and in
a westerly direction and brought b"gl quantities of items
F th9 Pygmies; it might even be the ancesrors of both the Bushmen
ftr" hfihiy" uy ttre
fharaohs, including g[ny,lydry and frankinceor". on one of"t#se""tued
,d
Pygmies. We cannot legitimately argue that these two were orignaUy "na noi fi,. expedirions,
related. ,,i he captured a dwarf. rne pnaiaotr gave tri" t"[o*ing insrru"tiol to Harkhuf
after learning of the capture:
t,
 *
"ComO norlhward to-the court immediately. Thou shalt bring this dwarf with
thee, which thou bringest living, prosperous and healthy trom the land of
spirits, for the dalces of1_h9 god, ro rejoice and gh0den rhe heart of the King of
lPper and'lower E9ypt Neferkere, who lives for ever. When he goes down iith
thee into the vessel (for the return journey) appoint excellent people who shall.
sleep beside him on each side of the vessel; takb care lest he falls into the water.
. W'hen hesleeps at night appoint excellent people who shall sleep beside him in
the tent; inspect-ten times a night. My majesty desires to see this dwarf more
than the gifts of Sinai and Punt." (3)
- lt it clear that the Pharaoh was very much excited by the capture of this little
fellciw. This in itself suggeststhat these small people were a rare commodity
within the neighbourhood of the Egyptian dominion. But what is really of
interest"to us is the existence, the presence in Africa, of a race other than the
Hamitic race which was confined to the lowerNile Valley, as early as3 000 B.C.
We have no reason to doubt that these short people wire a'feaiure of Africa
thousands of years before the writing of the letier quoted above. These ahd the
Hamites, who were lighter in complexion and bigger in stature, appear among
the indigenous peoples of Africa. They belonged to two different races.
/ Herodotu$ the Greek historian, relates the story of young Nasamonian adventurers
who wagered with their friends that they could Crossihe Sahara ffom north to
south:
"While they were doing so, they were attacked by some little men of less
than middle. height -
who seized them and carried them off. The speech of
-
these dwarfs was unintelligible; nor could they understand the Nasamonians.
They took their captives tfirough arast tract of marshy country U"y"nO it
clmg"to a totvn, all the inhabitants of which were of the same small"nO
stature, and
all black. A great river with crocodiles in it flowed past the tow! from west to
east." (4)
Here indeed is evidence of the presence oi Bushmen or Pygmies in West Africa
between 500 and 400 B.C. But, srgnificantly, there ii no word about the
presence of the Negroes or Bantu yet in thit sector. This remained virtually the
popition for about anothei millenium, as we are going to discover.
The area,we are no* is one of the greatest speculation which,
"nt"ring
nevertheless, holds greatpossibilities: That of the birth of the Negro. Here, we
cannbt avoid embarking on what I can calt historical mathematics oiethnographic
equations. Some people would immediately ask, what is the difference between
legro and Bantu? Are we not splitting hairs here? This work is a book on the
Bantu. I am discussing all the others to determine at what point the Bantu
lPPeared on the scenelwhilst we are not sure of the exact orilin of the Negro,
by the time we arrive at the birth of the Bantu, we will largelylave descen-cbd
from the realm of legend to that of historical fact.
There is no diffOrence between the'Negro and the Bantu, in so far as both
oritinated in the same north-eastern corner of Africa and in as far as their
ffit*rnut un"otry is the same. But the Negroes might be no less than four or five
ffi.. thousand years older than the Bantu. Even more important, the cultural
T+ environment in which the Bantu were born had changediadically from that in
which the Negro had been born four or five thousand years earlier. The term
Bantu itself has no ethnic cohnotations, since language is an aspect of culture. I
muqt however grant that the people who father-ed lhe aniient civilization of
Egypt are the immediate (in relative terms) progenitors of the Negro and at the
, same time are the distant progenitors of the Bantu
Let us for the moment concentrate on the possible origins of the Negro. We
' have established that the fathers of ancient Egyptian civilization were already
in existence in the'Nile Valley north of the firsTcataract by the year 5 000 B.C.
.They could of course have been already there by the year 10 000 B.C. We have
also established that a p_eople with a small stature, and wtrom for convenience
we can call Pygmy or Bushman, also existed in Africa by-the year 5 000 B.C.
They too could have been in the continent by the year 10 000 B.C, We now
need to'establish that the Negro is a feature of great antiquity in Africa an{ that
he was also a feature of the Nile Valley.
That the Negro was a feature of Africa long before the Christian Era, no-one
seerns to dispute. Archaeologists have dug up a fossilized Negro skull belonging
to the Middle Stone Age near Khartoum; they have dug up inother at Asselar,
north-east of Timbuktu in West Africa; in 1958, a French explorer called
Henri Lhote brought to light remarkable evidence of Negro occupation of part
of thp Sahara - eipecially in tlie form of paintings and e-ngravingi. About ihis,
one authority writes: "Heie was human history on a granO rcat", tier after tier
of Saharan styles that told of a bewildering iuccesiion of different peoples
through uncounted millenia, ranging from marvellously sensitive pictures.of
I animals to no less sensitive portraits of men and women; from scenes of
wheeled warfare to scenes of'pastoral peace; from gods and goddesses that
sqrely came from ancient Egypt, to mas[s and figures that as surely did not.
Many of them w,9r9 the work of Negro peoples in i time that whs probably not
long before or not lcing after, 4 000 n.C. Ttrese people, these Negroes, undoubledly
multiplied in the years after about 5 000 B.C. An analysis of some 800 skults
from dynastic Egypt - from the lower valley of the Nile, that is before about
3 000 8.C., shows that at least a third of.them were Negroes or ancestori of the
Negroes whom we know; and this may well support the riiew; to which a study
of language also brings some confirmation, th_at remote ancestors of thL
Africans of today werJ an important and perhais dominant element among
populations which fathered the civilization of ancient Egypt." (5)
We hear of Negroes in the Bible long before the Christian Era; we he4r of
Ethiopians whg were a Negro people in the Bible; we hear of Negro slaves also
belore the Christian Era. All this makes it abundantly clear thatihe black man
was d feature of Africh for thousands of years before the beginning of the first
Christian millenium
The reader should observe that in all thE cases quoted above, this Negro is
 &
indicated as a feature of the Nile valley,
or as
associations with the Nile Valley. ln -hurpq associations or previous Mop t
"tt*,
Egypt as the original home of rhe Negro.
'----'-
**alrlru?r,GrO'Jn.Jii. pointing to
*' APPROXIMATE COURSE FOLL&IED
we now arrive at three distinct ancient races in BY THE HOTTENTOTS
Afri
fitr,#-[ rffi:t:ffi ;i:: $."',: n,$**f#,ffix,4?
earlier referred to as-"historical mathematicsi
or ""trrrogiupt il equations,,,
##
that thq Bushm:ig Boskopo$
Reople are among the most ancient races of
Africa, and that the ancieit egyptian Ha-it",
civilization of Egypt are arso who fathered the ancient
established' what appears to have"iiit of ,t "--"r, ancient
the
races of Africa is
H;ite mingled with
"pp"n"i-i.iilut
thE Bushmen to givd Lirth to ttri n"ttiit"t;;h";i;rite
nexr mingled with the
Hottentot to givelryii. t_t N"g-, the Hamiii
birth.to the Bantu. Stage I can -ingf"O *ith ifiefiegro to give
" frus be ,u*-"rir";l;;hil;;;:"'
Hamite + Bushman = Hottentot
Hamite + Hoftentot = Negro
Hamite + Negro = Bantu
we cannot avoid speculation of this nature. The
younger race than the Bushmen. Even Hottentotsare known to be a
our Southern Afri;;;Gtory tells us
that the Bushmen were the vangu*a- u
south and were followed by;# pastoral1q9
,iilrations from the north to the
HottJntots. In fact, the Hoftentors
were driving the Bushmen to ttri soutH
in
prominent in the Hoftentots. Their hG[;h""ib";;a;tili,]i," Bushmen features are ri'
"Jaition, ar,
i.
feature' At the same time, their orange-reddish a Bushman fl

inherited from a peopre with a whGilrph"i;gy complexion must have been

Hamites' More and these can only be the .l,'

l}:lli:t1t.p
Hamites' All this ".r
taller ttrair ttre bushmen but shorter than the i
Hamites and the BuJ[men
uottenio;;;"
suggests that the _-vfry.rLvw erv oa vrlrDD_r_rrririu
cross-breed between rhe
&
The Negro combines the Hamitic and Hottentot v*
t
features. His nose is flat, his
face is roundish iT .uny-"uri;;Gil;;;;;;" high; these .t!.'
?$
of Hottentot and Bushm'en'features. ili [;'ir are reminiscent
the same time shorter than tt eH";G-ti;
,Jri"r than the Hottentot and at #
those of the Hottentot or Bushme.nJel
h#;o not bulge,to rhe extent of ..i
it bigger than those of
the Hamire. some of them certainry h";;i;Gi"rh "v "i[-glnerally {\l
,l
faces and prominenr nose
bridges that remind us of the t"utrie,
of the liamites. This suggests a cross- ''t.
breed between Hamites and Hottentots. "

The Bantu is a f}rther compromise be-tween ?.

the Hamite on cine side and the
Hottentots and Bushmen on ttr" ott lt *"rro-,1". instance, not be correct to
1i

say that the Bantu have flat noses"r.and

(brachycephalic).or that they,hav". .orni faces with high cheekbones
,gTE lu""st*itr, proniri,ii'*r" bridges
(dolychocephalic) or.that t-trey riaye r
ui-s t"inr srnall hips or that they are black
or brown. This is tvpicar of a ihird f;;;fi;6;;"
"r highbreed and this is what
the Bantu appear id Ue. ";
 a
The ethirographic equations above only apply to the ,original Hottentots,
NtgP and Bantu. At this stage, I would refer to them as firsr degree highbreeds,'
But a-scenturies passed, further interbreeding no doubttook pL"e.to-produce
second degree, third degree, fourth degree highbreeds. We hlve no reason to
doubt why combinations such as the fotlowing should no[ have taken place:
Hamite + Bushrnan + Hottentot = African
Hamite + Negro + Bushman = African
Negro + Bushman + Hottentot = African
We would not be honest to ourselves if, genetically, we looked upon ourselves
T "pure Negroes" or "pure Bantu" or pure anything for thai matter. For'
instance,new complexities continued to be formed in Sbuth Africa as recently
as the 19th century such as between the Bantu and the Hottentots; between the
Hottentots and the Dutch; between the Bushmen and the Hottentots; between
- the Bantu and the Dutch; between the Coloureds and the Bantu
and between
the Hottentots and the Coloureds. As I am going to show later in this book, we
have innumerable communities described as Bantu or African today who
' descended from the Arab traders of the first Christian rnillenium; we also have
new African tribes that descended from the Portuguese after I 500 A.D. All
: these.people have mingled and continue to minglJwith Negroes or Bantu of
various degrees to create Africans of the greatest degree of genetic complexity.
All these developments we should be aware of and accept, as a necessary and
meaningful prelude to a study of the birth of the Bantu; the locality of their
birth, their lines of migration from that locality, and their identification today.
. CHAPTER? , {
Despite my ethnographic equations, it is necessary to define precisely what is
meant by the term Blntu. fo leave it at'the level suggested in the previous
l,chapter would be e)ttremely misleading. Likewise, it is necessary to say more
about the term Negro. The ethnographic equations might have created a
'completely cbmpartmentalized picture of the Bantu and Negro in the minds of
some readers. Such would be misleziding. There is essentially nothing water-
Ittigtrt about these terms. The people we today call Bantu are Negro.
, We noted that the Negro was acomponent part of the ancient Egyptians in the
lower Nile Valleyi we also noted thaq the Bantu were a feature of the same Nile
I
Valley and were an offshogt of the Negro. In this chapter, am going to
produce more evidence to prove that the people we call Bantu definitely came
from the Nite Valley and were descended from or wbre an offshoot of the same
ancient Hamites who fathered ancie4t Egyptian civilization.If this is so, why
then do.we split hairs and talk of Negroes on the one hand and Bantu on the
t
other? ' r
d
.t. The answer to this is provided'by geography and not by ethnic origins. Very
shortly, I shall describe the expansiur of Egypt up the Nile Valley to incorporate
t
.{ parts of the present day Sudan Republic. I am also going to talk about the
$r conflicts thai took place in the low6r Nile Valley. Pirtly as a result'of ,this
ttl,'
!1,
Egyptian expansiori, but largety as a result of the"conflicts, some of the black
.
q' men who appear to haye been largely confined to the Egyptian south trekked
I
J" away from the Nile Valley towards the south, south-west and west. It is very
ir likely that these were some of the people whose culture Henri Lhote talked
I
about in the heart of the Sahara-desert. That culture, he added, could be as old
as 4 000 years and was closely associated with the civilization of Egypt. This
took place before the desiccation of the Sahara.
.a.
These people who migrated away from the Nile Valley could have 6een black;
they could have been Hamitic; but they could also have been mixed. ,As they
driftedfurther away from the Nile Valley, they no doubt mingled more with the
Bushmen whom we have discovdred to have been everywhere in Africa but.
were moving further and further away from.the areas fvithin the reach of.the
taller and stronger Hamites and Negroes in the Nile Valtey. Inevitably, the
complexion, height and featgres of these migrants changed as more and more
of this inter-breeding took place. These are the people we call the "true
Negroes" today. That the majority of them should be in West Africa is not so
surprising. Those of them who trekked from the Nile Valley towards the south-
,west must have ended up in West Africa; those that drifted to the west and
whosqculture Henri Lhote has unearthed in the Sahara must too have drifted.
to West Africa with the desiccation of the Sahara. Evidence will be produced
' to show that the black people we call Bantu did not leave the Nile Valley before
 *
600 A.D. In otrier words, if the brack-people
remained in the Nile vallev up about tnls
we call ..true Negroes,, had I,JP TIIE MLE VALLEY
!9 oate, they tbo would be Banru and
there would be no ..true N"g-;-"U"ri tt;: b
l$gpabty lhe most striking 6spect of Hamite and N"g.o history in the Nile
;,Valley
ausy lu
is the
rrl(, very uruw population
vt,ry slow increase oI Inese people.
of these
let turn to those blagk.gegple ytro are rermed
us now
v PoPura[ron lncrease feople. This hand ln
r nls goes nano in
Bantu. Historians and ,,,hand with the very slow progress these peofle made up the Nile Valley towards
anthropologists know very weli trrlt tt ir
whatever' They know that it is a lingulqil;
t"r, tras no eJiini" connorarions : East Africa and the regions to the eaqt and west of the Upper Nile Valley, and
apptied to African communiries*. "must be for the reason that they took thousands and not hundreds of years to
that speak related languager
- reiat;d iliil; sinie ttrat ttreii languages have gccupy these regions.
manv elements in comhoi and mighl
gr[i*[y hil;;;;';;" hnguage. The
term was first apPTP t9.rt by the p-t ipr"firl, We have discovered that by the year 5 000 B.C., the Bushman, the Hamite and
the l9th centuf. He did to b"""ur" rr"-f;uJ
oo"to, Bleek, before the turn of
' been impressed by the common '4" N"g_to were already'features of Afrioa. By the year I 000 8.C., it looks as if
elements within the. tanguagi; ;p"il 'the Bushmen had alrealy'spread to all corners of Africa. Yeq as I am going to
sahara and especially thi .Jcroin"e ot_uy?tri"an
communities south of the i.'demonstrate in the next chipter, by the year 600 A.D., there was still no Bantu
;Abantu" itre ,oot-"iv-t;;il;t; in ..Muntu,, or
"Chintu" (thing) or 1peop1"l. f[i.
;'Africa, that is to say that the people we cill Bantu were still confined to the Nile
i Yalley and its immediate periphery. Admittedly, groups of black people had
, hived off and were already heading for other parts of Africa such as West

ffir:ffi [fif rn:r**d#df"*tr--riffi

languages was spolien and we know
td *["ii;t J}J;ilJ *[; ,p"r,e it started
I Africa and, as we may remember, these are the people we called the Negroes.'
,r Yet it still remains historically true that by the year 600 A.D., there is no Negro
to migrate to other regions of Africa ;J;; or Bantu Africa in the sense that neither the "true Negroes" nor the Bantu had
that-way helped to spread the
related languages. Thelhck people."r"r*Jio occupied even half the continent of Africa. This was nlry slow progress indeed
as the...true Negroes,,had long
left the regionbefore the relaieoiroup;ii;rguuges
therefore never became "Bantu" ina had been'developed
-ny and
# ca-lled a"ntu. virtue of OnO of the rnost important of these factors, as suggested above, must be that
both the Bantu and the "true
Bantu.
Ggr;;;;;;.i;.
"lnno; brr til'ilfr"gro". are not
this,
.these Hamites and Negroes in the.Nile Valley multiplied very slowly. The

It should be very clear from this that we can

S institution of polygamy was undoubtedly practised, because by the time the
in no way say that the Bantu #' Bantu Explosion (the sudden large scale migrations of the Bantu people) to<ik
emerged in Africa in t 000 B.c. oi lm i:D. fiiir would imply that their Ff place soon after 600 A.D., it was normal practice and remained so up to the
related colonial period. We can therefore not argue that these people multiplied very
f. slowly
tf{,::LiHiii?fi ,:r:H!:1;1,,,r.:;t j j",r*:;,::t"x;ffi ffI8l,",
of them could be the intrusion
F
'i
because they practised monogamy.

into the iommunity; on"

il-;r;rp, ,p"uking u aiit"."nt
"i; language, One reason could be that they were decimated by diseases. No doubt they had
ue truoil-r#k, with^ a peopre who speak i' traditional methods of curing diseases but these might not have been effective
i""t". could bi advances in cutt,irat ddvelopmenta
r
different language; a thira "un
inspired from-wiihin ttre community. lt ,i enough. The result could hive been that many ch-ildren died in infancy and
Inany adults died before they reached old agg. Such a prospect would undoubtedly
all three facrors combined. No ,*o[
language remains tota[J ;taii"; uui ridifi";";'events
""urJue
- and
- -:--the .
-- passage limit the expansion of the population. '
are necessary for a language to chang-e .uOi"utfy.
of time tr,
E'. These Hamites and Negroes are known to have been agriculturalists. This is
Because the tirm Bantu is ptirely linguistic,
it is not- possible to say precisely # , !o-" out by the record of ancient Egyptian history and by the fact that the
when the Bantu.language migirt tr"r" iorne into existence. However,
d."rp
because the Bantu p9-opl-e ni"."; S Pgtr, who were part of them, were agriculturalists bylthe time they left the
' the answer p;"T;;;.lrr.r, as we are goingto discover, $!' Nile Valley around 600 A.D. But it.could be that their methods of agriculture
is To[ likily to be tlui t[i
emerge!rce of the Bantu language g1oup._In"'n-"-rg"nce
of Kush also meant the * were not sophisticated enough to feed the population beyon{ a certain limit.
meant the beginning of ttre-uiriir 5r trrE
ottrl. words, the birth of Kush also .}, . .{Sain, tle r-esylt could have b99, large'scale deaths of infants and premature .
nuntr-in tr," r"nr"ltrui'i, marked the
beginning of "Kushit"i"-;il;, which developed
S;, deaths of adults from malnutrition.'
the culture from which the It is inconceivable that a people should confinE themselves to no more tiran
black people inherited their languages which
defined them.as Bantu. !r
Egypt and the Sudan at the least five thousand years if all was ryell with them..
It h not very logical to argue that they might not have expanded to the o.Iter
world because peace reigned in the Nile Valley. Whilst war helps to scatter
people an{ therefore to encourage migrations, territorial expansion is generally

11
 *
and often caused by geographical lnd economic factors. Even wars themselves
3lq:au-sed by these factors. Therefore, if peace prbvailed in the Upp"r Niii refore, some territorial?xpansion.took pldbe from Egypt before the great
Valley for over five thousand years, it mdt mean,that the economic factors tu migrations of the period after 600 A.D. But my argument is that this early
wer.e ade_quate to cope with the population in the area for the whole
of that i;Egptian expansion did not create "Bantu Africa'1; this'Bantu, Africa was
period. Yet the population did not-grow to ihe point of explosion. This ;'created by the great migrations of the period from about 600 A.D. However,
is a
remarkable situation. for the moment, let us see if there is any evidence of Egyptian expansion and
I h-ope I have not-given the reader the impression that the Hamites and Nesroes that expansion briefly. It is this that is going to lead us to the home of the
:in lrowel Egypt did not multiply or territorially .*pu;o we today know as Bantu. In addition, it is going to lead us to the factors
is that the-growth rate of thii fopulatiorr **-n"ry slow";;ll.
wtr;;'ilffisJi; ting for the grdat Bantu migrations that resulted in the emergence of
and that its territorial
expansion was.eqt'ally slow. That it grew and gradually occupied tu Africa.
more territory is a historical fact. -or" "nO
Abbve I quoted the instructions of the Pharaoh to Harkhuf in regard to the
Between 2 4N and2.200B.C.,.during:t!e cdurse of the sixth Egyptian dynasry,' he had captured. He Said "My majesty desires to see this dwarf more than
we noted the Pharaoh appointing Harkhuf as the lord of the rJutir"ro the gift of Sinai and Punt." This c-learly depicts Egypt as already a trading
Egyptian
frontier and stationing him fuJt south of the first catar*t. Hurkhuf then monarchy - trading with Sinai and Punt. What is of interest is that Punt was
embarked on expeditions to the south and possibly to the west as well, during y in existence duping the course of the sixth Egyptian dynasty and was a
one of which he- captured a dwarf. These *"re niititury anO-traaing, and nJt iblack kingdom which had much in common with Egypt.
l]rPerial, expeditions. But they mark the beginninge of *t can be called However, it looks as if Egypt did not establish a firm hold on t}re regions south
Egyptian imperialism. "i ,, of the first cataract until after the eleventh Egyptian dynasty, after 2 000 B.C.
It is he.lpfYl P attempt here to paint the picture that appears ro have been This was initiated by Amenemhet II who was the second Pharaoh'of the twelfth
prevailing in Egypt by the beginning of Egyptian civilization around 3 000 B.C. i' dynasty. These Pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty extended Egyptian power to
Aft9r the_mingling of th'e HamitJs, Buihmen and Hottentots that we saw . tfre second cataract and marked the new southern frontier of the Egyptian
e.arlSr' a Negro people was born. While these Negro'es were initially part;f kingdom. However,.not much progress was made thereafter, the interyentiort
the Egyptian cornmunity, the majority of them applar to have drifted further of the Hyksos about I 700 B.C., being one of the factors.
south^up-the Nile Valley in the course of time. Ii therefore looks as if,
by the
year 2 000 8.C., Egypt proper, i.e. north of-the first cataract, was laigely The further expansion of Egypt was resumed by Tutmosis I, the third Pharaoh
Hamitic whilst the regionl south of the first cataract, calleO NuUiu, was tarlery of rhe eighteenth dynasty. He extended Egyptian power to the south and
Negro. reached the fourth cataract,,.establishing a new boundary at Kergus beyond the
Tg !tr9 Egyptians,'the word "nub" meant gold and,.Nubia,l meant the land of fourth cataract, in the heart'of the presentday Sudan Republic. This was the
qol{.-{s.Egyptian power extended up the Nile Valley beyond ttre iirst cararact, region that was to develop intg the Kingdom of Kush which is of p,articular
the Nubians;.who were largely Negro, were pushed further to the south. In significance. Further, Egypt continued tolrade withPunt. This wrs d6ne
this "l9ng
rggion oJ the Nile Vallev,.the.y *e.e to create chiefdomr . the Red Sea. One such journey was organized by Queen HatshepsuL The
!?Yl!:-
ot their own but drew much of their civilization from Uppel Egypt, ".r.ingJo-t Egyptian traders met the chief of the Pu-ntites who was called Perehu. They
r".-uining
f^or a lonF time
Jppendages_of Bevpt.bi.;i il;;;"ff;f, iil5'r""ond
Axum; the third was Punt. Kush is wtat we may call the Sudan today; Axum
was
deiCribed his wife as "remarkable for dark-skinned generosity of girth dnd
limb." There is thus no doubt that the Puntites were dark-skinned, or black,
may be called the ancestor state of people. However, after Rameses II of the nineteenth dynasty, Egypt.started to
what is the Somali Republic- today. The Pthiopia; and Punt consisted of p"rt"oi decline and completely lost control of the outer provinces. We shall obseive
discoveries of schola6 suchta! H;";i
Lhote, who has been mentioned earlier, leave us in no doubt that th;;; some of these provinces, in particular Kush, attabking Egypt and actually
offshoots of the Egyptians also migrated in a westerly direction from the conquering it. It is from this turmoil that Bantu Africa would emerge.
"."Ilywai the period whei the Sahara
Nile Valley. But,this region was drying up fast
and therefor-e they could not remain there perrhaneiltly. som""Ji#;;l
suggested earlier,. must have drifted toward's West Afiica to become the
ancestors of the people referred to as the "true Negroes". No doubt, others
drifted towards the north African coast and must 5" urrrong th";;;pl;t;;
today call thb Berbers. Thbse htter are really not of gre:atinierest to us here
sinie, they are outside the "Bantu Sector" of Afri"u.
 a
TUnMOIL IN XIIE MLE VATLEY
I have no doubt in my mind that Bantu Africa was thehild of Kush. No scholar
seems to be in any-doubt that Kush was to Africa what Egypt was to Kush
herself. As one sgch scholar put it, "This civilizdtion (.of fuitrl was crucially
importaot not only to the social evolution of the Sudan itself, but also to th;
8[o1th and spreid of iivilizing ideas and technologies throughout much of
cbntinental Africa to the west and south." (5) This is exactly thJargument thal
t
19 m.aling here. Before we go further however, we need to look ai the history
of Kush briefly. lNcrE NT E6YPT ANO KUSH
T-hlkingdom of Kush started off as a province the southern-most province
-
9f ESynt. It was- Egyptian in almost every respect. It even worshipped the
. Egyptian suniod, Amun. Its emergenje wassimply a result of the imp'erialistic
expansiol of ESlVpt to the south. Like Egypt, Kush did not emerge from nothing
to a kingdop of significance in one yeui; it is not possible to r"y"p."cisely whef;
it started. It began to feature promilently in iecords when it had already
become a threat-to Egyptian power. Bv 800 B.c., Kush was already such a
threat. This might mean that ba tlre year I 000 B.C. Kush was alieady in
existence as the southern Egyptian frontier province.

The carly capital of Kush was Napata. This town became a famous centre for E6Y PT
the worship of the Egyptian sun-god, Amun, whose symbol was the ram. All
this is important for it is relevant to the Bantu, as we stratt see. Soon after 800
8.C., Kush under its famous King, Kashta, embarked on the conquest of Egypt, lst Cotomct
the parent-state. This conquest_was completed around 725 B.C. bV piarilliy,
-the son of Kashta. As a result of these conquests, Kushite power extended io
the borders of Ethiopia and maybe beyond. : {t
!I{ Cotoroct
In the year666 B.C: the Assyrians invaded Egypt and drdve the Kushites to the f
suth.-Largely as a result of this pressure, the Kushite Kings transferred their nth@t'Ieroe
-
capital from Napata-to Meroe. But the Assyrians could not f,ave failed to inject 6th Cdomct.l
Khortoun
ilt"-P.gyryian and Kushitic culture elements of their own. Indeed Egypt and
the Nile-Valley appear to have been a big confluence of many culturEi which
SUOAN
Yere to !9^sqre_ad to all Africa later. Meroe became the capital of Kush about
the year s_ry B.C. It was soon to develop into the most imporiant cultural centre
in all the Upper Nile Valley. The cultule that was taken io all corners of Africa ETHIOPIA-
by th9 people we today call Bantur rvss Meroitic culture. We can go further and
Say that the Africans who developed into the Baritu were Meroltic Negroes.

It is possible that one of the results of the Assyrian conquest of Egypt Was the
introduction of iron technology. This is likely io be so because ttreii Assyrians
used iron weapons which *eI6 not previorily known in the Nile Vall"i. fh;
pyramids constructed in both Egypt and Kuih before 400 B.C. show no iron
objecqs in.t!em. By the year 200 B.C. these objects had become common in rhe'
a1e1_pV_100 B.C. Meroe had.become the centre of the iron-smelting indristry in
theNileYallgl and some scholars have even gone to the extenr of iescribing ii
as the "Birminghaln of Africa". Even after tf,e development of Bantu Afri6a,
there is hot one centre th"at has visible evidence of iron-sgrelting in the form of
slag heaps as old'Meroe has to this day. Thus by the bqgihning of the Christian
Era, Kush was fully in the Iron Age. This was shortly to influence the rest of
Africa.
t'The turmoil in the Nile Valley" refers to the military crises that troubled the
area from 100 B.C. to about 640 A.D. Whilst in the development of Meroe were
soivn the seeds of Bantu Africa, in this turmoil these sieds germinated and "
started to grow vigorously. Theiefore it is very important to draw our attention
to these crises for a proper understanding of what followed - the emergence
of Bantu Africa.
I am here particularly interested in the crises that took place just before and
during the Christian Era up to about 640 A.D. This is because Bantu Africa has
Christian origins and therefore the people who become Bantu could not have
left Kush and its neighbourhood beforl Christianity was introduced into the
ff.t we have had a gti-pr" of the first of these crises - conflict, bet*een
Egypt and her southern province of Kush. About these conflicts, one authority
writes, "Clashes were taking place between Egypt and the land of Cush. At one
time, Cush actually conquered Egypt and enslaved many of its people. But the
main aim appears to havg been the desire of Cush to destroy the corruption
that had gone rampant in Egypt and which had led to her decline. In 59i 8.C.,'
the Egyptian pharaoh, assisted especially by Greek mercenaries armed with
iron weapons invaded and sacked Napata, the Cushite capital. The Cushites
moved further south and established a new capital at Meroe which as far as the
new technology went, became the Birmingham of Africa thereafter. These
conflicts no doubt pushed the Cushites further south." (6)
It of this nature that are of interest. The Kushites were:'pushed
is shock-waves
to the south" and it is from such pushes that Bantu Africa emerged. More and
greater pushes were to come.
By the beginning of the first Christian century, Kush had started to trouble
Egypt again. It does not look as if all that Kush wanted was independence from
Egypt. It seems as if she hadgrown so powerful as to aspire to the domination of
Egypt itself. This might be termed Kushite imperialism.
,Before the birth of Christ, the Roman Empire started to emerge. Egypt and
North Africa were absorbed into this rising new empire. On the -southern
Egyptian frontier, Augustus established Philae and Elephantine and these
virtually marked the boundary line between Egypt and the kingdom of Kush.
Roman garrisons were stationed at these southern outposts. ButKush did not
leave them in peace, and this shows how powerful and determined the Kushites -
were. The Kuihite.troops went on to attack Philae and Elephantine andt
actually overpowered the th?ee Roman auxiliary detachments that had been
stationed theie to defend these outposts. The Kushites captured many Roman
soldiers. The Romhn goyernor of Egypt then was Petronius. To deaf with the
l6
situation devetoping to the south of Egypt, hb had to sehd down no less than -
l0 @-infSntry.tioob 1nd 800 cavatryii6ops ro r""ou"iit
"ilrh;;;;p;;;
from the Kushites. This is a further ieflection of Kushite power
It is significant that conflicts took place in this region and that the Kushites
were defeated by the Roman soldiers operating from Egypt; Petronius drove
,' ll," Kushiteq io the lguth through Napata and destr"j,ia tlat - town. The
Kushites were pushed further to the soulh. It is important to iealize
that this
was taking ph;; after tt Uiginning of tn" Cfiti.tian Era, and was therefore
"
Yery clgs-e to the beginning of the great Negro migrations that wepe to create
Bantu Africa. ET.h big military pustr trom aiy co.-n". had tremoo und ri;i;;
,:'; in the opposite direption.'Therlfore, ir cannot be doubtdd that this R6rhan
thrust from the north caused shock-waves in Kush and the lands furt}er to tt
south.Atthisstage,thequestionis,.Howfarsouth?] "
The next shock-wave was even bigger and takes.us to the brink of Bantu Africa.
Kush was a rading king_dom aftei the fashion of Egypt. wb have seen ggypi
sending b^oats down the Red Sea and trading with thJiand of Punt along whit'is
,
,[':
now the Somali coast. Kush also traded witn the East African
Thisarea carried on a lucrative trade with India, Oman and the "ourtri."gion.
. i.' South Arabian
peninsular, where theie was a highly developed civilization. The people of this
l:
. : and noi'Hamites or
,' South Arabian pe-ninsular were Arabs
- Semitesu nr*
, N1srbe1 They. cioiild. qtre pea seu
call northern "na1_rt"uritnio
t ingalrn- i;;ffi;;
;i Pay Ethiopia; this new Semitic kingdom wis cafieO aium.
'i": Becauseof
!h"rl sophisticated civilization, these Ara6i of Axum created;itt
porferful *.ingdom on the African mainland, and this Was shortly to havL
r9n919uryions on the neighbouring Negro peoples of thq kingdom of Kush and
the Nile Valley in general. This wai to marir thi real beginninlg of Bantu Africa.
Sometime between 300 and 350 A.D., these Semitic people of tt new kingdom
of Axum invaded Kush, defeated the Kushites and deitroyed "their capiial of
'
;,
Y".r.i9. rn"y cut off the K;;-h],r'i."Jig';il,"Iii",#;,i?;f;:'ift;;
dwindled to insignificance and her written fucords reveal little thereafter- ih;
, kings and queens_of Kush started to be buried in miserablepyramids that were
I a very poor shadow of those constructed earlier. This is a reflection of the
uncertainty and insecurity that prevailed ovex the kingdom. It was a reflection
of the second'rate status of'the former mighty kin[dom as a iesult of this
conquest by the Arab state of Axum. ,
W9 3 ggod record of these wars betwen Axum and Kush and the
-h-ave
' ' ltgighbouring lt{egro peoples-. Here is one of them: "With the help of the Lord of
Heaven, who in heaven and earth conquers all, Ezana, son of Ett, Arnida..a
'o-i
member of (the_ Hoirse) Helen, king oi Axum and Hemer (Himyarl ana
E|yq"n and of Sab'a and of Salhen ind of Tsyamb and of Bega ino oi Kai,
(Kush),
Iiqg qf lcings , . . neverconquered byin enemy . d'v the"power.of
, Se I'ord of All I made war on Noba iNuuia) . . .. I set out by thl fo*Lr;iiii;
' [,ord of the Earth and fought at the Takazi, by the lord of Keinalko . . . . I burnt
i their towns, those with stone houses and thbse with straw huts; and pillaged
t: L
tlop 3 .
their corn and bronze and iron.and-copp{r;.they (his troops) destroyed
the
NEGRO POSITIbN AROUND 35OAD AT IHE TIME OF THE AXUMITE erfigies-in their ho-uses (temples) and ado ahbiistores of corn and
cotton and
lNvAstoN L threw thern into the river Seda. And I reached rhtG;-di;;ili,"r);;ffi;
fgught aird made captive utth" of the rivers Seda and Takazi; and
nqxt I sent my troops .-."onfluence
. on a campaign up the Seda"to trre towns of
119 9"I'
stone and of straw; the names of the towns ofstone aie Aleva
and Daro. ih;;-i
sent troops down the Seda to the fq3. *11ry villages of the
NoUa anO the fing.
The stone towns o-f.the Kas[ (Kushites) which tie Noba took (were)
Tabito,
Fertoti; and they-(his troops) went as far as the Red Noba."

Thi: wa: a report $ Eza1a, the Axumite king, of what acruafly happened
$-uring the course ofpne of the wars berween Aium NA;
peoples of
Kush and the neighbourhood. K-ush w.a-s a9st1o.v"! "il1-h; ;;;t;i
d", p""pi"
"4
scattered in different directions. From this, the biith of Bantu Adica
too[ a big
t't:":-"'-"'-'"i l-e1n
{orward; TheXushite royal-dyn^ti ** captured by these Axumites.
i f.onC ""i
*P,::.i:", q:",lT'rs. elidepe ii
";rt i; a westerry
nioottur
L'chodr,:l=_n{-1 ir,"t
-to region. ran
XU tl olrecuon and ended up in the Darfur For Africa, theiall of Meroe is
l:'"o ,ery significaht, much more so tf,an has been recognised. It would not
::t1111y
to liken it to the effect of the fall of Co-nstantinople or.ai
f.a:t:.qg-:t":i"n
Europe after t453. Arkell gives us a glimpse of this, "We iniir i.om one
inscription and from ruins,ind from t-he tiaditions oi u"riour "anaivine tingOoms
that stretch all tle yay agross the Atlantic, thai after the falloilM"r*,
the,
royal family-that had ruled there fior more than a thousand
a\pay from the Nile . . . and sired many t;il;";;;;;,:
tittt" kil!Ad;;l;;" the
ruler
was divine and the institutions reflected "notfiii
the degenerate E[yptian institutions
Meroe. with them went theknowredgi;i;.;;-;;ring;Jioss
oI
liri"u. on that
ioute, I'ake Chad is something of a- ciiptr"m ]rn"ti"r,"unJ ii ir,pr"uable
that,
once iron-working was known in that area, it was diffused bfi;;;;h;;-;;;
route into Africa, south as well as west of Chad.. (Z)
Indeed, the scatterilg of neighbourc ar a result of a war such as
that between
Axum and Kush
1nd he1 ne_iEhuours is an inevitable i;il;q;";"; of war.rwe
olly need to look to the Natal area during the first three decades of the
'+nineteenth century !9 see what effect the Chika Revolution hrA;;h; ;gi;;
and on southern Africa in general. Those ttrat s"atii;;eeid-;ot
leave their
Efr traditions, mititary. and au,-behind, di1;fiil;;iil;;;"und
influence their nCighbours elsewhere in airi"a This il the significance
were to
of
(---l bclt oround Arkell's words quot6d above in respect of the dispersal of the Kushites
NcArc 350A0 frorn the '
Nile Valley.
Yet whitst the Axumite conquest of Kush and her neighbours betrveen
300 and
350 A.D. affected the course of African hi.a;t, it J'ia stiti n&
create Bantu
Africa. ,Bantu A.fric-a was finally born in tt i"i centuries after 6fi) A.D. and
" Nili
l".re"ly as. a result of another crisis in the same V"n"y:i-h;il;;;;h;i;;
ylo.cal legitimately argue that Kush was christian arorind 300 AD. fi;;;;
q."." gimply not a historical fact. Bbcause rrsn ana-rr;;;ig.ilouo were not
Christian around 300 A.D., the Kushites rrno aispersed froir ihe regio[
a5a
*
l,lap Ii result of the Axumite
:onquest could nevei have been Christian. yet early -
Bantu Africa was christian. This n;**rilv-*;;;";'iri-il"gro"s who
NE6RO POSITION ARq'NO 639A0 JUST BEFME'ITIE MOSLEM created Bantu Africa left Kush tr"t neigtrUourhood aftei tfr"t i"Ilon tr"J
been converied to Christianity. This$9 p"i"B
INVASION OF E6YPT 6anott er crisis as the qause of the
I-'Ieqro diaspora that resulted in the emergence of gantuAlri"".
tfrii ti""f
f ,t: conquest of Egypt and her neigfrbourhood bt rhe M"ri"*, after"rltlt
the
9*th"{ {r: prophet Mohammd..Hardlyla century aneittr" d""tf,
Bantu Africa was virtually in existencl
oiM;il;A;
Mohammed was U91n ir-r-the year 59I A.D. His life history is well documented.
622 was the year of the
{egira; in Q32 h,e died. His most important doctrine for
o_ur purposes was t&at he who dled fdr Allah,'the Arab God, would
enter
Heaven. As a result of this, the members of the new Moslem religion tooiea
upgn themselves as.having a sp_ecial duty, that of conquering n"on-Moslem
ry-glons. and convglil8 tlem to Islam. To phrase it crudlly, tiie followers of ,
Moharimed literaltv-torgtr! to die in order to Heaven and there enjoy all
that Mohammed had promised. The results of"nt"r this new Arab spirit are ptiii; in
a matter of one century after the deaqh of their leader, ttreie Moslims had
:wePtre:ross
all north Africa and, aftei sp"in, southern
"onqririnC
France. lt was during the course of this sweep "tii.["a
that Egypi and her neighbourhood
were stormed Uv
|h9T h-igh-sqirited mernbersof the new religion and i-ncorporated
into the new Arab.Moll-em Empire. About this, one auth6rity states, -It was in -l

$e ygar!39 A.D. that Muslim Arabs appeared on the

By 641' E^evnt had been wrested from ihe Byfntines"rrt"nibora"ii "iBgypii
u ti""ty *ur sifreo
yh"-reby it was incorporated in the new ArabEmpiri. "na rrom rglipt, they-1the
Arabs) moved westwards in a greatsweep of conguest that- was tiuii,igit
il;;
the Atlantic coast of Morocco and across the sia into Spain, Si"ity fnd even
France." !8) As we may remember, they were checked bi d"*f"s Martel in
southern France at the battle of Tours iri ttre year732A.D:, riu"tfy a hundred
years after the death of Mohammed. In the meantime, other Moircm
armies
!w9Pt in other directions, conquering the whole Middle East and penetraringv
India and even China.
That the Moslems were a very disruptive force in north-east Africa can be
glimpsed from the following words fiom Davidson, "From ttre ri*tt i;
th;
fourteenth century Christian Ethiopia disappears from r""o.O"a-nistory in a
welter of war
- w1against the Muslims of t'hL north *u.
the south : and when it emerges once again, it is still "gui*tihe
pagins o1
in these warr
[-Er although at.last with a hopeof iespite." T[is is precisefy wn=y
"ng?g"O
ftAf of turmoil in
f. ......J north-east Africa, and it is almost i certainty that the ru-rmoil after 600 A.D. was
!::.';:::l
lrlrrlref
Areos occupicd nohly by Dzivo-Hungrc pcople caused more by the Moslems than anybody else.
IIIIId The-regions to the south of Egypt were-not left undisturbed by these grear
hrxrrrl itqin Mohitineol oreo { Tongol Moslem conquests. Precisely how-far south of_Egypt Moslem Ara6s penetiated
lrxrrnd
lrrrrd doqs not appear to be clear from records. gii ttle Negro p*pfir in these
Irrtrsr! lloin Soko negion reions, which included Kush and Ethibpia, scattered to:the *,itti una ;;
lrltrrJ
They did so after the beginning of these'Moslem cortquesrs. B;;;;l;;;i
 s
Christian oiigins was almost in existence. By the'year l. 000 A.D., all West
.A,frica ri,as under Negro control and these same Negroes wbre, about the same'
time, crossing the Limpopo River into South Africa. Herts *as Bantu Africa in
the making.
Earlier, I remarked that it was a startling fact that the [Iamites and Negro
peoples rei.nained in the Nile Valley for thousands of years and did nbt spread
to the far corners of Africa in those years.'I suggested that this was because
they multiplied only sloivly and speculated on some of the factors that possibly
accounted for it. We must now be even more impressed by the very rapid
migrations of these same people; only dramatic developments in the'Nile
Valley can account for them. No doubt the most dramatic of these factors was
this Mosiem activity in the Horn of Africa. As a result, the Negro pioples whom
we'today call Bantu covenid thousands of miles in only three or four hundred
years afier the death of Mohammed, to create Bantu Africa. The truth is that
whilst the Negro might have been in.A,frica along the Nile Valley for possible
ten or more millenia up to about the year 600 A.D., Bantu Africa was born in
the fiye hundred years-after that date.
- cHApTEB 3
BANTU MTGRATTONS AFTER 6(x) A.D.
*. . . it looks very much if the ethnic structure of this country (Zimbabwe)
as
seems to be a microcosm of the ethnic structure of Bantu Africa. . . . I can
extend the statement and say that the ethnic structure of Zambia Malawi,
Mozambique or South Africa is a'microcosm of the ethnic structure of the
whole of Bantu Africa."
"Around 900 A.D. when the Mbire started to trek from Mbire in Tanganyika
towards the Zamb6zi River, .there appear to have been only three Bantu
Families, at least in the whole eastern halfof the continent from the Lacustrine
ffi"t[T,::irfff .:3ii:H"",:HHlu,ryBantutribesreaturesoisouthern
Africa only? Were they. originally unrelated before they started the trek
southwards? Might it not be that all the central and west African tribes were
originally part of these tribes that had emerged by 900 A.D.?'
"No doubt what I have dared to put on paper-here is a challenge. It is a
challenge to more than the Shona. It is a challenge to the historians and
anthropologists all over thp continent of Africa. It is a challenge to the scholars
the woild over who are interested in what is happening on thiJcontinent. If the
challenge is taken up, it might mark the beginning of a New History of Africa."
The above statements are my o\vn words quoted from the Appendix of 'frorir
Mutapa to Rhodes". Hardly twelvg months after submitting my manuscript to
Macmillan for publication, I started to discover material that goes a long way
toward$ confirming my observations. The purpose of this chapter is to- produce
this new mhterial and prove the validity of the quotations above. In this
respect, it is the most important chapter in this book and the author hopes that
it will enable historians and anthropologists in the regions of Africa that are not
covered in detail here, to study thir communities aRd fit them into the pattern
that will have emerged by the time we reach the end of this chaptef.
However, before *6 discuss the Bantu indetail, let us briefly look at our two
African groups again, Negro and Bintu. In sFite of my "historical mathematics"
or "ethnographic equations", I ultimately defined the Negroes as those.black
people who migrated away from Kush and its neighbourhood before the region
was conv_erted to Christianity. I then went on to define the Bantu as those black
people who migrated away from the same region, after it had been converted to
Christianity. Lrt me go further and state in plain terms that the origin of the
Negro is also-the origin of the Bantu. The term 'Negro' is no more than a
reference to the complexion of the.A,frican. The term'Bantu'is no more than a
reference to the languages spoken by the same black people. those who left the
region of their origin after certain cultural developments had taken place. One
of these was certainly in the field of religion; one-was language; the-other was
iron technology. The result was that those who filtered out of the Nile Valley
early, either had no iron technology or, if they left after the beginning of the
frrst Christian century, understood merellr the rudiments of early iron technolqgy:
/'
 e.
r
.lh"y never became Christian; their language was differentGcaure the Kushitic
'language
had not yet developed to wfiatIt *aqarounJ ooo A.D:Because the
distinguishing-hctor, by bonvention, between the Negroes arrd tf,i g"niu
f?in
is languagg' y9 cannot ignore these developments in Kuitritic culture in the
centuries befcire the-great Bantu migration'which we can term "The g'antu
Explqsion " _
What I am saying is that African migrations away from the Nile Valley did take
place before the advent of Christia[ity in the VL[ey, s a result of tfie factors
wc have considered above mainly those I referred to as crises; that it should
-.
if alchaeologisti
lol be
-surprislng found evidence of Negio ;";6;ti", ;
isolated sites in parts
o[.A,frica outside the Nile Valley beforE 300 A.D. or even
before 100 A.D.; that such sites wo-uld repre_sent the occupation of the areas by
the Africans whom we are here calling th-e Negroes; that these isolated pockets
of Negro peoples did not go far enough both'i;the direction of West Afiica and
Southern Africa, nor were they dense enough, to enable us to talk of "the
continent of Negro Afpica" by the year 400 A.O.
;B"ntu Explosion"
Yhgn th" ,r"ri"d s<ion after the death of Mohammed, the
black Regpl-e we describe as Negro were propelled far into West Africa and
southern Africa by the Bantu migrants fi.", Kush and her n"ijnbourhood.
M|Iv of them muit have been abio{e-d by the new, culturalty and
militarily and numerically stronger African migrants we call B'intu. "in"n""d
These are
likely to have lost their identity-altogether. Otf,ers, especiaity in W".t africa,
managed to maintain threads of their pre-Bantu culturL and even appdarance.
These are the--pople identified by thi anthrop.ologists in West Atiit" as..the
tru-e'Negro9s." From.an ethnic point of view therelore, there is essentiiily no
difference between these two gioups. From cultural iinguistic points of view,
there is a differe.nce. To
1"p"ul, the Bantu are Negroes but the "true Negroes';
are not Bantu since the teim 6"ntu implies a particular culture of which of
course' languagg is an aspect. The faci that the phck people termed "true
{egroes" are such a small minority in Africa south of the Sahaia today rugg"rt"
that the numbers of the Negroes who filtered out of the Nile Valley tietofi Ure
gre{ Bantu Explosion of t[e period after 600 A.D- ;;.; r"rar[ fi is seems to
confirm my-earlier argument that the original Hamites and Negroes multiplied
rather.slowly.
It has been necessary to cast our eyes at the "Negroes" and Bantu inimediately
b9f9re corningto the_great Bantu migration to set the stage fora consideratioii
of these migrations: S^o_T9 may ask, "What became the fail of the Negroes attii
the Bantu plplo$-ogr! why_is it that'we do notseem to havd "true l{"gro"r"'in
southern-Africa?" I hope I have clarified the position with regard-to these
related questions
What was the structure of the Bantu at the point of the Great Explosion? This is
a crucial question and our ability to clarify the origlns of the daniu and their
civilization at the point of the Great Explosion depends on its answer. Look
again at the first two quotations at the beginning of this chapter. The second
'
one of these makes it clear that there were three Bantu Families in all eastern
Africa flom the Great East African Lakes to at least the Limpopo around the
year 900 A.D. From now onwards, I shall call these three, Great African
Families'The Great Bantu Families'. Indeed there is now evidence t" frori
that all Bantu Africa is populated by no inore than segments of these threq
Great Bantu Families. This chapter is intended to produce thdt evidence.
The thir$ quotation.at the start of this chaptgr asks,."Are.these three early
Bantu tribes features of southern Africa only? Were they originally unrelatei
pefore thgy started the treksouthwards?" Hdre again, to hand makes
"rid"nJr
it clear that the threi Gre.at Bantu Tribes descended from u
"ornron;;;;;
eithdr in the present day Sudan Republic or in Egygt. Considering that the
three tribes migrated_from the same corner of AfriCi ind the great slmihrities
in culture between the present day Bantu communities ali 5ve.r Africa, this
. conclusion should not come ut u
ju.prlse. The Bantu people all over Africa
Pqin! to the north-east as their originalhome. As most of these Bantu people
left this home at least a thousand years ago, we cannot ignore these claims. In
any case, these claims are strongly suppoited by commoi cultural traits which
have survived everywhere to this day. The problem facing the historian and
anthropologist has not been that they have not recogniJed these common
elements or that they did not think that these peo[le might have come
originally flom north--east Africa. It has simply beLn that thJy did not have
outrightevidencetoformulateadbfiniteconc[usion.
,,i
That all Eastern Africa, from the Great Lakes to at least the Limpopo, was
occupied by members of three Bantu Families around the year I Cim'A.O. is
indisputable. That all Africa south of the ZambeziRiver is roday ciccupied only
$ by segments of these three Great Families is indisputable too. I wouldgo so far
as-!o state categorically that the the multiplicity of Bantu communities so..
called tribes - in Africa south of the.Zambeii can still all be traced to - the
original t!I9 Great Bantu Tribes. That segments of these three Great Families
are identifiable in West Africa thousdnds of miles away and more than a
thousand years after parting'with their cousins in soutiern Africa, is.also
leyond doubt. To prove the validity of these statempnts is the major dxercise of
this chapter.
Flut nelv proceed to the identification of the three Grear Bantu Famities or
Tribes. The first of them to cross the Zambezi River and to settle in Zimbabwe
was the Dztva/Hunqye Tribe which identified itself with water andaquatic
anirnalsan$ plants.
-Dzivai
means "pool" in Shona; "HungwJ' rn"un, the fish
eagle which also identifies itself with water. Because m6mbers of the tribe
associated themselves with water and aquatic animals and plants, they were
, referred to as "The Masters of the watei" during the early, days.
. The second one of these Great Bantu Families to leave th'e area of the Griat
East-African Lakes was the Toriga Family. By 900 A.D. members ottt ir tribe
occupied the larger part of eastern Zambia and the region to the west of Lake
 I
Malawi. It iJ nossible that it was th.9V who had pushed the. Dziv.a/Hungwe Mop 5 ./
Tribe ,,
across theZambezi River. This tribe was unique in that it *"r *uirilineal.
The
other. two were partr_ilinell.T!:.-yain distinguishing t"uturi oi ;-t;T;il; MOSLEFT NVASION OF E6YPT AROUND 64OAD ANO CONSEOUENCES
Family was therefore MATRILINY._ : ON THE BANTU BY 800A0 r
The third of the Great Bantu Tribes to leave the area of the East Africad
Great
lakes was the s.okg Family. The segment of this Famitlir;i- t."kil;-;
southern Africa had descended frorn-Ma-mbtri and for ttris reason,
-i;;;;
referred to as the MBIRE TRIBE. For the same reason, it called the
district q
th.{ i-t ocgupr{ in
]angqn-yika, MBIRE. Its distinguishing feature * "urro"iation
a
!.\

rvith land and land animhls." For thisreason, a[Its."ribri. *i." r"trrred 'iIti
IThe Masters of the l-and" or "The Masrers qt rt to as i'
5"1j.;;;;;se ttre Dziva-
"
Hungwg Flmily associated itself with water,-iti memUers tabooed fish and did
}l;,

not eat it; they were mainly hunters and farmers. Because the s"k" F-;;iry;;;
associated with land, members of this Family tabooed funA uri.als and
ate
fish. For this reasol, th"J were mainly a fisher-folk, ;lo;;t uir""iut"d
with i
rivers and river valleys. fo enable them to hunt, they asso;iareJ;he-;;"h;; ;,)
ri
with the baboon and-monkey and ro this ouv, iir"v hold these r"i*;i;;';; {f
-but
sacred.
{ny oth.gr animal, they hunted and khled, they *"r" 6r"ntially a
fisher-folk initially
Our original three Great Bantu Tribes therefore consisted of the Dziva- r,

Hungwe Family which was associated with warer aqd which held the fish
to be a
sacred animal and for that reason avoided fishing; the Tongu fa*iiy
which was
Matrilineal; the solo Family which associated ii"self with lino ;A lil;;;il;;
and was mainly a fisher-fotft. rnis order is-important for it *as e*actly
in this
game order that these Great Tribes came from the
north to the south. It also
l3okl.very much as if this is the same order in which rcgr"ni;ltin.r" Great e
Families occupied West Africa. $

To this day'- all.of southern Africa is populated by segments of these three

Great Families. However, as I am going tb show, two communities .ai.;;i;;
origins werg created in southern a-trici'as a result of-(he intrusion of foreign
elements of non-African origins. But these two new families also have
cousins
all overAfrica, because the ioreign elements from which rhrtilr;ended
were
not only a feature of southern Afiica. This is a reference to the descendants
of rEY
the ArabsorMoors.und Portuguse. Thissriid, we now need to prove that at
+9
least one whole region of Africa ispopulated
-entirely by r"g."niJof the three l{clen invotion -lincs
Great Bantu Tribes above. We wilithen pro-cied to anutyre"briefly the foreign ----.-+
elements amongst them. From there, we will move to West - Soko drrcrtion lincs
Africalnd observe --- ->
the situation in that region.
Dzivo drsortion llnes
't
'-.".--"-.-..>
" Tongo dcmrtion linrr
Eoch group stornrd thr onr ohcod of it ond in thot uoy Gouscd ovoloche
.on
 TIIE SHONA ; CASE STLTDY
_.:,r
I Mutapa invasion. They became confined to the hot, dry and semi-tsetse ridden
;ilil"h as thi ti111popo Valley and the Chipinga-Melsetter are.". As a
result,'
It is my study of the Shona Community of Zimbabwe ihat enabled me to lost its iintis with the southern
unearth this history. I saw an interesting pattern among thern. One of their it n"rttrern r"g*"ni of ttr" Family seg,iment

most outstanding features is the presence amongst'them of three distinct ethnic ,j.
" +

,rii-
grdups, gagh easily identifidble. After discovering this, I went on to ask myself All the members of this Family associated themselves with water and were the
' ;il;;; oiifr" Water." For iheir totem, they selected Dziva'(Pool) and for
whether or not th-ese three distinct ethnic groups \ryere features of this country-
only.'I was excited to discove.r elements of ail three groups in other regions of'
_ff their tribal name, ihey picked on "Hungwe" (the fish eagle) which.is elosely
Africa. The result of that interest and excitement.is this book associated with watei(ihe pool). Thisis ryhy I refer to them,as"the Dziva-
of
ffi il;g*" peopte. att"t it invasion oI-the tvlutapr-s,.the soutlt"P segment
The lhlva -'Hungwe Famlly "
ffi, it Fu*iiy ritit into u rirultipticity
of branches. This marked th9 l=ry:"I:
Those interested in the details of Shona history shoutd read my "From Mutapa flI "
Sig*"nt"lion and fragmentaiibn of the Families into branches that were to end
to Rhodes, I 000 A.D. to 1890." Here, I am only going to pick out the main , uf,int"t-marrying, as-if they had not been related before.
$.
points that are directly relevant. The first Bantu group to occupy this country r, . In spite of this segmentation and fragmentation, they stuck.to their'nlajrcr
was the Dziva-Hungwe Family which did so somewhere between 700 and 800 'printiple-associatiSn with water. To this day-,'t!"y still.associate themselves
#l
A.D. as mentioned above. These Dziva-Hungwe people associat'ed themselves 'It' ilittr riut"r and this is why I was able to identify-them. Admittedly, as I showed
with water and aquatic animals and plants and stiltdo so today. They descended
,I'.
..From t tut"pa to Rhohes,': one or two branches, such a's the Mtoko Shumba
#, in
have
from a man called Dzivaguru (Great Pool) and his son, Karuva. Whether these tv
iliy";;;ilu aV[^tV and its segment, the Makoni Nyati phd.nry dynasty,But
two men were still alive by the time their descendants crossed the Zarhbezi if": . dJparted froni this principle arid picleg on land animals for their totems. 1!
River into this country is not clear. But both Diivaguru and Karuva operate is $'l;' least 90% of.the bianches of 'the Dziva-Hungwe Family in this country still
associate themselves with water and aquatic animals. Considerilg that
.the greatest ancestral spirits of the Dziva-Hungwe Family in this country to this ,!.,
they
day. They have always operated in the Mount Darwin and Zambezi Valley i,,
have been in iriir counfry since at leist the year 800 A.-D. this is indeed
i
areas of Zimbabwe. That is the first region of Dziva-Hungwe occupation in this
,,.,
remarkable.arideasity O"ronstrates the rigidity and tenacrty of African ffaditions
country. We cannot sqy precisely when these people crossed the Zambezi and customs.
River; we need the assistance of the archaeologists in this matter. But by the li,
year 800 A.D., they centainly se.gm to have arrived. ri What happened after the Mutapa invasion was that most members of this
s,
t,.
F;ily 3[f""ila aim"rent aquatit animals and plants fo1 theilthattotems. had
Each
chosen
The Family then broke into two segments. One segment remained in the .4,
C-
brancir started io look uponitself as different from the-others
Zambezi Valley; in this area also remained the great Dziva-Hungwe ancestral t: different aquatic animali and plants. This facilitated inter-marriagg between
spirits, Dzivaguru and Karuva. The second segment that descended from it
tff toi tt "y started to look upon themselves as alien to remind each other. One grogp
Saruvimbi or Ruvimbi drifted further to the south along eastern Zimbabwe and pi"f.ia *i" ffuniwe (fish eiglel mly the reader that
t^
"n !o1it9totem.I Great Zimlabw.e
Mozambique. Around the year I 000 A.D. the Famity was invaded by a more [t Hrrg*e bird isitre Zimbabile Bird which was depicted at
" powerful and highly-structured Bantu group that was to create the Mutapa "
6y-tn" frfrtupuiio r"p*eientDziva-Hungwe presenc6 in this country and Dziva-
Empire. The invasion took place across the Zambezi River from the north- '^ii
rri
Hungw" preceden"i on", the Mbire Mutlpas. In this way, ,,hi:_qltli":l"l
eastern corner of the country. The result was that the Dziva-Hungwe segment t.- 'branfh started to identify itself with the fish eagle and looked--uqon it T a
still in the Mount Darwin and Zambezi Valley region was cornered therg and *. sacred animai. To this iuy, ,".bers of this'branch still call'thomselves
was pushed further upsEeam. Its southern segment under Saruvimbi was ?r
H;rg*e and many of them use this as their surname" -. - ,

drig:n further to the south and, in due course, segments of it were pushed
t', ,

Slr
I stated that, originally, the whole Dziva-Hungye Family.did not eat fish
across the Limpopo into South Africa and to the west into Botswana. We shall when this
analyse this in greater detail when we come to consider Botswana and South because of their aisociatiorr with the Pool, the habitat of the fish. But
;6;tation and irugrngnlation set in, only those who picked on the fish fbr.
Africa. -did
;h;illoti* tuUob"O fire fish and therefore not eat it. The other branches
.Apart from the Dziva-Hungwe segment bottled up in the Zambezi Valley, , started to taboo tt uqu"ii" and plants they-ch99e for thgir t91eqs' In
pockets of the Southern segment under Saruvimbi remained in the southern
r "
this country today, o," hun" "ni.uf.
a big segmeni of the Diiva-Hunqwe FlTitV whory
andsouth-eastern.regions of thiscountry. In other words, the southern segment
f| ;;6ir ilve tfiitil and who stil-l taboo the fish because to them, it is a sacred
'
of this Family was not all driven by the Mutapas into South' Africa and Many members of this branch still use "Hove" for their surname to this
Botswana. The distridution qf thqfe remaining pockets was determined by the "ni*ul.
day.

28
 a
. The.third important--s-egqgnt of the Dziva-Hungwe Family or" to identify
"t
itself with the crocodile. They too, hold this repiile to tle a'sacred anin1"f ani
do not normally kill or even touch it. Tho'se in tvtatmelelarid and who were
Ndebelized call it the Ngwenya or Kwena. They are members of the same
Dziva'Hungwe Tribe. Again, many of them use ihis for.their surname to this
day. Like all the others, it is a.totem and not the name of an ancestor.
Jhgjoulh-s-qgment retained the original all-encompassing totem, Dziva(pool). *
In Matabeleldnd, they call themselves Siziba which simflly means Dziva. The
fifth segmenr chose io identify itself with the hippo. ffiJ;;;t; ;l ;hi;
segment are in the Chipinga
T_ea. Because this regibn was subjected to Shangaan
influences after thp t 820s, this segment Shanga-nized its toi"* to Mlambl A
branch'of this segment which is also in the saire area chose to associateE"li
'
Yith reeds (tsanga). Because it too was subjected to Shangaan influences, it
Shanganized is totem and.became-Mhlanga. we have .iny-pi;pi; il;iri,
country who use these names Mlambo and Mhhnga as surnames. ttr"y are not
names of ancestors but totdms.
B":?ury-H.ungve is a bird, one segment of the Dziva-Hungwe Tribe chose to
cllt itself simply Shiri (bird). This I a reference to the fish Jagle, But branches
thlt segment went further to ideltQ themselves with other Eirar, particularly
"J
the dove, and hold it to be sacred. This is not associated with o,ater and wh|
they clfose it is not clear.
This completesour alnalysis of the Dziva-H-ungwe segments in this country. All
*-9t" f8ments toge ther constitute about t0%-of the fiopulation tfrf
lvhy tftey are such a small minority yl,"n they were'the not "tt" occupy
"o,int.l.
il;e
gouTlr{ f easy to explain. They wgri driven beyond the borders of the c&",ry
!v tne Mutapas whop we ary going to analyie shortly. In South Africa and
Botswana, they constitute no less ttran 902" ofitre Bantu pofri"ti"n ih;;;:Thi,
should notjyrprise us since thesewere the regions to,rliich tn"in"a after thi
invasion of the Mutapas around the year I 0m A,D. ror our-iui*" prrpd;;
tonote is that ihe segments of this E;ilt h;vi a sleciai
*l31y*nt.R9jnt 4l
identity'association with water. Thus it urould not be out of place to&y to
continue to call them'The Masters of the Water."
THE TONGA FAMITY 3 mentions the Tonga and "boasts"-that they (the Mbire) were to the Tonga'!a
The second of the three Great Bantu Tribes to leave the area
African Great- Lakei for the south was the Tonga ramily. M*t 9f the East
of their
ggmbers did not cross the zambezi River into Zimuaur"i H;;;;
"i;li
zim.bapwe, they constitute hardly 2o/o of the Afric; p"dLttdtiil-E;
partly
-bg"ryry bL the time the Mutapa invaders crossed the Zambezi River
gougd 1 000 A.D.,-pnly a few pocl,ets of them*liird the
ZarbeziRiver. Furthermore, as tlie descendants of th;-Mrt"p#
"tr""ayrpr*a
"rossed
north from the south,jhul drove many segments of this Td;; Thbe back to
to tne
the north across the Zambezi R!9r. to ifiis day, the m"irr;T oi tn"* have
been confrned to rho zambezivalliy, fro''' ,"#nr"*i""to ft;i, Dam.
Those of them who had crossed the Zambezi River by I 000 A.D., and were in
the northast, were driyen further south along the coast and were to end up
along the lower reaches of the Sabi River,largely in present-day Mozambique.
t:q
In due course, some of them filtered into Zimbabwd through the south-eastern
I
corner and are in the Nuanetsi-Chiredzi area. Although some of them are still
trr
kr
.
called Tonga today, other segments are called Tsonga and Hlengwe in this
country. A few of them filtered back into the Bikita area of the Masvingo
region.
Right in the centre of the Shona world in the Chegirtu area, we find another'
segment of the Tongapeople. These were originally ruled by Ngezi who, after
Chimurenga in 1897, lost his chieftainship:1e Mupawose who is also Tonga.
Because this segment is right in the heart of the Shona, it was Shonarized and
has become patrilineal.
In the Tonga community, the head of the family was the mother ind not the
father. When a man married, he moved to the hbme of his wife. The children
did not belong to him but to the wife. If a chief died, the chieftainship was
inherited not by his son or brother but by his sister's son. In the early days, it
was more comrhon to find women in Tonga society being the rulers than men.
'
Indeed, the Tonga community was a society dominated by women rather than
by men. The main distinguishing feature of the Tonga Family was therefore
MATRILINY and this is important for our future purp6ses
Although these Tongas constitute a very small percentage of the Bantu people
in this codntry, it is important to note their presence. The fact that they are a
small minority in Zimbabwe does not mean that they aire a small minority
Around 900 A.D., the Tonga Tribe occupied the region between the Zamben
and Lake Tanganyika. By then, the Dziva-Hungwe Tribe.was already south of
'
the Zambezi. The Mbire Soko Family, ruled by Nembire, that invaded the
Dziva-Hungwe Family is the samc tribe that invaded the Tonga.who then
occupied the area west of Lake Malawi. The Mbire Soko group talks of thp"
Tonga as its rival tribe north of the Zambezi.In'"Erom Mutapa to Rhodes" I
produced one of the oldest Mbire Soko traditional tunes that specifically
lion that devours h-uman beings." These Tonga people were driven to the south
towards the Zambezi by the Mbire Soko Family. But they did not cross the
river into Zimbabwe and it looks as if the Dziva-Hungwe Family was the barrier
to them. Instead, they diverted to the west up the Zamba.River, where the
malrrity of them are still fgund today in ZamVa. I added that the present
distribution of the Tonga people was very much determined by this Mbire
. Soko invasion. The important point to note here is that the DzivrHungwe
' people were the vanguard of the Greaf Bantu migrations fiom the north to the
south; the Tonga urere immediately behind them but largely still north of the
t, Zarrtbezi River; the Mbire Soko were the rearguard further north and behind
the Tonga. This sequence is important.
 '
TrrE rlrBqE soKo FAMTLY
- is.not clear w.high of the ancestorsof this tribe left Kush for Ethior" ;
ffit ft"
ihupt", I of "From Mutapa to Rhodes" is concerned solely-#,ii" with the Dziva- occ-upied qSrt of
ffi . could
ITF l(gly", it claimed that it had come from eirriopia. lt
H_unqry"J,"."ple.
The rest of the book is almost iihly
.tsamily. This is because about 857o of the people inthis
t t tuir" soko Si''- have been Mambiri himself who led it into Ethiopia;
' lor"3
perhaps ii
was
rug*L"ti.i (Qyela), his son, the fattrer of Muienga; it could evbn be an ancestor of
' this
Mbire Soko Family. r$ "ornt.y "."
being the tase, it is superflu&r ;; discuss this
,"i-
Mambiri. The movement from Kush to the ZimbeziRiver was ceftainty'rapia.
f1milv hgre in great-deiai[. The reaier is theret"."
lt he needs greater detail than is provided here on this Tribe
i.i"rr"eilil; above book- It took the tribe no morq than a qellury to trek from Mbire in fanganyika to
r. the point of crossing the zambezi Rivei around the year I 000 A.D.
The Mbire Soko was highly structured and geared towards war. Because In GURUUSWA, between Lake Malawi and eastern Zambia, the Mbire Soko
of this, it found itlamily
easy to overwhelm both ttre i6nga ;"J ;h; D;i;;-d;g*; tribe decided to sever blood relations between the major ftousis in order to
Families on its y3y ftom the Great l-akes to the 6uth. Ed"aly, facilitate inter-marriapg between thim. The tribe was exogamous and is still so
its religous
s-rEm wasalso highly structured and through it we have bein to unearth to this-day. Foreign elements were too few for inter-riarriage. yet for its
the history o( this country and important aspects of the Bantu "bl" strength and security, i-t had to Brow: To make sure that it conilnued to grow,
in-general.
Those who read the book alluded to abovemay remember that the founding the process of "Kucheka ukami" (ritual severing of blood relationshipfr r"*
ancestor of this Tribe was Murenga from whom our word conducted betweep the major"Houses of the tribE. A district was allocatid to
"Climurenga,'*uI
derived. This man trekked from K;;tGt u"ior" g00;il. with his
each such Hotrse. This was done at a place which wasgiven the name GOVANWA
in Guruuswa and this means "a placL of partition." Fiom thfu place, Chaminukal
descendants and followers in Tangailyika jusfto
The Soko tribe he founded there was ialted rurui.e
i[;;;-.f "id.",,r"d
L"k;T"rdrtii;. Mushavatu and their descendants movLd to the south of Lake Mahwi. It was
grandfather who was called Mamblrl. As a result "ttlr
itl-nri"JorMurenga,s ' from here that theil childre.n,- hea{ed tr k;;;;-;"k ,
of this tn" airtrict that was ri"ing son of
pccupied by.this tribe Chaminuka, crossed the Zambezi River around I OOO a.O., "i[ito establish the
in Tanganyika was also
ancestor. This then marked the biith in Africa of "uir.J
iur6i;"-;fi;. the same l', Mutapa Empire with'Kutamidzoka himself as Mutap" i. ih" ;iiie of their chief,
was only a segment of the Great soko Family that
the Mbire S"f,o iriilJffi;; . was still Nembire and remained so foJ ut least thti neit five hundred ygars. They
naa emeijed in Kush
called their new country MBIRE after their ancestor Mambiri an"d their first
Because this particular Soko segment descended from district in Tanganyika.
Mambiri and
it ehose to cail both itself and its"new district in T;;;;;,t'k;:'Nfiile, because
Murenga From this point_ on, the history of this country is largely confined to the
its founding ancestor and_p-aramount chief
!ir"n;diiti; liEiligrnp which descendants of Chaminuka and Mushavatu. Th6 childrin of Runli, the eldir
meaht "owner or ruler of Mbire."From th;;;:;ii;i,il;;;iii
","r
tribe both north and south of the ZambeziRiver were called Nembire.
irr"o of this brother of these men, w-ere amongst them. The Ven{a people of tire southern
Around
900 A.D., the tribe started -to trek- out of,Tanganyika to*"ra, ir, e Zambezi )art of this country and the northErn Transvaal arddescendants of Runji.
reader shguld note that after the severance'of blood relations at Govanwa
it i
River. It was then under the leadership orchaminuka, the
inherited the title Nembire. For a time it established itself to
*";fM;;;!i.[f,; north of the Zambezi River, only a segment of the Mbire Soko Triberroqr"d
the west of Lake theZambezi into thiscounlry t9 foundihe Mutapa Empire. The other r.g-intt
M$ay1i1t-3-.9-ql":-of tall grass and rathe. t"tii""s which for
this reason was remained to the north of the rivei.
called GURUUSWA..It in this area ihat tho triu" .onni"t"d with
.was largely
Toq$ people, most of whom it d'rove to the west up theZamb"rinir"..
These The question is, where are the descendants of those segments that remained to
conflicts are enshrined iu one of the greatest ana oth"rist
"vana vaPfumojena" (the children oi Mr. pfum.i"ii"i. "n"
;;;;;; ;;iffi
pli;;;""
the north of the Zimbezi? We have discussed Muren[a, Tovera and Mambiri

because he is thought to haue porr"rJ"A ,iiinin!

was the T thdgreatest known founding ancestors of this MbirE Soko f.iUe; *trereOiJ
their cousins remain and where did their descendantsspread to? We shall look
1?.::,9:::,.:.yyr9nga
sllvery sPear which,he " of the
! fi{ to have cap-tured from the arabs in one
e9qflic.ts between the Mbire Soko and thi Arabs somewhere
into this when we move from southern Africa to
the Zambezi River.. "onrii"i
it r r"gi";;-;;;;h;i
e
to the north-east
:jl"gnyika. It was no doubt these conflicts *itrr tne Arabs which drove the
trlbe further south. In turn the Mbire Soko tribe drove away So then, around I 000 A.D., a'segmeirt of the Mbire Soko people invaaeO ttris
ttrose who were countryfrom the north-east across the Zambezi River. They found it occupied
already to the south of it and these were both the Tonga and the Dziva-Hungwe
by members of the Dziva-Hungwe Family who had been there for at least two
Families. In this.wry,. conflicts with Araut in tt
avalanche in Africa which resulted in "
;;;rh;;;.;;r"d a virtual- r 'hundred yqary. These'people were scaitered in small pockets all over tlle
$e occupation *rr"l-e?ntinent by northern, north-eastern and eastern sectors of this country, and in Mozambique.
segments of the three original'Great Banr,
- ffiUi, in"iit "
a matter of three to four Bythe year I 000 A.D., they had spread to the south ajfar as Zimbabwe Hill
hundred years. ,. and possibly even as far as the Umpopo River. They were a sedentary agricultural,
 .
pastoral and hunting community. They had been here ior quite a time withbirt
dangel from any quarter. The result was that they were loosely organised and
complacent by-thl time the Mbire Soko arrived. As we r"* eirtier,. these
invaders were a.highly structured community geared towards war. So the
Dziva-Hungwe peopte were an easy prey to thl iirvaders who harassed them,
capturing their property, young women-and young men. Fgr this reason, the
invaders won from them the name VATAPl-(thetaptore and enslavers) and,.
Qgrl pqamount chief was of course, the chief MUTAPA. In this way, thg'
Mbire Soko invasion marked the genesis of the Mbire Mutapa Empire.-
The Dziva-Hupgwe people ran away towards the south where we shall meet
their descendants in South Africa very shortly. Some of them diverted towards
the west and were driven further west into present-day Botswana where again
we shall comeacross their descendants shortly. This Mbire Soko invasion [hus
converted the country into an almost entirely Soko country. As was made very
clear irl "From Mutapa to Rhodes," no less than 85% of the:African population
of Zimbabwe today consists of descendants of the Mbire Soko invaders.
Giadually, they spiead their tentacles further south and west and splead into
the northern Transvaal and western Botswana. The whole of Mozambique
south of the Zambrlzi was an integral part of the new Empire. To this diy,
Mozambique south of the Zambezi and Zimbabwe are largely a Mbire Solio
sector, in the sense that the overwhelming majority of their citizens are
descendants of the Mbire Soko Murapas.
Of course a few pockets of the Dziva-Hungwe complex remained north of the
U-popo River and their descendants aie still there to this day. The few
Tongas who had crossed the Zambezi by the time of the invasion were 4lso
driven to the south. We have come across pockets of the Tonga-Tso-nga-
Hle-ngwe complex in the south east of this countri already. A few of them
spilled into South Affica.
We have so far not discussed the distinguishing features of the Great Soko
Family, oJ which the Mbire Soko who trekked to the south were oirly a
segment. Like the Dziva-Hungwe Family, the Soko Family was patrilineal. ilut
whilst-Jhs pziva-Hungwe complex was associated with water and aquatic
animals, the Soko complex was associated with land and land animaG and
plants. Whilst the Dziva-Hungwe people were the "Masters of the Water," the
Soko people were the "Masters of the Iand;" Whilst the Dziva-Hungwe people
were a-n agricultural, pastoral and hunting community, the Soko pEopll o,ire
*
an agricultural, pastoral and largely fishing community. The Dziva-Hungwe
people tabooed the fish because they were associated with water; the Soko
people ate the fish because fhey were associated with the land.
We have seen the Dziva-Hungwepeople selecting all their totems from animals
or. itgms that associate closely with water. The Soko people picked andt
continue to pick their totems from animals or things closely associated with
bnd. !V virtue of this, they are easily distinguishable from th-e members of the
Dziva'Hungwe complex. We cannot confuse them with the Tonga either
because these latter are matrilineal whilst the Sokos are patrilineal. Therefore,
if one comes across anybody in Zimbabwg whose toterir is a land animal or an
item associated with land, one can pretty well be sure that that person is a
mernber of the invading Mbire Soko group. \
There is a big clan'in this country whose totem is stilt Soko to this day. Soko
(Tsoko or Shoko) is a monkey which of course is closely associated $rith land.
These people however associaie themselves more with the the baboon than
with the monkey. One can easily tell this from their praise-names such as
Mukanya (a reference to the proud deportment of.the Baboon), Mahomuhomu
(the noise made by the big male baboon), Mushongaenemawere (he who
associates with high and steep rocks or mountains). It is generally agreed that
way back in Kush, their real totem was Gudo or Bveni (baboon). But it was
thought that it did not sound nice to be referred to as baboon and they picked
on a "muzukuru" (a nephew) of the baboon and this was the Monkey and so
called themselves Soko.
The second segment to emerge from the Mbire Soko group was the Shava
family ddscending from Mushavatu, the young brother of Chamirfuka. It
picked for its totem the "Iv1hofu" which is the eland. The third segment was the
Moyo Chirandu group which originated.around 1380. Chiranduls a reference
to cattle and this is why, in Matabeleland, members of this segment are c4lled
Nkomo, which means cattle.
In the Changanized Chipinga area, they are called Sithole and fhis again means
cattle. The fourth segment was the'Humba group which is almost entirely in
Mozambique today. Humba, Honde or Nguruve means 'pig'. By thb year 15CI
A.D., the Mbire Soko Family had segmented into these four. As I demonstrated
in "From Mutapa to Rhodes" all the multiplicity of the so-called ribes in thiS
countri can be traced back to one or the other of these four segments unless
they are not members of the Mbire Soko Family. The multiplicity includes the
Tembos (Zebra), the Shurnbas (Lion), the Ngaras (Pprcupine), the Nzous
(Elephant), the Nharis (Giraffe), the Gwais (Sheep) and several others mentioned
J:i in the above book.
#.:
tr.
The inteiesting thing is that, consciou$iy o, unconsciously, all of them picked
,lil)'
d,l
on land animals for their totems,. By virtue of this, they still associate closely
ff
,'t with the land, .for they are segments of "The Master of the Land." I have not
-f found a single segment of this family that has associated itself with water in any
way. I have found only one Dziva.Hungwe segment (the Mtoko Shimba
,:t..
Nyamuziwa dynasty) that.has chosen tb associate itself with land. But this is
insignificant when compared to the vast numbers that have continued to
associate with water. Considering that.the-Dziva-Hungwe Family has been in
,; the region south of the Zambezi for well over a thouiand years and that the
., - Mbire Soko group has beenhere for a thousand years, it is indeed remarkable
that the dividing line between them has been maintained to this day. \fferd it
not for this, I would never have been able to detect that the multiplicity of
communities in.this country belonged to three original different ethnic groups.
 a
One can now easily appreciate the enormoys significance of the age-old
3r"1n The descendants of thp second wife elected to be the ownbrs of the water and
system to which we have paid scant attention.-If the totemic system
regio-ns of Africa is as strdng as it is south of the zui1erifiuo,Ttr"re
in other
!"g1n to associate themselves with water and ;;i."il They went -

problem in reducing all the Bantu. tribes to the original ttrrl" Ci"|f
will be no
Fa4ilies.
il;;
We are now in a position to tackle one of the malrr questions posed
above:-
Were these'three Great Bantu Families unrelated before?'By the time I
subrnitted "From Mutapa to'Rhodes" to the pttblishers,thad n*nr*"r
to this
'question and this is made clear in the "Appendix."'But since their, I d;;
discovered more information. It is this n"*i1rfo.-ation that has emboldened
me to write this-particular book. Quite upuri"fro* very useful
documents which concdrn other r"!ionr, ii panicular"orning;;..*
West Africa, that suoport
py qrguments, I have had two opportunitiis of qhatting.with chamil;fi;;;
his Christian prophet (to be diicuss:{ il g_reater aetiit una"r
whose African name I now know; this is lvcauzA or NGAwusA.
tt i;;r;ril;j
Thi;
prophet is of course much older than Chaminuka. He is Chaminuka's
shavi,
(foreign pirit rvith special_skills) because the first t u-"n
' U"ing he- i;ei
possessed was Chaminuka. From then on, the two became
closely Issociated
and they possess the same medium. The fact that his fi^r;;iu.-*rJCh"r"il;k;
means that he died long bef91e Chaminuka. It is possible that the died even
before Chaminukarvas forrf;o.igin, who diJ
!or1, !'{Sguza was a Christian
his missionary work in the Nile-Vall"y ,-"nI u ,"gm"nt"f of ihe Bantu people.
The ancestors of the Mbire Soko p"opte wer:e part"of tlrui r"j*"nt. No
doubt
he lived there very much like an Atriian and tiris must bt *fth" went
to the
extenl of takingup a medium after his death and in the Afiican **-unity;
he
knew what was happening.all around that community. ri ir r"rv ril."ry
it ii t
wasabletowritetoo,butinwhatscript,Idonotyetki,o*.,
According to-both Chaminuka and Ngauza, the greatest ancestorof the Bantu
in the Nile Valley, had three wives.-The.seni6r wife had several sons and
daughters; the second wife also had sons and daugtrte.s; trii tt i.a wife had
daughtef The name of this ancestor, we can oniy gues at trom a""urn"ntt
9n!y.
and this I shall do later. This ancestor ;p-th" N1; i[r;
-"Bantu-Fimiiy?riGd
and settled on its own in its owri regi;;. i; aio ,6t have foreign elemenrs
"4u"ii" arid this ivas tire fish.-
further to pick on a special aquatic animal for theirlotem
'From then on, they started to tdboo the fish and became hunters. The
Sokos
Igre the fish eaters. -Although they also hunted, they looked upon both the
baboon and the monkey as sacred animals and tabooed them. liecause these
descendants of the second wifeassociated themselves with water, they ieferred
to themselves as the Dziva Famity and Dziva means Pool of water. Bui of all the
animals that lived in watOr, they iabooed only the fish initiaily with which they
had electefto identi! themselvg!. As this bziva,Family gi"*, oo" *g."rrt
chose to identify itsqlf oviqh the fish eagle (Hungive) ariO-so became bziva-
Hungwe. Ilwas i Uranctr of this particulir."g-"it that drifted to the sputh to
up.in Zimbabwe and this ii why I am here referring to it as rhe Dziva-
9_nd
Hun8ryg Family. After settling in this countr-y, it in turn staited to segment into
several branches, each of which picked up for its totem an aquatiJanimal or
object as we have seen.
i !tt9 clipren of the third wife had daughters only. In spite of this, it is said that
l' their father decided to_ give them theirlnheritante too. The story says that the
I Soko "Masters of the Lind" were given their own district toocctrfr;il;i;;
the Dziva "Masters of the Water" *ere also given their own distriit to occupy
and rule. The third district lyas set aside forlhe descendants of the third wifb
L yho ygre initially-all-daughters. The most senior of these daughters estab.lished
f herself as the chieftainess of their distribt. Because she was a c-hieftain"s, it was
awkward for her to marry and move to her huband's home. The husband had
therefore to move to her court and this'enabled her to continud living in her
: district and attend to her duties. Furthermore, it is related that she mirried a
" commoner and refused to be paid lobola for. It is further suggested that shb
initiated the procesg of love-proposal to this man. All this strJtiO in order ro
claim ownership of the childien. In this way, a tradition was established that
whoever married a woman from this family moved to the home of his wife; thai
the children belonged to the wife and notio the husband; that the real head pf
thefamily was not thehusband but the wife; that inheritance was to be through
the mother's and not father's line. This also rnarked the beginning of chieftaine.ie. '

'amongst it. Because it was exogamouiand because it had i-Ii"* for its
own
survival, a decision was made that the three families descendirr!-i-- the '. ' within the African
^A.frican communitv. In short,
community.
gptri.[ineal.system w.i$ip th.e A.fric"n
short^ all this marked the 'genesis nf tha'
mnrfed rh-e'oerr.sis
- --- --:- of the'
three
wives of the Bantu ancestor should sever their blood retatiof;strips and
start
"ornrnunity.
Like the othrir two, this family dlso started to gi"b and segmenr. The segment
inter-marrying. So rituals"n"r*"i urto .ri"tionrtrips was conducted and that drifted to the South is th6 one we call roiga. Those tf;"t aiitt;A ini;";tG
the three ancestor-families bebame"ialien to each othei and started to directions must have acquired for themselves different tribal ndmes. But they
inter-
marry. wer.e all thesame matrilineal hnd this is the distinguishing mark of this thiril .

B.antu Family. In some segments of this matrilineal family,-some men revolted

The descendants of the senior wife elected to be the owners of the land
became the "Masters of the Land', associaiinlifr".selves with land
and so ' against.dominationty women and staged what we can call coups to establish
and land
i ltt-"*lelves as chiefs. After their deaths however, their chieftainships wer
lnimals. out of all the land animais, they
-the baboon "the'proudest and nearest
to asseciate thpmselves with
$heriteanotbytheirsonsbutbytheirsisters'sonS.Inotherwords,tiisthird
"ho"seto the truman
animal being." gut i"i
reasons already given, they associated themselves with ttre
monfey;;d-;
Bantu
f"*-rty ended up with both chiefs and chieftainesses. But despite this, it .
maintained the matrilineal system and, at least in central and southern Africa,
became Soko by totem:. ::: it has remained sg to this day.

37
 t
My own fe.eling is that the details of what actually happened with rdgard onslaught from the Mohammedan Arabs who atfacked Kush after the death of
to the
original Bantu.Family have been forgotten, leadirig t" gui*;"thi;; Mohammed. It was their fragments that shattered the Dziva-Hungwe south oi
"trrurid.
along the line3 of what was sugge-st-ed by Chamiirtuara-Nl"ur"
must have .r,*,
thi Zambezi River around l-000 A.D. When we consider West Africa, we will
happened. That there were ttrrEE big Bantu Groups in atii.u"iJ,i[il;;; ' 'r'i' again find that the Sokos were the last to reach there to create the Songhay
900 A'D., if not earlier, and that thE majority of ihe Bantu tooay Empire, in the same way that they created the Mutapa Empire south o[ ttrl
traced back to the original three Great glntu Families isirairp"t"ble
riiit b-i
""nand this #i
T. ZarrtbeziRiver at about the same time. This means that Kush of 600 A.D. was a
is a fact that can be confirmed throughout central +_
Soko Kingdom. It means it was the Sokos who caused tremors to the south and
and southern Africa. What r,?L.
r{r,
.

has been difficult all along was to detJct the existence

of the three;nJ; do; " west of the Nile Valley after 640 .- tremors'that quickened Bantu colonization
their disringuishing featuies. of the continent of Africa.
Fy 0oo A.D. -thg position in north-east Africa appears to be quite clear. # When I state \hat the'Zenj Empire was aDZIY A Empire; dlhe reader must not
Members of The Masters of the Water dominated the coastal belt oi north-east #I'i
Africa. It is possible they yere act_ually assigned to this coastal region imagine that there were no segments of the. Sokos and Tonga amongst those
and this ,s'
Dzivas. Likewise, whgn I state that the Tongas occupied the interior of East .
mugt be why they were designated Maiters dr tne Water, *hi"h
*^
to the sea nearest to the Kuihites. From here, they spread alone the
a reference
,ffi; Africa, it must not be thought that there were no segments of Dzivas and Sokos
whole East amongst them. [n the Kingdor"n of Kush of 600 A.D. there must have been
African coastal belt to form what was larer
.;;il;"d ilrh" Trabs The Zenj tr segments of the Dzivas and Tongas too. Each Empire or Kingdom is identified
Ptnpit". We know from u Mazuoi ;il il"ir paramount king was called ffi with ils ruling dynasty.
waqlimi. In the middle of the tenth Masudi mates r?f";-;;-;; #
Sofala and makes it clear that the sofala"irtu.y, also
** par;;i-G lir What this does rnean is simply that the Zenj Empire was ruled by a Dziva
riv ,il 'dynasty
lvaglimir-rgty *e rno* tt "t tt " onrv "r"u "rJ"iiiiai
nurtu people who had spilled across - fi, and was dominated by Dziva people; the Tonga Kingdom in the
the Zarhbezi-Bil". by 800 A.D. were members of The Masters !4'
interior was ruled by a Tdinga dynasty and dominated by Tonga people; the
of the Water
called HUNGWE and of the totem DZlv Aand,rhey;il;;& the Kingdom of Kush of 600 A.D. was ruled by a Soko Paramount and dominated
east
' of what is today Mozambique. These *"r" tt r peopt" *rro esta'blibhed earliest
"o".i i by Soko people. What is true of here is true of every other Empire. The
trading contacis with the Moor traders. w";il tniretore."y-*itt
a degree of-
i, Mutapa, Songhay, Mali and Ghanp Empires serve as good examples of this.
certainty that the ZeniEmpire was arrEmpire of the Masters of the 'tl '
Even today, the position has not changeil at all. When for instance we say'tday
W"ater. &'
The East African interior south of Kush and north of
the ZambeziRiver was #.'
t
Zimbabwe is a Mbire country or S. .A,frica and Botswana are Dziva countries,
dominated bv theTonga. Argund 900 A.D. Mbire soko traoitiJisl;;;;;fr r.|,1,
all we mean is that the vast rialority of Zimbabweans are of Mbire origin and
no doubt thai the Mbi; ttre-s"rre;;;;;;y ebe from rhe Great Lakes lr those in S. Africa and Botswana are mostly of Dziva origins. We nerler.imply
' the Zambezi but the T"lgu.These contaits wiitrtrre rongalre enshrined to in
11. that minorities of the other Great Families do not exist among them. Such an
oneof the greatest and oldest Mhire traditional runes. Th[;;;nly p'
argument would certainly be very naive. Examined from any angle, it is
mean thai ,f
' $e T9lqu were the first to leave Kush and to rp.iaa it ;;;h;il" interior of the difficult to reject consanguinity and geographical contiguity between at least
East Africhn belt. Evidence from other tl the Dzivas and Sokos' How could a ppople originally unrelated and not living in
supports tf,i. There
is no tribe that appears to hayg occupied"orn"o
the "rgu-ent.
of Zambia the same geographical area so neatly divide themselves into "The Masters of
"- before the Tonga. To this day, they still dominate siruth".n i"g6ns
It, .

0
the whole Zambianbelt from the l"and'r and "The Masters of the Water"? This would not be possible.
fr Furthermore, as we will see later in Bantu cultural traits, the Bantu or Negro
. aboqt Livingstone to the eait along the Zambezi Valley. This i precisely
rgsjon to which the Mbire Soko ri''mity claims to have driven
the . fi
Trilogy is still remembered in all parts of Africa and is commemorated and
them from #
of Malawi. Furthermore, if one examines Namibia, one *i[ il; ;;; west rehearsed in various forms throughout the continent. This guggests the original
dominateg bv the Ambo (Avambo) who are matrilineal to this
il; trinity of the three Great.A,frican Families. ,
day, and the
Herero who are -semi-matrilinear. Indeed, Nr.iui" ;- rhr';;e However, before we go into this, let us first examine the two foreign tribes that
counrry in
Southern a{c-a.that.is Tonga. itir ruggests that the Tonga were the
frlv
vanguard of the interior Bantu migrants fromi[e north-east, just
emerged in Africa that are not originally Bantu but are mixed up with the Bantu
as the Dziva today. We need to do this in order to be fully aware that there are amongst us
were the vanguards along the east coast. It means too that ttrJTorrga
were the communities that do not fit into any of our Great Bantu Families. This is not
first to penerrare the Coigo Region only true of Zimbabwe but also of possibly the majority of African states.
rt
All this suggests that the
Kindgomof of 600 A.p. was dominated by the
Sokos. This must be so becai3e the [ushSokos were tt i*t ih" thr"" Great
Bantu Families to le4ve north-east Africa. They were "subjected
"t to the greatest
 *
ILis necessary to point out the existCnce of thesi people in this country
for the
teason that our attention is centred on the whole"coritiriint oi Afri"" "rouin crocodile. This immediately places the Kwena in the camp of the Great Dziva-
the Sahara. The Mutapa Empire was not the first nor
"[.];ih;
be influenced by the Portriguese from around I 500./Therefore,
i"rt ig Airi* "i
t" Hungwe Family. . .
we should The Kwena of Botswana betidve that their totem and'tribal name were derived
' expect elsewhere..il
{.i:u, orther people of Portuguese descent without, of from Kuena, their ancestor chief. But I need to remind the reader that Kuena
course' being called Chikunda, Although they are a small minority in itris
country, they are quite a sizeable minority in Mozambique. itself was not a name, but a totem meaning croco$ile. Later, under South
,. Africa, we are going to find the Zulus including the Ndebeleclaiming t!a! th"y
. This completes the analYss of Zimbabwe. To be absolutely sure that Zimbabwe descended from Siziba.This again is not a name, but a totem meaning "Pool".
is in-no way uniqqe in Africa, we need one or two more test cases from
the All the
great Tswana tribes are-segments of thaKwena and this includes the
continent. Thereafter, we can cover the continent briefly and see if we can find
representatives of the three Great Bantu Families.
J - Bamangwato who pio.vided the paramount chiefs in the lgth century. All this is
well summarized by Stow in the {ollowing paragraph:-
"It,is evident that the siboko (totgm) of the ancient stem was the Kuena or
TryE TswANA : CASI sTL,Dy n :
Crocodile even belore the lilethe oI the chlef Kuena, the special founder of
the Bakuena proper. He therefofe probably derived from the ancient siboko.
c-a-nngt be bnalysed before that of Zimbabwe,
the.country.*ayccupied by iegments olBaniu peopil; Zimbabwe. (totem) of hii race (and this is preiisely what actually happened). The great
F*urp antiquity of this lqrbat gmplem is proved by the fact that originally all t[e grelt
It was occupied. bythe Fantu acrosi thi eastern u"ra"r'"ndnlim* any
other branches from the old stem retained the same siboko, although some wefe
corner. I am not suggesting that there were no small *inoriti"r tiiat migtrt
t earlier offshoots than that of Kuena himself. thus the Bahurutsi branch is called
mlgra.teg to Botswiia froil the north, west o. "u"
south. This did take place, '-
"n"n Bahurutsi a Malope; the Bamangwato, Bamangwato a Malope; while the
{Pecial}y from the. south in ttre e-arly nineteenth century. But the descendants Bangwaketse, Bangwaketse a Malope, the people or men of a son of Malope;
of such group-s fo*l.p vqv sgafl minority. In addition, those-*il;td;;;
from the south are like thL Noebele or the-Ngoni, who *"r" onry while the Bakuena are called Bakuena a Masilo, the people of Kuena, th'e son
returni)urnlY. Even so, they can be traced b-ack to one or the other
mu[i;, ; $', of Masilo." Thus even the Baniangwato, the Hurutst and the Ngiwaketse are
of the segments of the Dziva-Hungw@ Family.
three Great Bantu Families. fr,,
s. The original split in the ranks of the Kuena way back in Zimbabwe is well
I am not the only one to believe-that the Tswana occupied their
country from # recalled by the Shona. They relate that when the Kwena were ovenrhelmed by
*" :pr. schapera wrote,
- "All that can pe said *iiri;;";;;fid"nce is thar
the Tswana were already in eastern half of th"i, p;;;;;th;il6;ffi; the invading Mbire Soko Family that established the Mutapa Empire, one
A'D' I 600.' To the east ofthethe Botswana border is Zimbabwe and what segment submitted to the, invaders whilst anothei refused to submit and ran
a*ay to the west. Those members of the family who submitted to the invaders.
Schapera is really saying is that the Tswanu f-*
of origirls from north-eait Africa have ooi u"in ""."l*t by;h"z-UL"u*L.
f;;;;
Memories
either; ,.All
were derided by those who did not and were liven the derogatory rtame Chi-
those native authorities of whom the writer has sorgtrt informition Kwena Matope meining the "little crocodiles-'. Those that iefused to submit'
upon the became the "big crocodiles". It therefore looks as if the leader of the 'llittle
subject (of Tswana) have declared that before coming"r.o- tt o*rth,
tlieplaci crocodiles" was given the nickname Matope, hence the referencetb "the men
whence the first.peopl-e came was the east, some infletinite
syn ri$ngi'(-9) The authorgoes onr ;i;;; towards the-
"The la-s! 1tn" rof"; i;opl") assert thar - or sons of Matope."
their forefathers were driv6n trom. l- centrai-intru-fac,i,rtiin;;;;i.r, It may be necess ary atthis point to mention the Suthu. These too are menibers
$e of Africa
by tribes similar to if not the actual Bachoana tribe . . ." (10) We lre back of the Kwena group. The Suthu of Moshesh, thosd of the Transvaal ahd thqse
in the
region qf ttre Great East African Lakes again; rtese
il6il that they in Botswana are alliegments of the Kwena tribe. As Stow puts it again, - t't'he
"J-it us of the
were driveri out o-f-the area by a group ideniical to them. This reminds term Basutu was applied'exclusively to those chns which represent the Southern
ancestors of the Shona. Bakuena." Thus when we analyse South Africa, it becomes unnecesSary to
-'
There cannot examine Lesoto since we can see the close association of the people of that
Euly doubt that the vast malrrity of the Tswana people are
members of the Dziva-Hungwe Family. i country with the Kwena branches in Botswana ad parts of South Africa.
wotiU bi no exaggerati"n'to iui iiiJ
percentage of these people to as high as 1t
90. Certainly one Jitn" great tribes of To complete our examination of the Dziva-Hungwe Farnily in Botswana, let us
Botswana is the Knena tribe; gut-it we remember what we came briefly look at.branches that no longer associate themselves with the crocodiles.
across in
Zimbabwe, we shoutd e.*il{ reatizettr"t rwin";;;;fiil;.;;;;"nd These include the Bakubuon, who call themselves the men of the hippo; the
this is a
Battaru, who chll themsblves the men of the python which is a reference to the
 phython:called Mheta in the B"rogr,:who call themselves
Yater ,limbalwer
the men of the serpent which is atro a rei;;;;;;" thepytho*ni the Batlapin who
call themselves the men of tii" fish (Hov; i;-rirrb;ffi;l;"';ile'iatur"ng Like Bots$vana, the early history of South Africa cannot be examined properly
call therinselves rhe men of ttre milt who before that of Zimbabip. Ther! can be no doubt til;hJi"urr, at.id; ii;;i
iirJil"pulana ryho call themselves
the men of the shoYers; the Bapula"ia"*,
who trrhrehes the men of the raini
communities are offshootslof the Zimbabwean communities. Of course, South
"lii tii" men of the
and the Baletsatsi who t99uv c"il th"-r"rn"r African ttSloty was complicated by the early arrival of the Dutch in ttre tittr
knownto be segments of the Great DrioalHr,,t; sun. AII these are century. This-is so because early-coqmingling between these Dutch people
driven but of Zimbabwb by rhe irr"airy
F;1y ffiil;cest6rs were - and-the indigenous people of South Africa toolc place, resulting in the creation
rr,iliie strkos wtio established the of new iommunities which arb not bommon in otirer AfriEan states. The
Yu'sp" Empire. Thusegmlnts of tt ir l;;tit;outd constitute about 907o of
!|e Tyana peopre shouild not now.b" ,"rp;i'rfi ;;u". i;;;;;"rear earrier - positio:r was also complicated by the damming back of the kfroi*n people by
that rhey'were the first Bantu peopre. to .lffizim'uabwe.E;;" these Dutch, resulting in furth_e-r commingling of these Khoisan pe"pd witir
pus-he(to the south and wesr, wL shbuH;*p;;"tire they were ' both the Dutch and the Bantu. However, ourittention is centred dn plople of
to be members of this f3m!ry. This cann*
malrrity of the peopre-there Bantu origins and thes6 are easily identifiable.
i"*" ,. i;;n'yi"ru, *t' rrever thar
they were the vanguar.d of ihrg"nt, mig.anlslro-
ttreio;th- Like Botswana, South Africa is a largely Dziva-Hungwe-country. It would be
The Tswana of Mbire soko origin *rnull minority in Botswana. Most of no exaggeration to say that at least 90% of the Bantu in South Affica are
"r"
them are still confined to the nof;h-""rt
th-e country to this day. This
- members of the Great Dziva-Hungwf Family. Again this
should not be surprising
should not now besurprising. These include "*i.f
".0 the peopre referred to as Makalaka
-J;ili,t,"ii[;;;.6"1pr" ::1c9 lhey we-r9 the vangrardlf the Bantri migrants from the north. In
which onlv means Kafanga ind *e r.n"t Zimbabwe and Mozambiquet ye came across the Sziva-Hungwe people * tfr"
origin' Most of them are-still Soko (Ncube) undrraoyo of shona
to this day. we also fir/cl
original Bantu occupants of the.area between the Zamr*;zi anO ii.pop;.
tle B,akhatla tribe, yho i"t"oed to ; ;;;t the baboon, and these are Around I 000 A.D. we saw them beiRg invaded by the members of the Mbire
"r"Ncuuer. Th";;;;ki
clmely associated with ttre
origins and are a branch of the Mbire soko F;;ly.
peopre of Shaveryhuka f9k" Fagily. who established the Mutapa Empire. These foun{ers of the
"r"Thus although rhey are a . lvlutapa E_mpire drovg the members of the Dziva-Hungwe Fatnily to the south
small minority, members oi the-Great sot o-rr*ily and west. In the west, we have just come across their dJscendants in gotswana-
are present in Botswana. .

The !on!a are even a smaller minority. In We should therefore no* e*pect to meet their descendants in Soutt ,q,irf"".
Bo-tswana, they are referred to as the ,

Batoka. Thev did not filter into Botsoi"la -In "From

1*;rrn thp east uri ir* the north,,
ilili;. H;;; Isqj* th; impd;nt Mutapa To Rhodes", I drew thb attention of the reader to the South
I= r:!ll-a"v
m no matter how sma[ a proportion tt:
thing is that they aie there ^A.frican .Limpopo border and argued that this border after I 000 A.D. **
*-"Tong3
some of them seem to hive been accultur"t"a
communities in Zimbabwe,
_
'good indication of which Bantu group first occupied Zimbabwe and which was"
bonverted frommatriliny to the next to follow it. We then saw Rinnie and Grey pointing out that the'first
patriliny. "r,f Bantu people Io ct::s the Limpopo from Zimbabwe were the'Mbedzi peopHof
the totem-Dziva. T!"y went further to say that the nexr group was t[" lftUiii
grolp of t!9 totem Soko. All this should now not be surpr[ingtonsidering thai
the Dziva-Hungwe people were the vanguard of the Bantu iligrant" froilr the
Great East African Lakes. Because they werg driven by tfr'e Mbire Sokb
invadets to thesouth and because they could notmigrate beyond South Atrica,
we should expect
1majority of Dziva-Hung*b peipte in that 5";ilil;;:' -'
they are the overwhelming majority of the -ganru piople in south at[*'

Almost all scholars havemanaged to see four main groups of Bantu people in
South Africa and the followinglu1s up this positi&: "Four main giouis ur"*.
normally distinguished where the'Baniu speakers south of the Uilp"po are,
concerned. These were the venda th6mserves, the sotho.Tswana, tire\guni
39-O.
ttt1tsorya," ( 1 1) But we have come across the Venda as a segment of-the
Mbire Soko Family in ?imbabrrye; we also have come across theYlsonga as a '
se_grnent of the Tonga Family whose other selments in both Zimbabie and
Mozambique are Tsonga and Hlengwe.
. -
 a
In Botswana' we discovered that the Suthu were Kwena and therefore
were We then found that many of these people still belong to the totem group Ncube ,
members of the pziv.a'If1qgwe. Family- iGr"tor", tiur Bantu groups
scholars see in South ,Africa it is only the Nguni"ihr" which in Shona is Soko. We even found some of their members officiating at
,rrt t are not yet the cult centres at the Matopos. We were left'in no doubt that they 'wlre
" segmenrs ofbeen
$e.nti{igd. Let me right away.sq!e cateloricanfthat tii"v.* the cousins of the Mbire Soko Family and therefore are- descendants of the
D:i:lHungwe Family as we shall see ve"ry rtioruy. $ ii#,;;"";;d rP il;
with four Bantu gloups in South Africa but.thrle. Thesb'ar" tt Venda invaders that created the Mutapa Empire between the Zambezi and the
and Limpopo
.related communities; the Tsonga; and the Dziva-Hung*t oiuio"a " into the
Nguni and suthu segments. iakes us uact to ,qulri il. il rr"ti.ri " Although many of the Venda people in the Transvaal are Ncube (Soko) by
ThTi
dispose of the minorities and fhen cgrncentrare on rhe oue.r"tre-tirtil
ri"d; totem, some of them have changed to NDOU and this means elephant. It is
later. The Tsonga group is undoubt6oty the smallest of the three Bddd;il; common knowledge that the Venda have just won their Bantustan independence
and that they are in the process df constructing a new capital for their
Homeland. This new capital is called Thoyo ya Ndou and this mians'the head
When I discussed the Mbire Soko invasion of the region south of the of the elephant'. In the centre of their national emblem is a big head of an
Zambezi
River around I 000 A.D., I said that one or two po"i"t, of Tonga people elephant. To understand this close association with the elephani, one has to
had
already crossed the Zambezi and- pi_1ed the-Dzi"u-ffung*"-pebpli in thi \ cross back into Zimbabwe, the home of the Venda before they settled in the
frad
north'east in presenl-da,y Mozambiq*. When the Dziva-Hrit*; pe6ple were Transvaal.
driven to the-south by_the invlderq, rh; i;;;; ako ran aw;;?; the south
and
firyltv settld in the [.ower Sabi valley. Frlm here, ,"" ,i*-rome of them The greatest Shona spirit in this country, and that operated from Njelele in the
driftingin a nof\wgsterly direction into tlre NuanetsiCirireAri afe"L]Zr*l"U*" Matopos in 1896, is Murenga from whom "Chimurenga" was derived. But that
and being called Tonga, Tsonga and Hlengwe. Many of itrlm are still in very Murenga is also called Sororenzou (the head of the ele.phant) and he is -
yozambggue where they even betterknown by this name. We may remember that Murenga Sororenzou
-are rEferred to af tn" Moi"-Liq"" rongu, unJ is the father of Runji, Chaminuka, Mushavatu and Nehanda. The Venda are
T*r-ga. Because they live in an envirqnment dominatia uv p"-t.ilin""rli";i;,
they have been acculturated into a semi-matrilineal direct descendants of Runji as much as the Mhofu Shava people in Zimbabwe
distinct group of their own to this day.
rdrp britrr"y "i",tlti" are descendants of Mushavatu. Venda association with the elephant simply
means association with Murenga Sororenzou. By calling their capital Thoyo ya
' It was from this-very region that segments of these people migrated to South Ndou, they are only naming it after their greatest known ancestor and that is
Africa. It may- be_remernpered ttrit it was the rsingi *t o:oo*inated the Murenga Sororenzou. There can thus be no question that the Venda are
neightourhood of Delagoa Bay bythe end of the eighteinttr cenirry and rhat
was they who were known as ltre Babudu or MapIt" p""pri,
it . merely a segment of the Mbire Soko Family that drove the Dziva-Hungwe .

whom the people to the south and created the Mutapa Empire.
port of [.ourenco Marques hqs now been renamed-b] "tt"i
td ile6;H;;;"";r;;;;
of Mozambique. The south Africa and fsont-;i" ;;ly Jtfrhoot, ut The Venda are clearly
people. All this is summed uplonga
by 61e authoritfin G f;li"winI t"r-rl J!-" bigggst representatives of the Mbire Sokg Family
,t.Lgt" south of the'Limpopo. Like aii-the oth"rr, they too segmented into branches
"TI" Tsonga' occupying the_coastal arla from the Save River in Mozimuique and this was given much encouragement by the Mfecahe of the first half of the '
" as far south as Saini Lueia Ba-[r,
ryoke a-language very different from Zufu, nineteenth century. In spite df that, they associated themselves with land and
Th"y differed c.u.lturally lrom ttre futu in somE respecrs - by being tirr,:""t"i, land animals and have Continudd to do-so to this day. In that way, they tpve
for example, whilst theNgu-ni in general had fisrr tlboor.'r
'this that the Tsongaarea different community iiZiit is clear from maintained their identity as a segment of "The Masteris of the Land."
altogether ff.'tt e other Bantu
people-of South Africa. This is 6 becau." [h"y are a segment T!9 Dzry-a-Hungwe Family is represented by two.,rnajor
of ttre e;;;; segments.in South
Tg"-g" family and not the Dziva-Hungwe or Mbire Soko ri-ilier. Here Africa. These are the Suthu and the Nguni segments..We have already come
' all that I want to demonstrate to th6 reader is that r"g."oir-ot ttre f8nla
"g4;; across segments of the Suthu in our examination of the Tswana and we have
Family.are present in South Africa; They are a very smaliminority discovered that they are Kivena (crocodile) and therefore are asegment of tle
uut they aii
there all the same. Dziva-Hungwe complex. we also discovered that they are broadly:divided inio
The first of the four Bantu groupb mentioned by Davenport above is the the northern and southern segments. Those we havetome across in Botswana
r $roup. It Ply be remembeied that the Venda
Venda i are branches of the northern segment. Probably the most important of the
on Uoitr sides of the Limp6; southern segment are those of Lesotho who were brought togethLr by Moshesh
River arid that they are essentidlly an offshoot "r"
of the Shona. In i.Fron, Mil6;
To Rhodes" we f*nd the Shona assertint til the Venda were their cousins. during the chaotic days of the Mfecane. They are by no means among the most
senior of the Suthu Houses. However, what we need to check is whether they
 .*
are reatll Ky9n1 (croeodile)' and therefore members of the Great .Dziva-
tq have come from north-east Africa as well, since the.suthu have already told
us that t!"y migrated to the souttr from that corner. About this one. Xosa
l'Tl" vil]ag9,-gther than the Kinship clan, was the limit of Sotho society, even ' authoritY
las this to say: - "The original locality of the Xosa tribe is difficult to
before the Difagane. Indeed, had *ti:!y b9"! structured rnore p;;;#";eil determine but the evidence points to hn east Atrican home. The f*r;f A;;
*1 5inslin lineJ, it weuld have been difficult for Moshweshw6, the head of the arrival in Northern Natal about the same tim.e as the AbaMuo, an gast African
Mokotedi, a very junior branch of the. Kwena, either to establirh -tribe,
hi;-;d;;;; seems to indicate, their connection in combined mor"r*n;. il;;
the southern Sotho in the first-place, or to uuitO up so disti;;ti; a dynasty ,.
of " the religious rph"." mdny of
lgar& a fact of still greater significance is that in
his own " (13) Thus we are left in no doubt that the Sutt u oii"rotho the Xosa customs and sacrifices seem to comespond *i[h
Kwena of Jewish
(crocodile) and ther.efgre a segment of the Great Dziva-Hung*" "r" The - grigin." (I4) Thus even the squthern iip of Africl gees its'earlier
"urtoms
complex. $,, connections
other Suthu peolle in'South Africa are no exception to this rlrt". w" ,o* need t,; fuith northeast Africa. Early conn""ti&s with p""pi" iii";d;rigin can still
to divert to the Nguni, whom we have hardly meniioned so far. s be detected in the customs ind. traditions of thi Xosa at least thou-on-Jr;
,il
Thelt[guni, like the Suthu, are divided into two large segments today. These l:,,,
after leaving north-dast Africa. "
l.,,
are the northern segment, consisting largely of the Zriluq uia tni s ;;i,ilJ,,i; P
:i, Next, we need to examine whether or not the Xosa still remember their blood
southern segment of which the Xpsa are tlie dominant W-hilr;;il; ,1i,, relationships with the Nguni in the Natal area today. I may m"niioo right
u*uy
Kwena migrated to south Africathr_o_ug! the Transu"at,"o-.uni-ty.
rtr" Nguriaia;;ir;;
1+
rl\.i that all these people are called Nguni because they desc"nOrd from a common
l"
the coast and initially settled in the Natat region. It was fro* it ir that the ]; ancesto-r name and this is well remembeied. ",. . .. the f.no*n
r)- -bV_that
Xosa r.nrgrated further to the south and ultimately conflictiA *itt, "r"a ,l
name of the Xosa tribe was Abe-Nguni, The name was derived from "urfiiri
the Dutch a progenitor
who were also advancing up riorth and north-east tiom the area oi Crp"
fo*n. in the royal line called Munguni."(tS) The same writer goes turttre. and adds,
Tlre C.ane frontier is a "The next chief of importante after Munguni was Xosalfrom *iio- the tribe
good indicator of not only the sequence of derives its name Ama-Xosa. While the tein Abe-Nguqi stifi iiu"r,
migrations from the north-v9ry
but ilso of who migrared. We o-bserved J"rfio tt had been
said,, yet it has fallen into the background and ttrE t6rm Ama-Xosa "r has for
ljry early lqerggnce of the Bushman people in Africa. we then ;; ;il"
Hottentots being born out of comminglirig oi the Hami;; nearly four centuries been the more intimate tribal appellatio;.;- .
the Bushmen.
";J
The'se in turn wereJollo*9d by the birlh oithe Neg.oes. ih;il.hr"n
rt ri"o Segmentation and fragmentation or fission have been features of Bantu
to drift away from the Nile V4l"y; they were foltovied by the H"it"nt"ts. These
in turn were followed by the Bantu. Wt appears t" rrir" communities for long centuries. This was so partly because land was plentiful
"t
r early d?vYandlny ambitious person c6uU irive o-ff rt rt off his own
that the weakest moved away from the stroirlest and were "d;t-h"pp"n"o
in turn tofi[wiaty 11.11"
otf'shoot; partly because the tribal "nO r"gr"nt",ioni
the next-wea$,est who drove to the south thole ahead of them. This b J""rli Tt-up iaelf tended to rn"ou.ug"
mirrored at the Cape frontier. When Vasco da Gama sailed around the lTd gart-ly because polyg.aq{ and thesjrsrem of inherit"n"" encouraged
friction between the major Houses wit-h the result that successiinAispui;;?;;
"Ooitr,i
.sorrthern tip o-f Afrlca in 14g7, he came across the Bushmen but ;;;il;.
common and these often ended up in warfare betwebn tfre cfainrint;
Wlen he reached Natal, he heard of the Bantu people. When ttre nutctr settled
chieftainship_. Whoever was defeatid in such a conflict n"A tt
;" rh;
at the cape in 1652, they were immediately conironted by the gush;;;;fi, ffi;; ;;#;
locality and that meant t!-e beginning of a new tribal r"g."nt, ii;?t a new tribe
no.one else. But as they pushed into the interior, they then into contact a.ltoge$er. .A,ll this is well summ"g [p by rhe same au[tro.ity qu"-r"o-"uo;;;;
with the,Hottentots. As they pushed still further into the eastern
"urn"interior of the
c"qq, they then came acrois the Bantu in the rgth cent;t ;il;;;;;i; Ej:tt:,:inq. *rrn: : - "Shortlv aftei hii time (Mungunrrl iuiLus upheavals
.
, to.ol(-pl,ace within the tribe which, though they did noldisrupt the tribe, created
Pl|shinp al.ong the coast from the north. These n"ntu-p"ojtl *"r" the Xosa within it several
who clearly were the vanguard of the Bantu migrants froh the north. This large divisions. The fiist of these toof fi"Jr in
the year 1 600, when a younger brother, Tshawe, of the'reig"i"g"[p.o*imately.
otd"l or sequence of migrytion by the indigenois peoples of Africa did not &lief, Cira, ii
a greatbattle over-threw the-'latter and reigned in his stead]Tnfi
start in Zimbabwe but way back in north-eist etrica, *"ny centuries before cir"u-rtun",
created within the tribe the importanr seclion called the ama-i;G;;;ht";
the adventof da Gama or van Reebeck. Thus the Souih African C"p" fronrier ,, that day- has been the ruling element in the tribe. fft Gr4ekas and
{oes nglonly helR uF to understand elements of
that of the continent of Africa as a whole.
eartta;;ril;fi;
hirtory uui 1n9-e
Gaikas areof the Ama-Tshawe. Later again, in about iiIO, tt.ougt internecinq
I rls.

4.'. war, the right-hand house, the Ama-Rarabe or Gaikas, became l-iO"p""JL"t
'#-
However, before we go into thp details of Nguni history, let us find out if these ,
),,'tl' the great house of the Gealekas." "i
B:^.It"are
!?Y_" Lny
memories of their.origins blck in nort-h'Africa. If they and the dji' sesgents of the Nguni complex are called Nguni because they
uuthu both segmnts of the Dziva-Hungwe complex, then the Ngrini oughi :' '
.1'.
l$:I
descendedth.e-
frop Munguni. Segmentation then set in and somJof these segments

49
 fi:
started to drift away from the Natal area towards the Cpp". In the forefront
were the ancestors of the people we today call Xosa."By the end of the 19th
century, the Xosa alone consisted of no less than thirty Jegments. These are the
Arna-Cira, the Aha-Jwara, the Ama-Tshawe, the Ama-Kwemnta, the Ama-
Qwambi, the Ama-Kwayi, the Imi-Dange, the Ama.Ntinde, the Ama-Helke,
the Ama-Gwali, the Ama-Mbalu, the Ama-Velelo, the Ama-Mbede, the I-
Tsonyama, the Ama-Zanstra, the Imi-Wangu, the Ama-Ndhlambe, the Ama-
Gasela, the Ama-Nggika, the Imi-Dushane, the Ama-Gwelane, the Ama-Jinggi,
the Imi-Ngcangatelo, the Ama-Toyire, the Ulo-Zala, the Ama-Ntakwande, the
Ama-Bamba; the Ama-Nzoto, the Ama-Nkabane and the Ama-Nqabe. If the
Dutch had not checked the Xosa advance to the south, if they had not
controlled Xosa politicat development along the traditircnal lines, if the land
mass of Africa had no southern limit, just imagine what would have taken place
within the Xosa tribal complex alone-by today. The above list of Xosa triLes is
not exhaustive. There was no end to the processes of segmentation and fissipn
The earliest known ancestdr is SIZIBA. We ihay remernber that this means
"Pool" and is no more than the Dziva that we across in Zimbabwe. This
lt$e is clearly ""-"
no name in the usual sense of the word at all but a totem (Dziva).
This.clearly qlaces the Ndebele, a segment of the Zulu, in the Dziva-Hungwe
faryilyr Further, polygamy being th-e accepted norm in the African dial
i*
t. institutions, each of the ancestors-above Mzilikazi must have had several
,.#' 'q,)
r$r.
wives; each must have a chain of descendants today; each must therefore have
t!: had cousins. But where today are the descendants of these cousins? Where are
lr,.
&ii the descendants of these ancestors of Mzilikazi and by what names are they
known today? Hlubiis one of these ancestom Uut it we turn to the Xosa,.we
come across a Hlubi tribe; is this coincitlence orare they descended from Hlubi
$ who is also one of the ancestors of Mzilikazi? lnview of the segmentation and
fission that we examined above, can this come as a.surprise? -
rk
There is no reason to doubt that the ancestry of Mzilikazi is also the ancestry of
1itll,,

ffi' the Swazi, the Ndwandwe, the Mtetwa, the Zultu-the Xosa and all the others
within any African tribal complex. This explains how the Xosa parted with the }I,
iLrI. who fall under the blanket-term iNguni" today.
rest of the Nguni.
Having now established that all the Nguni people descended from a common This cove$ even the Shangaans and the Nguni in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania.
ancestor and are segments of one original tribe, let us now examine whether or
#
!i Indeed, one needs only to scrutinize theii praise-names and sayings connected
not there are any traits among them which qualify them to pe members of the rt' with their {ynasties to be left in. no doubt that the whole lroip is closely
Great Dziva-Hungwe Eamily. For this, we need to turn to th.e Xosa cousins still associated with water and is.undoubtedly a segment of thJDziva-Hungw;
in Natal. Family. tta

It is common knowledge that the Zulus do not ear fish to this day. This has
been mentioned earlier. It is common knirwledge that, generally, all the Nguni
tribes taboo the fish and look upon it as a sacred animal. In-the context of
African customs and traditions, this means that the totem of the Nguni tribes is
,{.
fish (Hove in Zimbabwe). This immediately throws the whole Nguni family into
the Great Dziva-Hungwe Family of which the Kwen a ate members. Let us now
look at the same i$sue from a different angle.
The Ndebele tribe founded by Mzilikazi is well-known a,$ an off-shoot of the
Zulu tribe. Examination of its ancestry will produce an interesting result. Here
Frorn^this analysis alone, one can see the validity of my earlier assertion that at
least 90% of the Bantu people in Squth Africa are members of the Great Dziva-
Hungwe Family.
lxqressed differently, South Africa, like Botswana, is a Dziva-
flungrye countryl So long as we recall the sequence of the great Bantu migrations
-v;
from the north, we should not find this situation surprising
r

SIZIBA
DONDA
HLUBI
xcuLulu
MnfiBe
_ _t_ lf

"t#o?,
rvratsrioBANA
u/titrc.plzt
MANGWANA NKULUMANA LOBENGULA

50
 a

:
-EENTU
POSITION IN EASTERN ANO SOUIH EASTEFII.I "AMICA
ARONO lzOOAD
That a definite tribal pattern does exist in Africa south of.theZarnbezi can nottr
not bedoubted. Association with land, association with waterand matriliny are
' the most prominenFfeatures
of that pattern. In other words, there are three
distinct family Bantu groups in southern Africa. The question now is,
these three family groups a feature of southern Africa only? It is not my
- Are
intention to analyse eny other region of Africa in the way I have analysed the
#, region south of the Zambezi. My aim is to show that southern Africa is not
&
,r1
unique in this respect. Those interested can continue the analysis in the other
g': . .regions. This should not be a big problem, now that we kndw the pattern.
ft" I have selected West Africa next because the region is thousands of miles away
kr,
,(/ from southern Africa. It is also evident that wi in Southern Africa definitely
, , lr ,-
,.,;,,
,Si,
parted from our West African cousins more than a thousand years ago. If, in
Yigy.of this physical and time distance, we are still able to iientify-in West
NI,
r'!
,t' ' Afriia segments of the three Great Bantu Families, then we have no reason to
n+
rsr'' doubt that the tribal pattern that obtains in southern Africa also obtains in
li'
6il
other regions of Afric.a; we will have no reason to doubt that all Africa south of
&' the Sahara is populated mainly by segments of the three Great Bantu Families.
Fortunately, early West African history is documented by Arab travellers and
this gives us considerable help. :

I ySnt however, to make it clear that the tribal names applied ro the West
.A,fricans are different from those applied to the tribes eliewhere.. This is so
I because after the initial separation in-north-east Africa, each segment started
tr
it to make its own separate history and had its own ancestry. .A,s shoutd be clear
* by now, rnosi of th-e tribal namis were derived from part'icutai un""rtors that
are land-marks in the history bf each segment. Therefore, we should not
necessarily expect the tribal names Mbire, Hungwe and Tonga tci reappear in
flest Africa or anywhere else. But we should LU the same ?*pect tiri main
dividing features, namely, association with land, association with water and
matriliny to be consistent if indeed Africa is populated by segments of the three
Great Bantu Families.
(I) THE EMPIREOF GHANA
I stressed repeateflly thai the reader should take note of the sequence'of the
tribes that migrated to southern Africa. This was so because ihat order of
migration might help us to understand who created what empire in West
Africa. As we are going to see shortly, the Bantu rehched West Africa at the
li.
same tirne that the Dziva'Hungwe people occupied the region to the south of

" h,- th
'rjtl
the Zambezi River.'If these Dziva-Hungwe people were t-he vanguard of the
Bantu migrants to southern Africa, and we now have no reason to doult this..is
-
l!-n"t li_kely that-segments of this same'"Family wirre the first orres to occufy
West Africa and therefore the ones that estiblished the Empire of Ghairi
towards the end.or,rn" 8th century A.D.?

53
 *\.
The tribal name of the Africans who created the Ernpire of Ghana was
KAYAMAGA. This is also known to be tt e n"-" of thdir first chief in West
Africa. The capiql the Empire was fumUi'Saleh. Bt 800 l.D. th; ilpil;
"f
was certainly in existence as is attested by Arab traveil6rs who recorded what
ll"v actu.llty sa* in_the regFl"rn" tirst or th;;;;;;;iil
the year 1067 reported the'folldwingabout Ghana,
*"; er Bpkri who in
'' ' -"The king of Ghana can
.put 200 000 warriori in the field, more than 40 000 of themb;I"g il;-;iti;
bo# and arrow. Ghana is the title of the king of this pi"pfe *d the name of
c)
*"iT country is Aoukar. The king who gorcrri them ai the momenr - is called
Terikamenin who ca-Te. tg the-throni in r062.'i Thil;;gg;;ts an old well- o
establishH Empire which must have been in existenco:for ftn orer a century. o
GI
G.
El Bekri goes on:-
EI
. -Ih:-nto h: gives audience to
lis people to listen to their complainrs and set z,
rights,.h." tiF in-a- pavilion around which stand his horsir
th"T o
=)
E
lu
o
in cloth of gold; behind him stand ten pages holding rt irtOt"nO gotd ""puri**d
mounted
o
F
swords; and qn hP hand are thJsons of ihe princer oI o
lght ttre empire,
splendidly clad and with-gold plaitedinto their hair. rnl goveinor of the
z,
<
ciiy is EI
seated on the ground in front 6f ttre king, and all around tiim
pme- position. The gate of the chamSer is guarded by d"gr
his vizirs in itre =
a
"reoi *;;1j"|; z, .!
+a
breed who never leave the king's sear; they wEar collarsbit;ld "n G, a
2
beginning of an audience is announced by the beating of"fino "no,ilr"r.i;;
of drum which
t
F
T
.E
a F
they call "{eba"made of a long piece of ho[ot"ediood . . ., This gires:u, 1r,
irynolant hints -9n some aspeJti of the Ghana Empiri. El Bekri called it =
' "the.land o{ gold" and it seemed to deserve the nu-". The lold mined in the Lr.t
l!

= l:,
south was mainly,exchanged for salt obtained from the dqse"rt i" i-fi" l.- cFJ (=,
"""F F
No
1oYb1 lhT,
documents do give us tF full picture of the people who =
breated this Empire. There arelo.t hilis that tirey *iglrt be patrilin"lf tt \oz,
were of course by chiefs. But our milor distingtiishing featrr"s "liJ uri
"y F
.*lgd a
association with land, association with water and matritii'y. Unfirtunately,
'Arab documents do not.help in this regard the o
o-
unJ *" have to make guesses from
'. were
other areas. My imprelio.n is,however ttrat the founders cif ttre Cflana fi;i;;
members of the Dziva-Hungwe Family. One reason is that segments of
o.r
J= =
1lt! t-aqity were.certainly the vaiguards of the Bantu migranis to the south. EO
This being so, it is very likely that tf,e vanguards of the Baniu migrants to West
Africa were also segments of this same ta{ity. It is clear ttrui it Sriru-Hung*;
people were the first of the Bantu people to leave the Nile Valley. "
Bantu-.people did not all flock to the south; some migrated to oth"ii"gi;;;,
ili1ft;;
including Welt Africa. Whatever impetus these peoplE received from the Nile I

va{eyllopelled further those who had already iettitre vaii"t 5gf*; ;L-h; ,t

ht)
push. The Dziva people who had left the VallJy earlier than any
other Bantu
, group are therefore- likely to have been puStreO further $vest-and, for this
t"

reason' are likely to have reach.ed West Afiica before the other two.
have written evidence to prove that the second Empire in West
--' JV-e.actually
Africa \ryas created by'segments of the tonga people. We
-"V r"fnember that

55
 *
the Tonga were the second Bantu g:gup
to re3ve thg_East African Great lakes, Great Soko Fami[.y, iince they were the third and last of the three Grpat Bantu
and that thev were immediatelv b6hin&
to the south.
ttre
sypports *y irp.i;.t", ,t
nrina-rr*;ffi;b on the way , 'helpful-and,
Families to-leave the Nile Valtey. Here again, Arab documenrs are iitr"rriiy
Th:: ,t soquence of these creat for the first titne, w now actually come across'names ani
Bantu Families on the *ry to the'south-urr".utuined
"i " in wesr
impression is fYrlhg rti"rigit ;i;t*."ffi;
py th; 1;c; *rat the.,tt iro-L*pire to be
expressions t'hat we have seen in southern Africa. One authority sums up the
crgated in west Africa wal estabrisnla
"n-.9 foundation of the lol8haV Empire in the following terms, "A;some
Arab documenp. we may- remember ttrat
uv it r sor."s. This is established in
't.
-
time the whole of this river region (the Niger rEgion) ir .uid
-to remote
have been
of the people who create-d the s""gryrtE;;;tr "r, am"", ,i"""ounrerparts
in sortt i-.tt
populated by a people traditionally divided into-..masters of the soil" and
i. , d'.'
people who established the Mutaddp,fi]
wesr Africa *ere the soko 1"
"masters of the water" and these are iaid to have belonged in turn to an ancftni'
migrants from the Great Lakes. lr.w"rt f,tritu, "v
rt were the third of the Bantu
Irlr
.i,
f"-qitI w"* African.peoples. To these early inhibitanrs, migrantt *"r"'.
*" now discover that the sokos {[i.
added. "_{
Tradi,tion says that these migrants included the Sorko, a'fisher.fotk '/
were the third to arrive and to th"Sfi;"y;;;;;d;, il comeacross
,t-
coming ItoT the eait and fhe Gow iho were hunters; and these rwo appear
.!,mpire .crelled by "t""t"
ho glher these *igr"'nr" to west Africa which we fl1
l:j
could attribute to. the.Dziva J3Ilv ,It
" among the founders of the Songhay nation." (16)
fieople. rnishar.Zs me.again think that the ,h!
, Empire was creared
by_legrir*h of the oziva]tiulgwe- peopre. These Ghana fir,
In a separate work, Levtzion writes:
are certainly present in west Africa
uno ur"
peopre f,r -
ia"entifica6r"i, tt Songhay "Jenne, the other important centre of trade and Islamic learning
Empire. ";rily "
#
ui.
hundred miles uq $e Niger river - oier two
was in all respects a Sudane-se town. The
ilt.. -
old inhabitants of Jenne irere the Bozo fiihermen. These have *uin"i uniif
izI THE MALI EMPIRE
'J,'r
,
. the present-day 'owners of the earth and water' in the ritual sense of tfre
The next empireto.emerge was the Manding-o expressiotl . . ." (lT Elsewhere, he adds, "The fleet whs most important in the
peoille shrted their risJ to supremacy Empiri of Mali. The Mandingo military exploits of Songhay. This. is explained by the fact that ihe dominant
bifore the collapse of the Ghana element among thb Songhay weie the Sorko fiqherman of "the Niger. The
Empire' In fact, it was ttre rise lf the n"*
rtauri Empire thar eclipsed that of
complementary elements
Ghana' The'most celebrateo ling of ttre trrtanoingo
Musa who came to powe; i; h-6?.
vr''L' people
Ps,Prs was Mansa
lvra Kankan heterogeneous people
- which
were the
together with the Sorko forired this
-
Sorko navlgated up the river
Gow hunters and the Do farrhers. The
A report written lom Dendi and reached the region of Bentia,
doubt whatever thit Fv r9l Battuta on the Mandingo state of Mali leaves us i' nI north of Tillabery, where they found hippopotami in abundanie. Mobile und
this ggpire was establisheiby r"g-""ts JIil" warlike people, the'Sorko became not only'masters of the water'but blso rulers
p"oBte we
called.
Torgl elsewhere. "T'heir ;;,' ;i;;;;;;r, of jearousy .whateverl no of the farmers, 'owners of the earth,'wholived in the region of Bentia. fn"rr,
one claims descent from his father, b;; .

on itr"i contrary frorn his mother,s ,!r"y were joined by the hunters and.a
brother' :d person's heirs are his.ist"rt rtrs, n"i 19wn by the name oi Kukiyu OeretopeJas
t i, o*nionr. riii, is a thing
which I have seen nowhere in the *o.l_d
... . their women show no bashfurnes "-;+;;;ong the Indians of Marabar.
uer";;;;";e;;;ffiii_"th"mr"lu"s.,, Several important points emerge cJelly from-all this. It is stated that.among
theearly
In Battuta's terminolg8Y, this is a- thing we have
noJ seen anywhere else irr ilhabitants of this region befoie the Songhay Empire, were..masteii
Africa except amgng of the soil" and "masters of the water." This amouits io ruying that the earliest
wtrat iiis b;";l;r"ribed aboveis a matrilineal
.tt "jonga.
system identical,to the.Tonfasyster"n practised to thisoay in legro inhabitants of this region were the Soko Masrers 6t in" Land anO ttri
zambia and Marawi- Thus fr" t'"r" disiouereo ies like Dziva Masters of the Water. The next point to emerge equally clearly is that
"ount are not'
tirut Tonga segments
only present in west Africa but were tt
*t o actualry created the second thesg egly migrants were overwhelmed by a new *ani of migrants Oominatfi
known empire in the region by the Sokos who_ proceeded to found the Songhpy,Empiri Bur these SoLo'
- the Mati"-onir
Errpii".- founders of the_Songhay Empire were. assistei Uy segments of the Dziva'
Masters of the Water, who here are beihg referred to Ir the hunte6. fneir
(3) TIIE SONGHAY EMPIRE West .A'frican tribal name was Gow. It is possible that those-referred to o th"
"Do farmers" were also a-separate segmeht of the Sokos or.Dzivas or *"yu"i
The third empire in west Africa was the I even' the Tonga. The founders o{ttr_e
songhay Empire. Its capital
and its most renowned-emperor was Askia tf,e 6il:;i;iffi: was Gao
tr, '{l'
heterogeneous group dominared by the soko -solglr"v Empire-were cteariy a
149:" This empile.yas destioyed. uy to power in tfinei+ott.'
.' seqirence Mo.o""an-invaders in the year 1591. If the t.' -
What all this means is that the early waves of Negro people to settle in West
of the tribes that migr"t"i to;;;h; it i""
outainJin west Africa, Africa were segments of the three Great Negro F"miti"si their invaders and
we should expect the foundert of rh"
S;ffi;;ffiil;;;;G*"nts of the
ri
conquerorc were still segments of the same three Great Families. How can we

:s6
57
 *

: hvoid this conclusion when alt the early comriunities we meet with in West
,' Africa are either "Masters of the SoiI' or "Masters of fhe Water" or the
' "Matrilineal Grouy''? The irnportant question is,
- Where are the descendants
of all these people today? Where are the descendants of the matrilineal
founders of the Mali Empire? What tribil appellations do all these people have
today? Having seen what happened in the whole region south of the Zambezi
,\

- segmentation and fragmentation of the three Great Bantu Families into a

i.

;i
multiplicity of communities that inter-marry and thus appear as if they were
!,
C'
'lr
t
unrelated originally - is it not logical to conclude that all of West Africa is
a it
populated by no more than segments of the three Great Bantu Families?
e:c) .
,,1,:.

EJ- #,
'.t
cr Ao The quotations above complete our search in Wesi Africa for segments of the
; - L)- ":r three Great Bantu Families that we came across in Southern Africa. Previously,
o #
6
o co
tl
t'. we had no evidence of the presence in West Africa of segments of the Dzi-.ra-
p9. Hungwe people. In the above quotations, they are actually labelled "the
ct po i'
masters of the tvater," and this is exactly the description I gave to them in
=
ts
o
tn jt
Southern Africa. Furthermore, we now know the tribal name applied to them
e, o_ in West Africi and this is "Gow". The Gow people are described as hunters,
because their association with water prevented them from eating fish. In other
2
cl i#s
.a/
CTC
a, lr,
words, they are like the Nguni of South ^A,frica. Thus, in the light of our
discoveries in southern Africa, the West Africans referred to as the Gbw and,

rN
2
=
lr1
E "the masters of the water" are two segments of the Dziva Family who appear to
z, have settled in the region separately and at different periods. '
- c
lr.t - ,

F For the first time, we actually came across in West Africa a totem that is
v1
t!
,= E:i;i identical to one that we have noted in southern Africa and this is Sorko. We

'+ l!
+
l:"''.-.-Zi.;"f may remember thpt the Mutapa Empire was founded by the Soko people after
driving out their predecessors who were members of the Dziva-Hungwe Family.
F Now we find people actually called Sorko esiablishing the Songhay Empire in
z, West Africa. ,Furthermore, in southern Africa, these Soko people were $the
masters of the land." Here again, what clearly happened was that two sq3ments
o
= of Soko people settled in West Africa along the Niger Valley at two different
;,E
-vt periods. The earlier segment still referred to itself as "the masters of the soil"
o
o-
while the group that migrated into the area later identified itself by the all-
encompasSing totem, Soko. It is also interesting that the Sorkos are identified
.r '@l P as a fis'her-folk. They ate fish and this is why tf,ey generally settled along the

i ol=
sl s banks of the Niger River. It is also interesting to note.lhat to this day, the.Nupe
people of Nigeila refeqto their God as Soko;1he Shoria otZimbabwe als6 refer'
to their High Spirit that operated at Njelele at the Matopos as Soko. This is the
spirit referred to by many European writers as the Shona God (Mwari). But thip
High Spirit, as I demonstrated in "From Mutapa to Rhodes" is no more than
'MurengaSororenzou, the fatherof Chaminuka and the grandfatherof Mutapa
,t3 I and Mutapa II who drove the Dziva-Hungrve people out of this country to
t' establish the Soko Mbire Empire in this country. Soko of the Nupe is the
"greatest ancestor bf the Nupe in the way Murenga Sororenzou is the greatest
arrcestor of the Shona people of Mbire Soko origin. Ahis means. that the
ancestry of the Nupe is Soko by totem.

5E
59
 *
ln 1972'Ikime wrote book entitled "A HistoricaT sylvey of the
a
That a people sti'll called soko i"
ryiIgria
one goes to the errenr ot *onJe?til-;;d:r
oo
Isoko people.,,
tb this day cannot be doubted.
"-ii, such,rowns-as sokoto were
ffi.,n"::
&1: people to beimong the first Bantu migrants to the Congoregion. Indeed, therb
nambd independeltty of the pr"pt1;l Nderia. Sokogba in Nigeria means ':ii is no doubt that.this was so.
t!:
"the axe of soko;" might sokoto noi
also ,iun "something else of soko,,? In 1482, Diogo Cao, the Portuguese explorer, reached the Congo River and
Indeed, considering thi't the songhry
eqrpiry.Lt rn" soko people extended to I found the area ruled by the Mani (Paramount chief) calledWene and who was
the Niger bend and beyord, are pEogie
of Soko-o_rigin confiirla'io Nigeria only... * a member of the Bantu clan. The arrival of the Portuguese marks the beginning
1".1?H;i*r.un,
tribes in weit Ai;i";-; b'i. ;;td;'iliur" no longei
.
of documented Congolese history. There is no doubt'that this first Congolese
"r Empire was matrilineal aBd therefore of Tonga origins. Again, Kimambo
There is now no reason to doubt that Africa qtroted above writes, "The basic unit (of this Congolese state) was the village,
south of the Sahara is populated
mainly if not entirely by Bantu people wtro which consisted mainly of a localized matrlllneage. The headmanships were
are members of the three Great
Bantu Tribes. The presen". ,ni d;;"u;;Jir-w.rt hereditary but no aristecracy'existed at this level. . . . There was no royal clan. :
these tribes are i*efutable in the light at i*-of ,"g*"nts of The actual election of a king was done by an electoral college of nine or twelve
of rhtbri;r;;;ffi;ffi ;iGhana, Ma[
and songhay above' This demonstrates
the ubiquity in Africa south of the
' members . . .. There were no clan rules about the succession, and the strength
Sahara of membeis of these Great Bantu
Families. of the state depended too much on the personality of the king." That this
describes a typical Tonga community is not in doubt.
(41 THE CONGO REGION
If we examine other parts of the'Congo region, we are again left in no doubt'
The coSgo.region is a vital one for this that the segments of Tonga origins were dominant. The whole plateau north of
exercise
geographical position. Much or zambt;;JA;;;; by virtue of its size and theBrazzaville, and to the east along both sides of the Kasai$iver is populated
speaking people from the.colqo region. ;.rr;"Jr.#,iJb, ,;; by the Tyo or Teke, the Yans,'the Ding, the Boma, the Sakata, the kle and the
at ln. rirne time there is no doubt too
that Namibia was cgl.oniled "uy aire"t ofr;h;;ts
vr^ p'rv!
Kuba clans. About them, Kimambo again writes "Their political structure is
indirect off-shoots of the Cong; of Angola and therefore :based on small settlements of matrilineal clan sections, which are grouped
di;;: together into chiefdoms under chiefty clads."
Therefor, to be able to sort out the regions
,

south of this vast Congo area, the

area- itself must be sorted ouitiot. . It is not an accident that these people are matrilineal. It is explained by their
history as a segmentof the Bantu Family complex. There are of course-a few
one other thing that makes the colgo region vital
was a confluenc,e of
a key area is the fact that it minority groups that were acculturated and who tended to change over to a
Pantu migrants ir"*f,ottrihe north-easr uno w"IlAili.;;f system that originally was not theirs. This is true of the great Mongo family in
If it can be possibre to sorr oultti. nu"ru p*0,"
three Bantu families (Tribes), there can
t thisregion inro il;;gi#i the same Congo region. This group was originally patrilineal but under the
from both north-east and wist Africa *"r"
be no doubt thaithe guntu migrants influence of their dominant neighbours (matrilineal), they adopted a dual
Tribes. In short, that Bantu .Africa it-p.prr""o
*"iiurr;f ffi;liginat rhree descent system, e.g. became both patrilineal and matrilineal, But ttr,is only
by segments of these Three emphasizes the dominance of the matrilineal groups in the region which is the
Tribes can be in no doubt.
fact of greatest interest to us here. It cannot be disputed that the Congo rggion
we have seen the first west African Empire (Ghana) was originally dominated by groups of Tonga origins.
A'D' we have also seen the Dziva-HungriJ rrriurr"r. cropping up around g00
of the ivui.if What all this means is that people of Tonga oiigin were the vanguards of the
themselves south of the zambeziRiveiaror;a
dci A.D. If we cross"stablishing
over to the Bantu migrants into the interior of Southern Africa. It is a well known fact that
9gngg region, we find I. Kimamuo yritirj, .I.'. . tt area must have been the malcr-ity,of the Bantu migrants into Angola cametrom the Congo. It is a
inhabited by Banqu-speaking peoplg w.ho
br E60 a.o. at"least livil;, organized fact too that the Bantu migrants into Namibia came from AnSola. If we
communities and in.sgme phdes 6ad already;il;
bng-distance trade contacts examine Namibia today, we find that the Ovambo who are the dominant clan in
with the east coasr." In otirer *o.g::Fu;lr:PeJilloccupied
the congo region the north are matrilineal and they have never been known to be anything elsi. .
about the mme time they
ry9upi"o west Afric;;;l Sourhern East Africa. This They'are thus originally Tonga and they were pushed further south by new'
[T,.t"fr?i] i[:rJf:",fi,;ii;i["r,;;;il;;;;;; ar about the same ti-e anJ , migrants from the north. South of them are the Herero who are still semi-
,i, mitrilineal to this day. The semi-matriliny appears to be accounted for by the
I have alread] stated that the firsi of the Three
Great Bantu Families to migrate
'
.' influence of the patrilineal Hottentots to the south of them. Namibia is thus a
into the inrerior of Eaql Africa was rhe rutritin"uitong, : ,.' Bantu frontier uridir a very good indicator of what Bantu group migrated first
Famlry. Maps Nos. 5
from the north, in this case, from the Congo region; Under Zambia, we are

6t
 a
qoing to see_the dominant g:::p: m.igrating from the ctngo
origins and this buiireses thi ,"r-" poinr.
again being of relationships all over Bantu Africa. The existen6e of the Kalangaclans in thb
]o3sa
"Mastets of the water" were uno arestilr:u
Segments of the Dziva Corlgo,region is evidence of the presence therd of segments of the Dziva
*.y smah minority indeed in the
region' This is not syprising in view olthe iu"t - Masleri of the water but in a small minority.
tt the Dziva concentrated on
the coastal arers of the Brt on" e;"up;t ori* "t ;i$";; identifiable kt us now look for evidence of the Soko Masters of the Land in the same
the same and this may be ""sf.
of greatest interesito Zimbabwe.
alr . Congo region. We have already discovered that the Sokos were the last to leave
Around I 500, there were many small chiefdoms the Nib Vailey around 640 A.D. It was they who pirshed the Dziva and the
between t ake Tanganyika * Tonga both west and south. In West Afriia, we saw them founding the Songhay
and the upper Kasai. auuttirg u;p;;ii;;ai '
were
it 9
them in the centre were the Kiniok
the Bungo: to the east of
ana tfr. S"n" Ka.lundwe; to the far east and
: Emp-ire after the Ghana and Mali Empires. In Southern .Africar we saw them
next to Lake Tanganyika were small chiefdoms ,,1: establishing the Mutapa Empire after driving the Dziva Masters of the Water
the KALANGA peopte.
ilhabi;nts wqre called
w"'vuv .r.ot'rra
v whose
i both south and west. Do segmerlts of these people exist in the Congo?
South of the zambeziRiver'
:; r
One authority answers tfris' very directly, The Soko o! the Congo-Aruryini
,T.K"Flqa people are well-known to be segmenrs
of the Dziva "Masters of the confluenc e are shofter, averaging 637+ inches, and verge upon and perhaps
w"trr-; i"n.5" p"lpr" are known to have been the '"
first Bantu inhabitants of Mozambiqre ani Zirbub*e. reach brachycephally . . . . Anlhese tribes are of the Congo proper." (I ) Thus
we have seen them ,",; the existenie of groups that are stitl Soko in the longo region today is a
aboyg.b.eing driven into South Africalrd
il;;;;;t;;
established ,!_: Mu.rlpa.Empire. rn 2i.ua6*9 ffi." i;.;d#ffi; historical fact. Bui how many groups were Soko in the area but are no longer
t9ory, *"-rii[ have a large Soko today?
section in western Mitabeleiand *ho ,.e io
this day Luri"a iauNcA. It is
not surprising that they are at the western border , The.reader must be reminded that the Sokos were the "Masters of the ["and."
uelauserti,
which they were..driven by the rrauii. inruo.rr..rhe irl.1,,;;fi;"; In West Africa, we saw them peing called "The Masters of the Soil." In
original Kalanga in
zimbabwe were all associ"t"d *ith water
still so ro it ii Juy. In wbstern Southern Africa, they were'called "The Masters of the Land." The Shona of
""d;;"
Matabeleland, they incrude the. zuiia,1i.
k*"na, rhe Ngwenya and the Zimbabwe call them "Vena Vevhu" meaning the "Children or Sons of the
Nyoni' The Ncub91 and M-oyos in ttrr ilr"-region Soil." If we cross over to the Congo, we find Kimambo Quoted earlier,writing,
who are also classified as
Kalanga are acculturated Mbir" "Masters Li
tn" Land.,, It is their ancestors "A number of chiefdoms were ruEd by lineages known as'oltlors oI the hnd'.
who drove the Karanga Masters of tt wu;;; fdr. These were hereditary. Others werb ruled by officials appointed either by a
," ,t
with them " "'wlr;;ffil;ii,ili; superior chief or by ihe king.'l This is further evidence of the presence of
,'Masters of the Land" in thJCongo region and all of whom were originally
The Southern part of Zimbabwe i-s today called Karanga.This is not different Soko. . .n''
ftoT Kalanga of Western Maiabelef""Olag"iili, i. interesting
application of the word is confinedia ttrfsouttr, to nore that the Let us now move on to the Luba-Lunda Empire, the most extensive and most
th, to which the powerful of the Central African Empires. The most well-known names in Luba
ariu"n "d'#;
original Kalanga occupants of this. ..r[ '
Today, these o-eople are still confined
"ouniiy
uvit tiuir" invaders. tiiitory are Kongolo.and Katata. This is so because these two are the founders
t" it i routtr inciuiing " i"utt Africa. In of the Luba Empire which in turn founded the Lunda Empire covering parts of
" southern Zinibabwe, their d;;i;;;'"r"ii"Jtnat of
Matibi who is Dziva the Congo and Tambia. ,
.

Mb?dii:-They alsoinclude the Twamamua ano the Tavatsinde mosr

of whom
are in Mberengwa{Betingwe). In the Chipinge a;;;,ih;i.ffi; fiil";o# Kohgolo settled in the Kalanga areawest of Iake Tanganyika and thatrve h"y"
is Musikavanhu whose riutupo is MhmLo?Htdil;d'
#iil'oso"i"t"d with , come across above. This was around I 500 and he was then coming from the
water. north-east, i.e. area of the Great Lakes. He suMued the Kalanga chiefdotns
The Portuguese went to the extent of referring to and made the beginnings of the Luba Empire. A man'cilled Ilunga MB[L! also
the whole of Zimbabwe as
the Kardnga Empire- This was so because ttre c?untry
, coming from the north-iast, visited Kongolo and married two of his half-sistgrs.
b.v a,sgsment of the KALANGAp"bpr".
was originalty occupied One of these half sisters ghve birth to a son called Kalala llunga and the other
itrr. trr" Muire invaderJwho established gave birth also to a son called Kisulu Mabele.
tfe ]$Ytapa Empire captureo ttie-c'ounr.y rt Kutrng";J;;i"rred
"t qri"[;?;iiild;re
the Kalanga country but were at the r.*i ti,n" to it as
"
own tribal name. after their , Kalala Ilunga ultimately fought Kongolo, defeated him and took over hls
.' chiefdom. It was he who extended the Luba chiefdom to convert it into the
The existence of Kalanga clani in the congo Luba Ernpire; BUt he was the son of Ilunga Mbili. The chiefdoms created by
area and in Zimbabwe around
I 500 A.D. cannor be. air accident h ;t"*;i;;;"rding
"rp""iui[y inter- l es of Africa, P. 133.
 a Irn{
m,
him were
-patrilineal therefore not of ronga origins. About it, Kimambo
writes' "The
i'
Society (Luba) was organir"a-inffilt#il, '' we found that the area south of Lake Tanganyika and west of Lake Malawiwas
formed a village,dirlcted bv.a headfi;;Grn one or more populated by the matrilineal Tonga and whose tribal name was Tonga. These
-South".n ir., ttL-fiuln .. .,,.
secondly, in alii.r, -ii;;gr'ir"-unr, .,a segmenr,,, lineage
r.a secrion,,,
people were invaded by the Mbire Soko people around 900 A.D. ancl were
"a portion" of' MBILI means Mbire tnii *" t uve come across driven to the south mainly. As they approached the Zambezi River. they
this was a reference to tt t a"scendantr in the past and diverted up stream and kept on trekking up it. Inevitably. they were the first
segments thar trekrea rrom the Nire v;fu;;
oirriul.l, the ,n""rto, of the soko
towards the south. In ..From Bantu people to occupy all southern zambia right up ro Livingstone.
Mutapa to R.ho{e-g", I qulted l\4bi.;*#;',*u.
a[ the time referred to a5 Andrew Roberts writing about these Tonga people says. there is
archaeological evidence which suggests that the ancestors of the Tonga had
Uilli,il!ih4:F.mn::1,:=;tim',q;*:ur#i:iili:m:
Mbire"' "a descendant of the Mbire" ard fiirlmmeaiately settled in their present country by about A.D. I l0(0." Indeed, this cannot be far
Soko Masters of the Land. links him up with the out considering that they were driven away from the east around q00 A.D.
/ There is thus no doubt that the Tonga were ihe first Bantu migrants to settle in
Thirdly' right through the text, I have stressed iouthern Zambia. This in itself means that they were the vanguarcls of the
' Families to leave thi area of the creat
that the last of the Bantu Great
interior Bantu migrants to the south. Today. segmenrs that aie still Tonga
Land and for reasons already gir"n.
Gre, were the Soko Masters of the
il;il;", those migirants of the period
constitute between 22% and 25% of the population of Zambia. But as we are
around I 500 from the area oi t[e Greai going to see shortly. many more'segments of thc" same Family who migrated
rrllr *ere most likely to be segmen*
of the Sokos' Considered from ,.h"rg"rgr"i-tierefore, into the country from the Congo area and who are no longer called Tonga. are
Kalala, was a m6mbe. -" Ilunga Mbili, father of
dominant in Zambia. It would not be too much to say that between -10')1, ancl
srk;F;'i'ty,-
"irt "
Because the Luba Em-pire walfgulded "50% of the
population of Zambia consists of people of Tonga origin. To quote
by Kalala, it was theiefore an empire only a few. the Bemba. the Lamba. the Bisa. and the Kaonde are all matrilineal
of a sergment-of the tutu.tp.r of the Land.
shoot or the Lrlba.pmpiri:_or Kararril
Til the Lunda Empire was an off- and are known to have migrated froin the Congo area. The Lozi and the Ila are
r;;;; ;;ffiffi[i.tr,"*rore, rhe also matrilineal. Thus Zambia is a predominantlv Tonga counrry.
Lunda Empireitselfwas a Kingdo;;;; L"y ,.grneflt of the Masters of
the
- Iand who were originallv sok;. il;;ffi;l;r " The Masters of the Water are a small minority but are identifiable inZanrbia.
from the north uni tt uirn"v *"r" associared m-ake it cteaitiiat (hey came We can start off with the most recent'migrants. the Angoni who are largely in
Kimambo again writes, "Froir
with the Masters of the Land.
,l*itgElE_.
in the pl4ins on the west under "cHIErS
. . have broken off and sertled the Fort Jameson area. These are known to be a segment of the South African
oFTHE LAND.; rr,ir'rg"in links us Nguni who migrated across the Zambeziunder Zwangendaba. Thev are irriginallv
up with the Sokos. Diiva and therefore members of the Masters of the Water. In adciition 1olh.r.:.
The Lunda Emp-ire was created by cibinila throughout Zambia today. you come across communities that are kncjwn as
who MVULA or MFULA. This means "water" and in our larger African context. it
brother Ilunga Walwefu. cibinda ,nig.u[Jl.o* was the son of Kalala and
ultimately to found his own kingo"m'in the Luba te.ritory and was means DZIVA. Thus groups closely associated with water are still found in
itr" rcrtt . The Kazambes, the Lunda Zambia today. Admittedly, they are a small minority but they are rhere. Thar
Paramounrs, were his descendaits. By
r c00; r,ir3yrrnir" the Kamnga ' they should be a small minority should not be surprising. The majority of their
area of the congo region and parts of
chief in the Lu6a urJu **-ttrln known
zu iir. rn" "o,r"ila paramount
Luba-Lunda segments were far to the east coast and did not find it easy to migrate to the
;-;h; Mwata y;;;;. The Lunda interior. Their segments in the Congo area were also a small minority. Naturally.
Paramount who
rp 19_a point r"_".fi;;":;"b;;il"ifi, ril*",u yamvo only small segments of them spilled into Zambia.,
was then called the Kazbmbe. rr,i,
empire of the segmenb of the Master"oi"
tt il;i; hba'-tunau- e*pi." was an Members of Soko Masters of the Land are also easily.itlenrifiablc in Zambia.
tt
That the conso rggion was andis rtlip"puilfi;r6;i"r:,"#i,ewho *ir" oJginally soko.
"irnd Tonga, the
They migrated into the country from two main directions. the east and the
Mbire Masteis r,*Juio ntlrth. Between 9ffi and I 000 A.D. the area west of Lake Malawi was invaded
"tirr" But this ir,o u'rrri"ti ;ii;i
water, is indisputable. "*I"nt,
the Dziva Masters of the
by the Sokos wfto proceeded to found the Mutapa Empire south of thc
Africa. we find everywhere..else in '
"*"Jirv Zambezi River as we have seen. In the whole wa1' hetu'ecn Lake Tangany'ika
und the ZambcziRiver. they left behincl thcir Thc most well-kiown of
(5) ZAMBIA r thcm are the Phiri. To this day. the Sokos in"ruiinr.
Zimbabwe look upon the Phiri
Lastly' let us cross over tozanibia and people as their cousins. They look upon the totenl Phiri as identical to rhe.
briefly-anqlyse the position there. when Shona totem Soko. meaning monkey.
we elamined the Baptu migrationr rouin
ofirr. 6;""t Laies a.orna 900 A.b:; After 1000 A.D.. these Phiri people started to migratc sk;rrll to thc \\'est t()

,.,u
t
'gccupy Eastern Zambia. They are members of the Gr.eat Soko Tribe traditionally
known as the Masters of the Land.
From the north, more segments of the Murt"rr'of the Land migrated into
Zambia. North of. Zambia is Zaire. Farlier, we saw Cibinda. soi of Ilunga
Kalala- migrating,from the Luba kingdom to found the Lunda [ingctom. He
was
a member of the Masters of the L,and. Eir des"endants establishecl
the paramounrcv
' of Kazembe. In due course, this Lunda Empire of KazemU" o".r!i"G;;;.;.'f
$ejo!S.o region and the area between thsLuapula ancl the Luangwa Valleys
in Zambia. Today, the Lunda are as much a feature of Zaire as"of Zambia.
These were originally part of the Soko ramity ancl therefore, Masters
of the
Land. It looks too as if the Mambwe, the Nyam*rngu ancl the Iwa are
segments
of the Masters of the Lancl. These uppeario have migratecl from Tanganyika.
They. are patrilineal too.
Thus here again, Zambia is no exception. It is dominated by communities
of
. Jonqa- origins. Those originating from the Soko Master of the Land are quite
sizeable. Members of the Dziva Masters of the Water are there but are
a small
minority. Zambia,like Zaire, is ethnically a microcosm of Bantu Africa. But
what African country is not?
Bantu commingling with non-Negro people to create new races has taken
place
almost everywhere in Africa. We have seen descendants Mo"i traders and
Portuguese in Zimbabwe ancl Mo-zambique. Both the Arabs "f ancl portuguese
influenced the whole east coast of Africu. Tt Arabs conquerecl ancl
are still
" West Africa; the portuguese
largely in control of north Africa, pe-netraring into
traded with West Africa: they clevelopecl a c-onsiclerable interest in the
C"ongo
region and were to spreacl their infiuence into Angola in the seventeenth
certur]: In all these regions. both the Arabs ancl the Fortrgu"se interminglecl
with Africans and new tribes were createcl as in Mozambiq"ue and Zimbabwe.
There is virtually no state in Africa that is rniqr" in terms of ethnic structure.
To conclude. these first four chapters, let us look back and see what has
lne$ell-. We have t".n tt. Atti"un race emergingin ,rc flif"'VuiLy in Egypr.
Gradually-the Negroes who were born out of tf," Io**ingling of the Hamites
with the Bushmen driftecl towards the south ro the riit &taract. As the'
population of Egypt grew, these Negroes pushed further south ancl created
the
Kingdoms g-iven such names as Azania ancl Nubia. Ultimarcty, Gy establishecl
the famous Kingdom of Kush which colonizecl all of Africa south of the
Sahara.
Before the Bantu Explosion culminatecl in the emergence of Bantu Africa,
some of the Neglo people started to clrift away from Kush towards
both the
west and the south. These'early Afr-ican migranis from the Nile Valley
were the
ancestors of the p"-"P1. today called the i'true Negroes." They left the
-of NiIe
Valley
le{ore the civilization Kush, which was later to influen;;il ;frt:;
south of the Sahara, had reached fruition. As the Bantu Explosion
started after
600 A.D.' the "true Negroes" who harl left the Nile Valley
Larlier were pushetl
both towards tht sou,th and west. Those in small po"k"t, were completely
absorbed by the Bantu. Those who were in moie sizeable concentrations such
as in West Africa maintained threads of their identity and may still be identifiable
to this day.
The Bantu are clearly divided into what I have called the three Great Bantu
families. The spiritual authorities of the Shona. who are at the same time the
earliest ancestors of the Shona. suggested that these three Great Bantu Tribes
descended from one man who had three wives. Other scholars have not failed
to see three ancient tribes in Africa. For instance. Delafosse "thought that
these Senufu (people 9f the Tassili rgion in the Sahara Desert) were onl of the
three indigenous peoples whom the migrants from the east and north-east had
found in possession of the land." ( l9)
After the creation of the three Great Bantu Families. any migrants from the
, Nile Valley were bound to consist of representatives of all.three. One group
might be dominant in a particular migration in the sense that it provided the
ruling House. but elements of the other two in sub-ordinate positions were
. most likely to be present. There was no one wave of migration from the Nile
Valley: they must have taken place both before and after the Great Bantu
Explosion after 600 A.D. But each wave. regardless of which of the three Great
Bantu Families ruled it was bound to contain segments of all three Great Bantu
Farnilies. Therefore. although Delafosse talks of "three indigenous peoples"
found by the migrants to the Tassili area. the migrants themselves must have
consisted of segments of the same three.
In 73ti A.D.. there wasan interesting report frorn Walib ibn Munibbeh. "The
descendants of the posterity of Kush. who was the son of Ham and the grand-
son of N,oah. include the peoples of the Sudan: and these are the Qaran. the
Zaghawa. the Habesha. the Qibt and the Barbar." (20) In 947 A.D.. El Masudi.
completed his "Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems". In it he wrote. "When
the descendants of Noah spread across the earth. the sons of Kush. the son of
Canaan. travelled toward the west and crossed the Nile. There. they separated:
some of them. the Nubians and the B eia and the Zanii, turned to the rightward.
between the east and the west: but the others. very numerous, marched toward
the setting sun . . .".
El Masudi mentions three groups again. the Nubians. [he Beja antt the Zanji. Ae
goes on to say that the Zanji "elected a king whom they called Waglimi. This'
name . . . was that of their kings from time immemorial." He adds that the Zanii
under this king. operated around Sofala. There is evidence of what was callecl
the Zenji Empire being destroyed by the Portuguese of Vasco da Gama.in
1498. We now know that the people who operated"south of the Zambezi River
around ff)O,A.D. were the Dziva-Hungwe people. Therefore. the people called
the Zanj by El Masudi and "Who peisevered in making their way inlo the far
south beyond the upper waters of the Nile" must of necessity be the Dziva-
Hungwe people whose descendants we have already seen in Zimbabwe.
Mozambique. Malawi. Zambia. Botswana and South Africa. L
tfl
 a
But if the Zani_wer-e definitely the ,Dziva-Hungwe people, might the Beja Bantu. This is so because they left Kush before the major characteristics r-rf
mentioned by Masudi not be the Tonga whom we tnoW io haveleen behincl Kushite civilization, including language and Christianity. tlad developed. Those
the Dziva-Hungwe people from the north'l If so, mightthe Nubians mentionecl who remained in the Nile Valley and were to start large scalc nrigrations after
by Masudi not be the Mbire Soko who were behincllhe Tonga from the north? 600 A.D. had been fully subjected to all the facets of Kushite civilization that
In view of the unfolding of early African history thar we are witnessing here, included Christianity and a special language associated with the Kingdom. It is
these are pertinent questions. The important point again is that thJ early these Africans. we here call Bantu
travellers were able to detect the existence in Africiof three identifiabll All this suggests that the father of all the .Negroes might be Kush: their
,.
grqupl of Africans. My impression is that the Beja were the people wp referrecl grandfather might be Canaan: their great grandfather might be Noah. These
to in this book as rhe Tonga and the Nubians were the Mbire Soko. names must have a historical origin and that origin must be associated with the
We have also seen Masucli saying that the "others, very numerous, marched ancestry of the Bantu and all the Negroes. That Africa is a "colony" of the
toward the setting sun." Thii means that more of these people migratecl Kingdom of Kush cannot logically be rejected. But the Kindom of Kush itself
towards the west from the Nile Valley. It was they who createcl the emplres of -was a "colony" of Egypt. It is therefore not inaccurate to describe black Africa
Ghana. Mali and Songhay: this proves beyond any doubt that the reports of as historically and culturally a "child of Egypt." The remaining chapters of this
these early Arab travelleis carry historicai facts. book will demonstrate this from the cultural angle.
The most exciting statement by both ibn Manhbbeh and El Masucli is that these
people- descended from Kush, the son of Canaan ancl granclson of Noah. In
view of what we have noted throughout Afiica south of the Sahara, we cannot
afford to regard this as a mere legencl. The Shona spiritual authorities have
stated in categorical terms that the Bantu descendecl from one man ancl
segmented into three families: the existence of these three families in Africa is
irrefutable. The Bantu certainly came from one corner of Africa in the Nile
Valley: the existence of a kingclom called Kush, that has hacl enormous
influence on Afric4. is unquestionable: that many kingcloms ancl tribes were
-huue-seen
named after the founding ancestors such as we in both southern
Africa and West, Africa is undeniable too. The possibility therefore that the
Kingdom of Kush was named aftei the man who first colonized it and who is the
ancestor of the Bantu. is very great.
Many communities in Africa were namecl after an ancestor olcler than the
founding ancestors of those particular communities. We have come across the
Venda of South Africa giving themselves the totem Nclou (elephant) after their
greatest known ancestor (also the ancestor of the Shona), Sotore-nzou, who
died centuries before the Venda forrnecl an inclependent community in both
Zimbabwe and the Transvaal. We have founcl them naming their fiantustan
capital T!9Vo ya Ndou (Sororenzou) more than a thousan? years after the
death of Murenga Sororenzou. So we cannot calculate the age of Kush the
ancestor from the time Kush the Kingdom came into existence. It is possible
that Kush is the first Negro man ever. Certainlv he was a very central figure in
the early history of black Africa.
Kush the kingdo1n yas certainly in existence by the year tJ00 B.C. ancl possibly
as earlv as I ffi)O B.C. Therefore the historical Kush existed berween t tXXl ana
ttOO'B.C. or was long dead. The three major segments the three Great Bantu t
Families -
- multiplied and grew in strengtfr. AOmitteclly, some branches of
these Great Families left the Nile Valley long before the Gieat Bantu Explosion
of the period after ffiO A.D. These are the Africans we called Negroes bur not
I
CHAPTER 5 1

T}TE UNITY OF BANTU AFRICA

"Lineages and clans, representing the Kingship system, aird villages and districts.
reprerJnting the territorial setting, form the basis of the social-political structure
of-societiesln'the Western Sudan. Above this level one should take account of
the ethnic groups which may be described as'nations'. Each of these nations
had in common language, history, customs, religion and a territory. . . . -A
nation is formed by different clans which fall into different categories of status:
nobles, freemen, iastemEn, serfs and slaves. The. political history is generally
that of the noble clans, and the process of state building is that of one noble
,clan asserting its authority over other groups and over the territories they
dccupy. The dominant clan then became the wealthiest by drawing from the
resources of its subjects." (21)
What Levtzion says above is valid for all Bantu Africa. He is describing the
situation in West Africa. This in itself shows the extent to which Africa is a unit
in political and social structure. We cannot argue that there are no differences
beiween one region of Africa and the next. or even between neighbouring
communities: differences there are and ought to be. But despite them. there is
remarkable unity in all Bantu Africa. A unity that is more striking than the
differences.
, The differences have come about as a result of geographical factols and
separate political, economic and. social development. The Africans in West
Africa parted with their cousins in southern Africa more than a thousand years
ago. The so-called "true Negroes" in West Africa must have lost links with their
cousins in Southern Africa at least two thousand years ago. The geographical
factors that influenced them all the way from the Nile Valley to West Africa
were different from those that influenced their cousins who migrated to
Southern Africa; the cultural influences to which they were subjected over all
these centuries were different from those that influenced their cousins in
southern Africa or Equatorial Africa for that matter: the leaders who made.
their history were different in initiative and capability from those that made the
histories of their cousins elsewhere in Africa. The remarkable degree of unity
and simitarity between various regions and communities is partly explained by-
the conservative rigidity of traditional societies and partly by the stubborn .

tenacity of Africanlraditional religion. At the same time. it demonstrates how'

strongly ingrained were the different facets of the Nile Valley civilization of
which the Africans themselves were a product. It strengthens the argument
that all the Bantu people came from the same corner of Africa and were all
subject to the same cultural influences before the Bantu Explosion of the
seventh century.
Before we analyse the common traits of Africa under different headinqs. let us
for a moment Lxamine the claims of Africans in vastly separated regions in .
"Bantu
reipect of their origins. These claims to common origins explain this
unity": if they had.no foundation. then that unity would not be there.

*; 7t
 a
The ancestors of the Shona of Zimbabwe claimed that they came
from the ZambeziRiver, were already in Zimbabwe by the year800A.D. I expressed the
ludan througrr Ethiopia. They went to the exrent of suggesting tlrut the three feeling that they might have settledin the regibn around the year 750 A.D. We
Great Bantu Families descended from one man in ttg: fr"ii" virr"y. Thus,
the came across Arab documents referring to the Zani Empire ruled by a king
Slona of Zimbabwe are in no doubt at all that the! came from north-east called Waqlimi, who controlled the region around,Sofala before the year I 000.
Africa' When we examined the Kwena and the Ngrniot gotswana and I made it clear that this was a reference to the Dziva-Hungwe people. the only
South,
Africa. we found them making exactly the same claim:'we found them Bantu people south of the Zambezi then.
even
talking,of their common traits with rh; Je;s;;i;.pi"'"i;;;;r'"rigin.
They Around the year I 000 A.D.. we saw the Mbire Soko people, "the mast'ers of the
pqinted to north-east Africa as their original home after the
fashion of the*
Shona. This is interes.ting especially if wei ealize that rhe Kwena land" crossing the Zambezi River and invading the Dziva-Hungwe Family, "the
and Nguni in
Botswana did n<x_really five togeth-er with the ancestors of the masters of the water". and driving them to the south and west where'they
ihona after the
initial parting in North-East Afiica. They ur. *h... they are today colonized South Africa and Botswana. The invaders then established, between
becase they
ran- away from their invaclers who created the Mutapa-Empire. the Zambezi ancl the Limpopo. the famous Mutapa Empire. This was arouncl
So the Kwena
and Nguni on one hand, and the Shona on the other, could not have the year I 000. as archaecilogists have esthblisheci.
influencecl
the thinking of the other since they lived apart. Yet they ur" Now let us return to West Africa and see when the first known empires
same claims in regard to their original homes.
J -----'-1 exactly the
-uling
appeared in that region.
Let us now cross over to the whole Sudan Belt. As we are going
to see most of Above, we noted Biobaku suggesting "that the founclers of Yoruba civilization
the migrants from the Nile vailey headed for the Lake Chaf
ur""u uno-Jt;;;;; in southern Nigeria reached their country between the seventh and the tenth
into West Africa-. One authority sums up the traditions of the Wesr African
centuries A.D., coming from the middle Nile." Lebeuf, talking about the Sao
peoples in the folkcwing terms,
in West Africa without i legend of - "There is practically no well-known people people of the Lak.e Chad area, "puts the date of their arrival in the Chad region
an eastern or a nortliern origin in the remote at not long before the tenth century A.D." About the same Sao people, Urvoy
past' Some of these traditions are complete enough to .nuf,l"
an intelligent pushes the date back and "regards them as being firmly settled on the east bank ,z
guess.at their-approximate clate. Thus Bircbaku hasTelt
able io sulg.rt thaithe of Lake Chad by the eighth century as well as possibly in the savannah country-
founders of Yorub a civilization in southern Nigeria reachecl
fiieir country to the north of Chad."' To this;. Davidson add, "Again one sees,. here (East
b-etween the seventh ancl tenth centuries A.D., .J*irg
(221 T o the east of Lake
from ttre miaOte Nile.,, Africa) as in West Africa, that it is the second half of the first millenium A.D. -
Chacl was the empire of Kanem, which was succeedecl the period, let us say, between 500 and I 000 A.D.
ln. Empire of Bornu. About them, the same authority writes, iiTo the east,
Imoreover, - which is crucial to the
study of later African development." This same authority remarks on the
th-ere was.Kanem, largest-of many states thaiwould emerge
in the findings of Huntingford concerning Kenya and Tanganyika and says, "Huntingford
wide grasslands which run betwein the Nigei and the Nile,
ancl with Bornu its has suggested an early dating limit of about A.D. 700 or somewhat earlier, for
successor, longest lived of ail the states of lhe Suclan. Its origins, gting
the same remote period as the origins of Songhay, also inter-"weavi
back to the beginning of this stone-building, metal-using agricultural civilization of
uyiractition Kenya and Tanganyika."
with the arrival of migrant peoples from thelasi and north-east.
And tradition
is easy to believe in this case, for these old trails from the valley
ottfre Nile must If we turn to the earliest empire that is known to have existecl in West Africa,
have known many who flecl from the wars ancl invasions set g"ing;u"cessively
the Ghana Empire, we also find it coming into existence at about the same
!v the.gollapse of Kush ancl the conquests of Axum and ihe of the time. The first mention of it is made by the Arab traveller, EI Fazari, just after
Arabs." (23) "l*irg in the
These are summaries of tire oral traditions oi tt ai.i.unr
800 A.D. and he called it "the land of gold". The second Arab traveller to
Sudan Belt from West Africa to the region east of Lake Chact. " All indications mention it was Kwarizmi around 833 A.D. and he went to the extent of marking
point to the Nile Valley as their originaf home. This is pre"isety
the Africans in southern- Africa saying. Are all these Africans
*t u, we founcl it on the map. i
in *iOety,;il;;;
regions ancl who parted more thin.a"thousand What emerges clearly from this exercise is that Bantu Africa was born between
v"urc us;;rdt,;g to tell the
same story of their origins in north-east Africi? WhaI woulcl
be tlieii..ti".
600 and I m A.D. The occupation of the continent by Africans with a knowledge
and what would they profit from it? Alternatively, shoulcl we clismiss of iron-working and building in stone and originating from the Nile Valley took
coincidence'J
it as place after 600 A.D. and was nearly complete by the year I 000 A.D. As far as
r West Africa was concerned, Bantu occupation was complete by the year I 000;
Before we consider the cultural traits of these Bantu migrants, let
us examine in southern Africa, there was still room south of the Limpopo River; neverthelgss,
the time southern Africa was occupied by these migrantsl I have
clearly
statecl Bantu Africa waS in existence by the year I 000 A.D. "lf the present peoples of
that the Dziva-Hungwe people, the firsi Bantu peiple to settle
south of the continental Africa began to multiply from rarity some 4 000 or 5 Offi years ago

73
 -W
onty in comparatively recent times
:ll":rllfpp".ulr^r,lat
last I 000 or I 500 years
perhaps within the
- In old Shona orthography, "v" was represented by "b". According to that old
- have'they betome realry num"rors and spread
across the continent and acquired thastrbngth they rruu"
l"auvl i;l orthography, the above sentence should readl*
tz+ I
Ba - nhu ba - ngu
" ba - kuru ba - kauya -kaona
rnj-s-is probably the most remarkable feiture of Bantu ba ba - kakunda
h,frica. Africans are
well-known to have been in existence on the continent In Sindebele and any of the Suthu and Nguni langi.rages, the sentence is:-
by tt y.ur 5 000 B.C.
Yet by the vear l00l t
P. t!:v _h-u9."ot muttifiiJaru*uticany. "More inreresting
still, they had not left the Aba - ntu ba - mi aba - dala ba - buya ba - bona ba - ngoba
trtile valley to o""lpy it resr of the continent. But all
of a sudden,'they radiated from ttre Nite vufi,Jv ufter" 600 A.D. and, in the Those who decided to call us Ba - NTU were impressed by the recurrence of
next
fo.urliundred years, Bantu Africa was born. Ii we examine this prefix "ba" in any given sentence in which "pers6n" ort'human being" is the
the history of the
Nile valley berween 300 A.D. and 700, there rr" ;;;;;;;;;;.nt, subject. They then combined the "ba" or "aba" with the constant stem-"NTU"
tr,ut musr
account for this dramatic sudden explosion of the Africans to form Ba - ntu or Aba - ntu and this simply means "people". By virtue of this,
that I have described
here as the Bantu Explosion and these are the conquest Doctor Bleek referreil to us as the "Bantu language group of peoples" simply
of Kush uy axum after
3m A'D' and the conquest of the area by Moslems after the meaning the people in whose languages ttie piefii "Ea" and tire rt"rn "NTUi'
death of Mohammed
but before 700 A.D. In-the light of the analytir of grnr, *igrriio^,t keeps on recurring in the sentence as shown above. From this and this alone,
just examined above, both.6uents are imiortant r, we have
but the tlortern corrquest of we became known as the Bantu people.
Fgypt and the neighbourhood after 630 A.D- t"'iv'tar the mosr But the question is, do we speak a related group of languages by accident? How
important. we do not seem to know enough about "pp.;;;;.
the details of this Moslem can it be that people in West Africa, thousands of miles away from those in
conquest
9,f Egvpt and her neighbourhooJ'but its effect on the Kushites and southern Africa, speak languages similar to those in the souihern tip of the
their neighbours was certainly -clramatic: continent? Are we to suppose that possibly there was a community that
We have noted practically all the African regions claiming marched through West and Equatorial Africa, conquering the inhabitants and
origins in the Nile inculcating elements of its language into the regions through which it passed'l
valley in North-East Afriia; we have seen thJmighty
senr Such a group has never been known to exist on this confinent. We ipeak a
shattered and shattering {ragments to the regioris wesr "*pt&ion-Gre.thar
and sourh of the Nile related group of languages because we have a common origin and a common
Valley, thereby bringin[ Ban"tu Africa into ex'istence iir
the next four hundred
years; we now need to examine the cothmon cultural ancestor. We are Kushites and the group of languages we speak is h Kushitic
traits of these fragments group of languages.
from the Nile Valley.
In spite of our different histories and our different environments after the
(t ) LTNGUTSTTp EVTDENCE initial parting in north-east Africa. our languages are still similar to this day.
The Africans called Bantu are so-called because they speak The following table should help in demonsrrating this.
a related group of
languages. The term Bantu itself is simply ttre pturai of MUNTU CLAN/AREA COUNTRY
meaning WORD MEANING
person or human being. B.ANTU or Abi-ntu me'ans
no more thart ..peopre,..
While the prefix.changes depending on whett subject or irr, ,"nrence is The Kulung Nigeria Yamba God
singular or plural,.or dipending on lhe class of "iit "
the noun that forms the subject .The Piya Nigeria Yamba God
of the sentence, the stem re*a]inr constant. For instance,
The Pero Nigeria Yamba God
Ba - NTU or Aba - NTU : people or human beings The Tagale Nigeria Yarnba God
Mu - NHU or Mu - NTU : person or human being
Chi . NHU or Isi - NTU = a thing
The Waja Nigeria Yamba God
Zvi - NHU or lzi - NTU rnlngs
The Cameroons Cameroon Yambe/Yembe God
Ka - NHU or Ka - NTU = small thing The Congo Zaire Yambe/Yembe God
Where Bantu (people).is sudect of the sentence, the prefix .,ba,,keeps on The Akan Ghana Nyame/Onyame God
ihe
reappearing at the.beginning of eve.y noun or adjective
---r- in that senten"". ii".. The Ashanti Ghana Nyame/Onyame God
Shona:-
is anexample in
The Shona Zimbabwe Yabe/Yave God
va - nhu va - ngu va - kuru va - kauya va - kaona va - kakunda The Nupe Nigeria Egba axe
My great people came and saw and conquered.
The Shona Zimbabwe Hubga battle axe

75
 *
CLAN/AREA COUNTRY WORD MEANING
.

The Swahili, CtAN/AREA COUNTRY WORD MEANING

East Africa Nyumba house
The Nyanja Malawi Nyumba The Iramba Tanzania Nzua sun
house
The Shona Zimbabwe Imba The Gogo Tanzania Inzua sun
house
The Meru Tanzania Iruva sun
The Swahili East Africa umba mould The Turu Tanzania Yuva sun
The Shona Zimbabwe umba mould The Pimbwe Tanzania Limi sun
The Bemba Zantbia The Nyamwezi Tanzania Lime sun
Mfula water
The Nyanja Malawi The Haya I anzanra Eizooba sun
Mvula water
The Shona The Ganda 'Ugancla Enjuba sun
Zimbabwe Mvura water
The Xosa South Africa The Amkole Ugancla Eizooba sun
Mvula water
The Kiga Uganda Eizooba sun
The Chewa Malawi Anadya The Nyoro Uganda
he ate Eizooba , sun
The Shona Zimbabwe Anodya The Shona Zimbabwe
he eats ZubalZuva sun
The Bungu Tanzania Izimungala forest spirit
The Kimbu Tanzania lmadimungala forest spirit
West Afiica West Africa Idimungala forest spirit While I am nt> philologist. a glance at the words above is enough to convince
The Shona Zimbabwe Dzimudzangara anyone that our languages are very similar and'must have a comnion, oiigin.
forest spirit
Realizing that almost all the com'munities [hat speak those languages are
The Nyanja Malawi Akazi hundreds, and in many cases thousands of miles apart and have been apart for
women
The Xosa South Africa Abafazi wellt>ver a thousand years, this is indeed remarkable and cannot be assignecl to
w()men
The Shona -zi*bob*. the realm of coincidence. The variations must be a result of the foreign cultural
Vakadzi women influences to which each community was subjectecl after parting witI its cousin
The Kimbu Tanzania Mwaana SON
- communities way back in north-east Africa. Cultures evolve and this includes
language. The Shona language has greatly evolved: for instance, it has lost the
The Shona Zimbabwe Mwana child lettter "L" and in every case. has replaced it with "r". The Nguni ancl Suthu
languages have been very much influenced by the Khoisan languages from
The Kimbu Tanzania which they have borrowed the "clicks". [n other words. evcry Bantu language
lmpungu eagle has evolved over the past centuries as a result of the various foreign influehces
The Shona Zimbabwc Chapungu hawk eagle impinging on it. ln spite of this. the similarities are clear ancl areixplainecl by
our common origins way back in the Nile Valley.
The Swahili East Africa Imbeva ,
rat
The Nyanja Malawi
All this makes it very clear that the term Bantu has no ethnic connotationi
Imbeva rat whatever. The Kushitic la.nguage itself was not static. It also evolved as a result
The Shona Zimbabwe Mbeva of cultural developments taking place within the Kushite kingclom. It evolvecl
mouse
as a result of foreign influences that came from Egypt, from. the Eastein
The Gusii Tanzania Erioba ,sun Mediterranean area and from the Arab world. By 600 A.D.. and largely as a
The Mbungwe Tanzania Djuwa sun result of this evolution and.the impact of foreign influences. the kuitritic
The Pare Tanzania. language had acquired definite features of its own. Because the Africans we
Izuva sun
The Isangu today call 'Bantu' were a component part of the Kushite community, they
Tanzania Dyioba sun inevitably acquired those features of the Kushitic language and this accounts
for the similarities in the Bantu languages.

77
 a
Tho.q9 Africa-n peoples who left the Nile Valley, ler us say before 300 A.D. are
not likely to have-b.".n speaking the Kushite languag a; it hacl ctevelopecl by
600 A.D. Such Africans do not fall under the term Bantu and or" *hat url
generally called by anthropologists "true Negroes." We have mentioned one
other important aspect of the Kushite civilizaiion of 600'A.D. rhat rhey clicl not
have, and this was Christianity. Thus, although the "true Negroes" were of
Kush, they were not of the Kushites of 600 A.D.
QI EGYPTIAN *PAGAN'' RETIGION
The unity of Bantu Africa can be clemonstratecl from far more than the
linguistic angle. Although I have statect thar rhe ancesrors of ilre Banru *ri.
Christian, evidence of the "pag6n" religion of Egypt is clear. This means that
Christianity was superim_pt>secl on the ancient retigi,rn of Egypt of which Kush
w?l ? province earlier. Christianity did not destroy elemenii of this Egyptian
relighcn, just as Christianity did not clesrroy all elements of our tra[itional
religion during the colonial era. The presence within the Bantu culture of
aspects of this ancient Egyptian religion is in itself eviclence of our Egyptian
origins.
It is well-known that the ancient Egyptians worshippecl the sun or Gocl of the
Sun. This Gocl was called .Amun ond *u, symbolizecl by the ram. Both the sun
and the ram n()t only featured in ancieni Bantu traclitions but still feature
prominently in our religious traditions to this day. I have taken the Shona of
Zimbabwe as "a c-ase study", peirtly because I can claim a thorough knowleclge
of these'people of which I am'a member ancl partly because the Siona are only
a segment of the people in southern Africa in general, Mozambique, Botswana
and South Africa. By covering the early. tradltions of Zimbabw6 we will have
Iargely covered those of Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa as well. I-et
us therefore examine the earliest ancestors of these people.
The greatest ancestral spirits of the Shona are callecl "Majukwa". All are
national spirits and are above the status of regional spirits. cullecl "Regional
Mhondoros". They are national because they livecl anct rulecl when the Mbire
Soko Family was one family rulecl by one man. This was before the tribal
segmentation and fragmentation of the period after I 5m A.D. which I discussed
!l."Froq Mutapa to Rhodes." The MAJUKWA are the Shona equivalent ro the
West African Divinities. They are lookect upon as nearest to Gocl ancl they
intercede between God and man. The greatest of the active Shona un".rtrul
spirits in this country is Murenga Sororenzou. He is the spirit that operated
from Njelele at the Matopos in ltt96 ancl who callecl for the liberation warof r
that year which, in conseque.nce, was given his name Chimurenga. Until my
own researches became known, European scholars have been calling him
MWARI (GoD), TJre Hamitoid Mbire High God, the Shona High spift, the
God of the Matopoii and the like; he was neier considered at rn oil""sior at all.
The next of the active Shona ancestral spirit's is Chaminuka who is the greatest
of the active mhondoros. But Chaminuka has an active sister too. the famous
Nehanda. He also has two brothers. Runji and Mushavatu. The dominant
personalities below these are Mutapa I and Mutapa II. Those who read "From
Mutapa to Rhodes" may remember that these Mutapas were both sons of
Chaminuka. The names of Mutapa I are Kutamadzoka. Mabwemashava.
r+
Mutuisinazita and those of Mutapa II are Chigwangu Rusvingo. We also come
across the father of Murenga Soiorenzou ancl this was Tovera. His own father
was Mambiri after whom the Soko segment that migrated to the south was
named - Mbire - and after whom the country was also called Mbire.
We know very little about Mambiri because he cloes not seem to have ever
become an active spiritual force in this country. Possibly he followed some bf
his descendants who went elsewhere in Africa. But Tovera, Murenga, Chaminuka,
Nehanda, Mabwemashava and Rusvingo have been closely associated with the
affairs of Zimbabwe ancl are the greatest active ancestors of the Shona. All
Were associated, as human beings, with the regions north of the ZambeziRiver.
Tovera might actually have migrated from Ethiopia to Kenya. On the other
hand, Mabwemashava and Rusvingo are also associated as human beiqgs with
Zimbabwe for the reason that it was they who drove out the Dziva-Hungwe
people and colonized it.
Because the great ancestors of the Shona are the ones who left tlle Nile Valley
for the south, they are more cfosely associated with the culturuf truim of thai
Nile Valley than their descendants. Examination of their regalia is very revealing.
All cover themselves with black mateiials that have white circular patches in
the centre and are about eight inches or so in diameter. Today, they demand
that their mediums put on black shirts or dresses with white circular patches
both in front and at the back. The following diagram shows an example of these
materials: -
Diagram of Jukwa material
79
 These white circular patches represent the sun and synrholize rheir association
with the Sun God of Egypt. rD
The Sun Gocl of Egypt was symbt>lized with a ram. Those who reacl "Fronr
Mutapa To Rhocles" may remimber that one of the demands of all these grear
Shona ancestral spirits was a ram. One ram was cleclicatecl to Tovera: ()nc t()
Mdrenga: one to Chaminuka: one to Mabwemashava (Mutapa It ancl ()ne to
Rusvingo (Mutapa I[). I do not know of any younger Shona ipirit to whom a
ram has ever been dedicated. This must be because, as we progress to younger
generations that are further ancl further away from these greit on""riurr. Ih"
links of these generations with Kush and Egypt become more ancl more
tenuous. The Sun God ceases to be a factor. In the rest of the Shona worlcl
today, the sheep is more associated with witches than with goocl ancestral
spirits. Yet our greatest ancestors look upon it as the noblest of clomestic
animals and the symbol of power. The presence of a ram in the home represents
protection against lightning. The Shona believe that the sheep is invuinerable
to lightning; they swear that no sheep is ever struck by lightning. The association
between the Sun God and the ram here is very clear. The very ancestralspirits
that cover their mediums with black material (or shirts. gowns dressesi that
have white circular patches in the centre to represent the s,.in. ure the very ones
to whom rams are dedicated. These are elements of Egyptian ancl Kushite
"pagan" religion surviving even after the invasion of Christianity.
Let us now look elsewhere in Africa and see if there is eviclence of this "pagan"
Egyptian religion. "The greatest of all the Egyptian temples of Nubia
- of the
southern land that would become the kingdom of Kush
- was built at Sulb on
the west bank of the Nile. Its avenue of approach was guardecl by rams ancl
lions carved in granite. Both rams and lions were taken to their temples at
Barkal. near Napata on the Nile. by the Kushite pharaohs of the twenty-fifth
dynasty - they who had conquered Egypt from the south. Thereafter. the ram.
symbolof Amun, became one of the great divine symbols of Kush: even to this
day, you may find many granite rams at Meroe ancl Naga as they lie cliscarclecl in
" the lonely sand. But the ram, symbol of Amuri, also founcl its goa-tit<e way along
the North African coast, for the Lybico-Berber peoples of that region ioot iI
from-the Egyptians just as the Kuchites did . Wherever its earliest origins
may have been . . . the sacred ram was carriecl far across the continent. M"any
African peoples have celebratecl its divinity. The Manclingo of the western
Sudan consider that the gocl of storm ancl thunclertakes eart[ly shape as a ram.
The Yoruba national god, Shango, appears with a ram's mask, ancl is equally
!!." goa of storm ancl thuncter. fne Baoule of the lvory Coast represent
Niannie, the personalized sky, with the mask of a ram: ancl t-he gocl of lightning
is also a ram for the Fon people of Dahomey. Divine rams in .rne grire .rt
another, with one significance or another, carry on right clown through the
Cameroons into the remtrte basin of the Congo. Carvers in woocl are maKing
them tc this clay." (25) If we consicler the I-it<e Chacl area, we come across
exactly the same. ". . .,.the Sao (tlf Kanem)constructecl towns (ancl) fashionecl
rams'heads in pottery . . .", (26)
li.From all this, it is very clearlhat the Egyptian S&n G.od symbolized by the ram
r cplead to many parts of Africa. It is clear too from the above quodations that. itr
Africa, it originated in Egypt and then was taken to,Kush; fiom Kush, it then
i lpreqt to the rest of Africa. The important point to observe is that the Egyptian
, Sun God was not taken to the rest-of Africa by Egyptian missionaries-oi this
i {ncient religion iir the way that European misiioniries brought the Chiistian
G91ne! to Africa in the nineteenth century. It was spread io other parts of
Africa by the very Africans who observed it as their religion in the NileVatldy.
The migration of these Africans to the rest of the continent also meant the
spread of these elements of this religion of ancient Egypt.
I The ubiquity of the ram in Africa is evidence that Christianity, which was
r.introduced into the Nile Valley, did not altogether destroy all thl elements of
, .the_ ancient religion of Eg5rpt and Kush; it alio provides further evidence that
', the Africans who occupy the continent of Africa originared in the Nile Valley.
'There is no other cornei of Africa that is known toiur. worshipped the Sun
: God tha-t-was symbolized by the ram. Cutturally, Kustrwur noiinilpendent of
lrEgypt. We are now in a position to go further and say that, culturally. Africa
: ry.* not-indepe_ndent of Kush. Fqom any angle, Baniu Africa is seen to be a
' direct child of Kush and a grpndihiH of Egypt.
(3) Drvrm KrNcsHrP
j': In the institution of Divine Kingship,'Africa exhibits absolute unity. In every
li.case, the_1oad to the divine kingships of continental Africa teads from Egypt
through Kush. The first known divine kingship in Africa is that of Egypt: the
next one is that of Kush. From Kush, it then spread to the rest of Africai But
,f.i, here again, it did notspread to continental Africa independently of the people
S., who practised it in the Nile Valley. The migration of the Africans from the
fr,' valley to the rest of continental Africa meant ihe spread of the cultural traits of
valley to the rest of Africa and these included the institution of divine "
#, [|"
ff::[ kTg, of Egypt and Kush were divine is accepted; that the kings and
,ffi chiefs qf Africa were and are still divine is also a fact. An African state was and
#: is a theocracy. This is so because it isirintty owned and ruled by both the dead
ff,'ald the. living but with the former as the superlor partneis. Both the land anb
t,t lht chitjftainship itself do not belong to the living but to the dead part.ners. The
ifi livingare the vicars, the tenants, and never the outright owners oi the land and
il; tJt that may be in it. The chief is the "owner" of the land only in so far as he is.
direct representative '
fl; lhe of the founding ancestor of the stare who is deemed to
be the real owner of the land and the state.
i,
The institution of diving kingship touches on aspects of the basic philosophy o{
African religion in general and, in the African mind, this goes back to the
trcginning of human creation. Those interested in the details of this religious
y should read my "The Dynamics of Traditional Religion." which
8r
 artd irtferiority i' Whether or not this is the sort of reasoning that accounts for the genesis of th'e
deals with this'sublect. In .A,frican relglousphilosophy, luperiority "I am riot in a position to state
. institution of Divine Monarchy in Egypt,
;;;ured in tirms of distance fiom the Creatoi"since the creation of the
human categor-iCally. But in the rest of Africa, this reasoning is unquestionable. The
iiort urnun being or the first generation of human beings, a hierarchy of
reader who is interested in the details of this philosophy is again referred to
creation has aevElopid and &ntinues to develop. A! the apex o[ the pyramid
is
living Chapter I of "The Dynamics of Traditional Religion" where an attempt to
il;]ffi lirfi Ging to be created; at the bottomof thb superior in the whole pyramid are the
produce the evidence was made. However,'in view of the fact that all African
. ;gs. it i tirtt t uirun being is the blcause greatEst.and most
h9.is the progenitor of humanity
"cultural roads" definitely lead from Egypt through Kush, it is very possible
[f"ri."t y of human creation,-partly that this was the philosophy behind the beginning of this institution in Egypt:
iir"fi partly b"""u." he ii the nearest to the Creator. The source of all 'continental
""a to the Creator is inferior Kush then inherited it from Egypt and passed it on to the rest of
p"*Li wisdom is the Creator; hevho is nearest
""0 "ll other. In the whole hierarchy of human Africa.
InJ o"f, to the Creator and to no
he is the greatest,.most powerful and inost divine' The king was more; than a human being.'.He carried the divine power of his
"i*titri
The African believes ttrat this is so mainly because only this t"n, or the first ancestors on whose behalf he was ruling. These ancestors had in turn obtained
;;;;;il;ot *in, knows the Creator. He knows the Creator, the source of-1ll it from the greater forces above them in the hierarchical chain of creation. As a
the time of creation. He result of this, the fate of the state was closely bound up with the state of the king
f,o.""., because he was in direct touch with him at all hig power direct
received
ieceived all his orders direct from the Creator; he
the first man only - physical, moral, and so on. The poor health of the king was deemed to affect
il; th" Cr*t"r. tn" generations that descended from adversely "the health" of the whole state. Likewise, his urihappiness or poverty
il;; A; C.reir"r indireJtly through the first man. fhose who, in the hierarc.hy was deembd to affect the happiness or economic health of the whole state. It
;ilma; ci"ation, ui" n""r the so-urce of power, are is an absolute more powerful than those was therefore incumbent upon every member of the state to keep the King
iuiifr"i from ihir rour"e. This being the case, there need to ' t appy, fit and prosperous f.or the good of the whole state an.d, therefore. every
"*ay
tg;; in touch with those nearer to the Creator wh9, in consequence' know individual within the state. For evidence of all this, we need to look across the
moie about Him and are more powerful' continent of Africa again.
To the African mind therefore, to sever links with the hierarchy-1bove i; . Levtzion writes, 'The monarchies of the Sudanese Kingdoms and dmpires [ad
tantamount to r"n"iing links with the source of power, the Creator. This would their origins in the Officd gf the head of a clan or chief of a small chieftaincyl ln
be unthinkable, hence"links with the whole chain of creation is maintained.
To :
lipk both theie, secular authority had been combined with religious priesthood. But
i"p ii"[ of in" amountstotapping the whole chain, to breakone
it appears that as they developed into monarchies, the sacred element was
""" to breaking
amounts "hainthe whole chain. . emphasised. Indeed, elements of divine kingship may be traced in those
For our,purposes, what is of importance is that the first man to be created
received
was a
from
, monarchies." To this, Al'Muhallabi, writing on Kanem, adds, - "People
p"iiti""f i"iigiour, iconomic and social animal. The orders he approach the monarch prostrating, rolling on the ground and putting dust on
covered every aspect ofhis life. The government he created for his their heads and no one is allowed to sneeze in the presence of the king." About
ttie creator
;hilil;;;d grandchildrln rias inevitably a theocraticfrom government. In such a the people of the Benue River of Nigeria. Davidson writes, - "The divine
,"n".n."nt. ih"r" could be no economiclife dirorced religion or politics- kingship of the Jukun of Benue River, in Nigeria recalls the divine kingship'of
iif of life were inseparably inter-woven. Likewise, the polities created -Kush and Egypt; and is far from being alone in that respect."
'"f;hiJ;r"g"ny
"ip".ti were theocracies. Thefirst ancestor was the real ruler of those
6[,id,oTtn ine iounders of dynasties as not the vicars and direct representatives Darfur is'about six hundred miles to the west of the Nile Valley and in the
'sahara
on earth. These founding anceitott could be independ"lt of him for hewas desert. It. too was not free from Egyptian influence. About it. Arkell
tt on" otro iruiy fn"* the Creator and His wishes. To sever links with- states, "There are so many parallels between thd lnstitutions of the divine
him amounted to seriiing links with the Creator who was also the source of all
"tonri kingdom of Darfur and those of the divine kingdom of Kush-that it seems
;;;;;.-A;;;;d=idto ni"r ptitorophy, there is no-generation in the whole probable that they are due tothe foundation of a kingdom in Darfur by the
fiierarchy of creaiion that can be independent of the one above'it. In other exiled royal family of Meroe after the fall of that city." In the $udan Republicof
words, there is;; living being who can be independent of his ancestry. T9' be t$ay, there is a tribe called the Shilluk. The founding ancestor of this community
inaelenaent is to lose-all lin-ks with the source of all power'and is therefoie is called Nyikang. About this community, Evans-Pritchard writes. - "We can
tantamount to losing all Power only understand the place of the kingship in Shilluk society when we realize
thai it is not the individual at any time-reigning who is king, but Nyikang who is
This is precisely theone thing the kings and chiefs of Africa cannot afford to the medium between man and God, and is believed in some way to participate
do. Inevitably, ih" Afri"an ch'ief was ind is a divine ruler because he rules by in God as he does in the king."
virtue of divihe powir from the Most Divine, the Creator.

E3
E2
 This immediately reminds us of the African religious p.hilosophy analysed
above. That the chief here on earth is not the real ruler*is'plain enough. That
t
the king in Shilluk society, as in every other African socidty. is not independent
of the forces above him, culminating in the Creator, is also evident.
Evans-Pritchard goes on, "Our authorities say that the Shilluk believe that
sllould the king b-ecome phyiically weak, the whole people might suffer, and
further, that if a king becomes sick or senile he should be killed to avoid some
grave national misfortune, such as defeat in war, epidemic or famine. The king
must be killed to save the kingship and, with it, thelvhole Shilluk people."
It is clear from this that the ^A,frican king was indeed more than a human being.
His fate was bound up with the fate of his state. This was so because he was a
theocratic king. In him was vested part of the power and authority of the
founding ahcestor of the state. That founding ancestor was indirectly in touch
with the Creator, the source of all power through the generations above him.
What Evans-Pritchard describes above is not only true of the Shilluk community
of the Sudan but is also lenerally true of every African chiefdom. Here again, it
is not an accident that all Africa south of the Sahara should'have the institution
.of divine kingship in common. There has been no,African in the past who might
have marched from one region to another, converting every African chiefdom
to divine monarchy. The ubiquity of this institution can only'be explained by
the common origins of the Africans in the Nile Valley. After the initial
separation of those Africans that headed for West Africa and those that headed
for southern Africa after 600 A.D., we cannot imagine that links were ever
again established between them. Their common culturil traits that are discernible
ev.en todly mult of necessity havg been features of their civilization when they
were still tbgether in the Nile Valley.
(4 } CIIRISTIAMTY
I consider this section to be particularly important. While all the other sections
help us to know and understand the nature of the civilization of the A,friclans
who colonized ,Africa they do not pinpoint when these peoples left north-east
Africa for the whole continent. We know when Christianity was born; we know
too when it came to the Nile Valley. This very much helps us to determine
when the Bantu left Kush and the neighbourhood. It helps us too to differentiate
between those Africans referred to as "true Negroes" and those called Bantu.
The difference is one of distinctigns in culture, and Christianity, in addition to
others such aq language, forms one of the major dividing lines.
That the Bantu were Christian when they left north-east Africa is irrefutable. It
dan only be denied if there were some other religion elpewhere in the world that
was associated with the cross. As far as I know, the cross was'associated with
the crucifixion of Jesus and no other. Therefore, any pgople who associated
with the cross were associating themselves with Jesus and were therefore
. Christians. If this is* correct, it becomes a simple historical fact that our
ancestors were Christian by the time they migrated out of the Nile Valley.
u 85
I Furthermore, African association with Christianity in itself is historical evidence
; that the,ancestors of the Bantu originated from the Nile Valley. Before the year
t 000 A.D., Christianity did not exist anywhere else in Africa outside'Egypt,
, . Nubia (Kush) and Ethiopia. There may be tfaces of early Christianity in some
: parts'of the African Meditteranean coast such as Libya. But this is known to
' have been taken over there by the Berbers who themselves were a segment of
: the same Africans .or Negro-Hamitic peoples from Egypt. The eastern
:; .Mediterranean
r.r^ltr-.^-^-
region
-!^- and
---J
tr---!-
Syria are
-.-- t --
known, ^,to t--have- adopted
,i-,a- r
^L,!
-!, -!^-
Christianity.
r^ !-
It is
' alrnost certain that it was Christians from this region who brought Christianity
, to Egypt from which it Spread to Kush. The important point is that itcame into
Africa through the Nilp Valley alone.
i
In the fifteenth century, even Europe heard rumours of the existenge of
Christianity in one corner of the .A,frican continent and that was Ethiopia. One
, of the objettives of Prince Henry the Navigator was to establish links.Letween
, Portugal and Ethiopia. This was so because Ethiopia was- rumoured to be
I Christian and Christian Portugal wanted to establish an alliance with that one
,' part of the $.frican continent that was thought to be Christian"and together
, organize a c.rusade against Islain. This in itself is evidence that Christianity is
not known to have existed in'any part of Africa other than the north-eastern
corner. This is the very corner from which the Bantu emigrated and. inevitably.
i"'- they were Christian. This information-in itself is vital bec4use it very much
i tretps us to clarify several important aspec6 of African history that hhVe, been
/ so far nebulous or have been in the lls rgalrrts
realms urof sP(i(
speculation.
Let us first find out when Christianity was introduced iirto the Nile Valley and
the horn of Africa. All evidence is conclusive that it was introduced into the
horn of Africa after 300 A.D. and not before. This is not to suggest that no
Africans left this region before the year 300. I have already hinted that those
j: who left the Valley before about 300 were those referred to as the, "true
,. Negroes." they missed Christianity or Christianity missed them; the later
linguistic developments for which those who left Nubia after 600 A.D. were
i ': called Bantu had not yet reachbd fruition; they did not experience the advances
: that took place in the region.in the fields of iron technology and architecture
i after 300 A.D. It was thesp developments that made'the earlier emigrants
culturally different from the later migrants who precipitated what I have.here
calleil the Great Bantu Explosion of the period after 600 A.D.
I
The fact that the Bantu migrants were Christian also helps us to discover the
main causes of the Great Bantu Explosion. Because the great migration was
I sudden, explosive and far-reac6ing.in its consequences oi the wh6b African'
,' continent, it must have been caused by a factor or set of factors that was
equally sudden, drastic and explosive. By scrutinizing the events of the period
,. between, let us say,.500 and 700 A.D., we can pinpoint the causes of this Great
Bantu Explosion. From this alone, the reader should be able to appreciate.the
ii. significance of this early Nubian Christianity in helping us to underctand
ir'
i' irnnortanf
important fhreorlc
threads rif
of ezrrlv Afrinon hislory.
early African hictnru
 Writing about Ethiopia. Huntingford states, - "In A.D.'333, Christianity was
l.frorrtthe Byzantines and a treaty was signed whereby [t was incorporated-infhe
introduced by a Syrian named Frumentius. Accordingto both traditions and At"U g*pir"."
-*i"p H"co"nquest
goes on to say, "From Egypt, they qove$ yestwards, in a
-
theGreek and l,atin historians, Frumentius, after establishing the new religion, gr"* of that was-to bring-them to the Atlantic -.: - coast
^^ ^-+ of
^t
. visited St. Athanasius, the famous Patriarch of .A,lexandria and was made by f,{oto"co, and across the sea'into Spain, Sicily and even France"' , .

him head of the new Ethiopian Church . . . ". The king of Axum who was _It must be to this gleat surge of Mfislim conque_st we must look for
-that eQ tq Z{'
converded by Frumentius wai calledEzana. After his conversion, Ezanamade ; ffiianation "t ti'" sudde-n Bantu Explosion of the century
not clear. It is
Chiistianity the official religion of the country and it has continued to this duy " Ei""tiy what these Arab Moslems did in-the land of Nubia is
to be a force of immense power throughout Ethiopia, permeating all phases of - p"*iUi" that they conquered Nubia; if they djd not, ryly E-qYPtians-must fave
Ethiopian'life. hed from the Muslim-conquest and rushed up the Nile Valley. If so, these
This means that Christianity was introducEd into the Egyptian Nile delta just Egyptians set in motion u iirtuul human avalanche which sent shock waves
the west of the valley in the direction of the lake
6ili6ifr"Nii" Valley and to were
before it was introduced into Ethiopia. This is likely to have been after 300
A.D. However, it took longer for Christian missionaries to introduce this new tnua ireu. By 750 thd Bantu in West Africa and the Ghana Empire was
religion into Nubia (Kush), which is of greater interest to us here. About this, , t"lirrg shape.in the southern direction, the Dziva-IJungwe P.9"PI" 1 who were
;H"tt[" Wuqlimi -- ?ppear to have crossed [he Zambezi.River, and the
Davidson writes, - "Converted in the iixth century by missionaries from the
eastern Mediterranean, these Nubians of the middle Nile remained Christian ianjErirpire was^also takin! shape. By about the year.l 000, the Mbire Soko
until overwhelmed'by Islamic invasion not much less than I 000 years later. : people crossed the ZamUeii River and started to drive the Dziva'Hungn'e
ieobfe south "t ifi" Limpopo River and into S. Africa and.
Botswana.
Their culture left a permanent mark on the eastern Sudan mainly through the
Nubian language (which won us the name Bantu); but its visible remains today I have insistedihat the Bantu who colonized .Africa after 600 A.D. were
aside. In
are little more than a handful of ruined red brick churches, some fine muralsor Christian. The evidence is overwhelming and cannot be brushed
fragments of murals and a great deal of handsome painted pottery. Only future I the Shoni of Zimbabwe as our "case study':.
several bases abovi, have used I
research can show how far these Christian kingdoms of Nubia served as a link Irt us look at them once more und t"" what information is available.
between the lands to the west and the lands to the north and east (and of course
In..From Mutapa To Rhodes" I.tut"d that when I travelled from one part of
the lands to the south.), and how raised a barrier."
t"rth"V this country to another consulting with spirit mediums in the initial stages of my
So far, the position then is that Christianity was introduced into l.ower Egypt research, f*as rather surprised
'by
Io find the symbol of the cross sewn onto the
just after 300 A.D. and, as evidence of it, we came across the Patriarch of ;;il;il ,nO"crosgis"
trutr put on the medjums of bur grea! ancestral spirits. Asked
Alexandria. It was next introduced into Ethiopia by a Syrian called Frumentius what these ty.boliZed, the answer was invariably, ':This is our -
in the year 333 A.D. Then it was introduced into Nubia (Kush) between 500 and
t,
truaition." But I could not u"""pt this at its face value, because I knew that
600 A.D. by missionaries from the eastern Mediterranean area. When Axum trisi"ricatly the cross was associated with Christihnity and nothing else.
invaded, conquering Kush and destroying Meroe in the fourth cantury, Nubia
was clearly not yet Christian. Many Nubians (Kushites) were of course driven As I pursued my research over the years, I continued to come 19r9ss the '
symbol of the
-tiaditional For instance, I ui"ornpunied several spirit mediums and
out of the Nile Valley and no doubt some of them drifted to the west towards "rLs.who were exorcising evii spirits (such as witchcraft spirits)'
West Africa and others drifted to the south towards the great East African doctors
Lakes. But this drift did not bring about the birth of Bantu Africa. Bantu Africa ufi;"ipiffing*, ritually, dangerous avEngingspirits such as spirits of people
was created by Africans who were Christian. We therefore have to consider who had beeir murdeied bi the ancestors of the families they were n9*
another cause of the Bantu Explosion which must havd taken place after 600
traunting for justice. After exorcising each evil spirit 9r lve.nging spirit.'the
A.D. Any such explosion thht took place up to 500 A.D. could not have .piril-;Aid oi traditional doctor-m1d-e 1tre .sYmU.9t.9f t\e.in"t"Y"1,1t:
scattered Christian fragments flom Nubia into all Africa because Nubia was forehead cnd on the back of the head with ritual snuff dipped water. Here
-- not yet Christi'an. But any dramatic and explosive event that took place in again, on asking them what the sign symbolized, the answer in every case wa$
Fgypt and Nubia after 600 was bound to scatter into Africa Christian fragments "This'is our traEition." But surelfevery tradition must have historical origins!
from the Nile Valley. This event.was the conquest of the area by the followers
of the Prophet Mohammed and this took place soon after the death of the Next, I watched how the spirit medium made the ritual snuff itself. Traditional
Prophet in 632.
' African tobacco (not the iyp"r that were introduced by the Europeans at the
About this, we earlier came across Bernard Lrwis saying, - "It was in the year time of colonial occupationi ir ground into a powder that is then loaded irito a
- 639 that the Mgslim Arabs, who had already conquered Syria and Palestine, smafl gourd. The gouia is clJsed with a tfuht- wooden stoPper. Then the
.appeared on the eastern'borders of Egypt. By 641, Egypt had been wrested medium looks for iwo clay pots. Inside onJof these pots, twigs of special

E?
86
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parasites are a-rranged in the forni of a cross. Some green leaves
from special :
P-robably, the most amazing development is that associated with Chaminuka,
rees a-re P119ed, of the parasite twrgs. The rittrJgo'uiJ
?n.lqp siruttis the greatest active mhondoro of th6 country. The $hona refer to Chaminuka
, then placed insidg the pot on top of the i*igs and watlbr ir aao"o;
"ontuining
The second as a propbet. There are many things he is believed to have prophesied, the last
pot i! turned upside down and-is used as lhe [d for ttre pot containing
the of which is said to have been the coming of the Europeans'into this country in
gourd.. Ffel! then made and the water in the bottom pot Loib
and heats the t890. The Ndebele murdered his medium in 1883. iust before he died, tre is
gourd in it. This lasts for about an hour until the snuff is deemed rilti;;;. .believed to have warned them that he was going to bring into the stitt-
The-interesting thing here onc is the arrangement of the parasite twigs in ,. lgg8e{ peciple (people wearing long pairs of troirsers) *[o would "ourrtiy
strike fire on
Torg
lheilfinger tips,(matches) and would bring a huge rock with them that would
the"spirit medium and traditional doctors *ar, "Thir ir ouitraOiiior."
Certainty "run" across- the whsle length of the country (train). The purpose of their
this was in accordance with traditions but I was interdstiO i.
!v f.""w coming would be to desroy Ndebele power- and this was beliived to be a
how such sa
'Lrtv " 'vv' osvrr t
, tradition gver startgd. punishment to them for killing his medium;
What the Shona diii not know was that he is a prophet because he works in
In t 965, I made my first visit to the Mdtojeni national shrine in the Matopo association with a prophetic spirii. The spirit originated from a man who
hills.
I was in the company of a family that wis looking for u rpiriiuuifo.",
old and- li-mself was not Africair. Earliei, I gave his name ui Nguuru. rnimu; *;;
.poyverful enbugh to "service" and old ancestral $iri,t ha;;ting on" of it Christian missionary prophet yhg performed his missiSnary work among the
As I revealed in "Frbm Mutapa to Rhodes", it was discovered that "r". ancestors of the Shona in the Nile Valley. H9 lived with them and died amJngst
thisman was
being pestered by a whole chain of big ancestors tfr" St them. After his death, he came back to worli as a spirit among the descendaits
The firsi
one of them was Mabwemashava wh6 is Mutapa "t I; the oe*t"nuFu*ify.
** of the people he had closely associated with in the Nile ValleylHis first mediur4
irsuingo *tro
is Mutapa iI, the third *ur Chu.inuka, theiriattrer; the was Chaminuka, the son of Murenga. After the death of Chaminuka, he tooit
fourth was Murenga
Sororenzou, the father of chaminuka; the fifth was Tovera, Murbngrtil;;"; Pogession of the same medium with Chaminuka himself: Since then, the two of
. These are.the greatest known ancestors of the
them huYg always possessed the same medium. Because he was a prophet when
Shoaa. rt *6
ttrey wrr6 *igruiiJ
from north-east Africa towards the south. It was Mabwemashava and a livingbeing,
who crossed the ZambeziRiver into this
Ruivingo I"Irt li-s.medium automatically acquires this propireti'c element.
But because he himself is not arl ancestor of tire Shona (he ii a fbreign'spirit
ut ire h;ad; rh" Mbire Soko -
Family. It was they who founded the Mutapa"ountrybmpire. It.was tro1n shavi) he works in the name of Ch'aminuka.
great ancestors that the Shona inherited the iymbotism of the
tt"r;ii;; A few rituals have_already been organized for this prophetic spirit. He covers
crosS; Therefore,
these great-ancestors, I felt, should'be able-to give us the answer himself (or his medium) with white materials. He ,"ia.sa white-robe that flows
r"grrding ttrb
origins of the symbol of the cross among theifdescendants. to $e ground with long sleeves. He carries with him a long stick with a hooked
Before very long, I had the answer. Several rituals were organized e-ndfgry m-u-ch after the fashion <jf the biblical shepherds. [{e does not part with
for these the Bible although I am not yet sure that he is abli to read it. He rpeakr several
great ancestors. Because there are no ancestral spirits in this-country
old and 't
ryyerfyt eno*ugh to "service" these returning uncesio.s, they instructed members
languages anii he claims that he learned them as he u"n"rGo iril;b;;;"y';
of their medium to "service; them. .After "6leansing up' gguntty preaching th9.Gosp9l. One cannot doubt that he is a Christian missionay
.o.tll._l*ilv of if one can see what his medium does when he is possessed with this prophetic
these ancestors, the officiant was instructed to make the sign
'forehead of the cross "nr
on the spirit.
and the back of the head wittr iituairrrrf. As he riade the sign, he wa3
instructed to say "we have done this in the name of Jesus Christ ourTuuiourl Here is further evidence of Christianity among the ancestors of the Shona .We '
After exorcising an evil spirit or-after expelling an avenging rpiiit, he would have seen the symbolism of the cross in many Shona rituals; we have actuh1y .

repeat the same wordg as he made the sign of tTre cross. 'seen some of these ancestors conducting their rittrals "in the name of Jesus
Chiist our Saviour;" and now, we actuallisee the spirit of a Christian prophet
f$ ry {onggr as a surpiise. I had always associated the cross with in action among the Shona. The symbolism of the'cross clearly has histoiical
-came
- Christianity.
So the of twigs, at the bottom of ttr" porin *t ict rituat snuff
g.lrgln!. That the junior anceStors give the ansiver regarding this symbolism as
was made, meant *We
-ctoss
are making this snuff in the nurn. of Jezus Christ our "This is our tradition" is not surprising. They. simply-inhenrted the symbolism
Saviour." Now that we know thaiour ancestors came from Christian Nubia,
from their own ancestors who were fiersonilly invbtved in Christianity; but
there should be nothing surprising about;iithi;. If the symbolism
' christian ilh" p.;: i
religion of Egypt anaruln is still with us-ro day I the sun and the ram th"y themselves did not know how it had originated because they had not y"t .
been born and never personally experienced it. As years passed, the words;In
- Yhy should we exPect all traces of Nubian Christianity to Ui completely the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour" were forgoiten and only the symbolism
-dead among our an@stors? remained.
 I
All of the above constitutes very strong evidence that'gur anoestors did not
leave the Nile Valley until after tir" yeui600.A.D. A ceptirry thereafter, Bantu
Africa had been Lrorn from Christian Nubia (Kush), for ihese Nubians spread to
every corher of Africa south of the Sahara with their Christianity. We now
need to examine evidence of this in the other regions of the continent
The Darfur region is about six hundred miles to the west of the middle Nile and
abciut half way between the Nile and the Niger. About this region, Davidson
writes, - |But Ain Fara, in 1958, would provide an archaeological surprise.
For it suddenly appeared probable, and perhaps certain, that this tumbled
structUre on the crown of a bare.hill, . . . was not the ruin of a palace but the
ruin of a monastry of Christian Nubia."
ln l9L9,a British Visitor to Ain Fara collected fragmentsof pottery and in 1958
presented,them to Doctor Arkell of tondon Univirsity. Davidson again writes,
- "Doctor Arkell immediately recognised them as Nubian Christian ware.
One of them, and the Christian evidence could hardly be clearer, is the
fragment of a saucer finely painted with a fish and a cross; and the other is a
pieie of terracotta stamped with a dove's head and a cross; both of them may
date from about the tenth century."
Thus the existence of Christianity in the. Darfur area and after 600 A.D. is
undeniable. As stated earlier, this Christianity was not taken to this region or
any other outside'the Nile Valley by itinerant missionaries. It was taken by
migrants from Nubia and it had become a feature of their life.
Furthermore, now that we know that the Bantu were divided into the three
Great Bantu Families, and now that we know their main distinguishing features,
we are in a position to identify the family associated with the fragments of
pottery described by Doctor Arkell as "Nubian Christian ware" above. These
must be members of the Dziva-Hungwe complex
- "the masters of the water."
As we saw elsewhere in Southern Africa, they associated and still associate
themselves with'water and aquatic animals. The fish painted on the fragment ot
thg saucer is identification with water. The very same people also identified
themselves with the bird and this is why I refer to them as the Dziva-Hrmgwe
people. The Hungwe is the fish eagle and in Zimbabwe it is represented by the
Zimbabwe Bird. .{,s the Dziva-Hungwe Family grew and segmented, some of
the off-shoots started to identify themselves with other birds. Here in Zimbabwe,
we havg severalsegments of this family who are known by the totem SHIRI and
this simply means BIRD, which is Matabeleland is called NYONI. Some of
them have taken up the dove for their totem and are called Njiva or Chiwa,
which means dove. There are no members of the Soko or Tonga Famities in
this country that associate themselves with birds of any sort. I have no reasons
to expect the situation in lOth century Darfur to have been any different.
Therefore, the tqrracotta stamped wittr-a dove's head and the r"rl"r painted
with a fish must necessarily represent members of the Dziva-Hungwe people.
The cross o! both fragments iepresents Christianity. I may addihat no iess
than seven soapstofie-carvings of fish were discoyered atGreat Zimbabwe;
\
several soapstone carvings of birds, includidg the famous Zimbabwe Bird,
were also found there. Both the birds and the fish represent nlembers of the
Dziva-Hungwe Family who "tamed" this land before the invasioh of the Mbire
Soko people around i OOO A.D. It is also interesting to note that Doctor Arkell
thought that the fragments of pottery referred to above ip connection with Ain
Fara-were-likely to be remains of the tenth century, just about the time the
r' Dziva-Hunj*e f,eople took possession of the land souih of the ZambeziValley.
/
If therefore yoq come across bird paintings or carvings or any representation of
birds, you have most certainly come across something representing members
of the Dziva-Hungwe Family. On the other hand, if you come across a serpent
carved, painted or pprtrayed in any other way, it represents members of "the
masters of the lgnd" - the Great Soko Family.
We need to resort to our Shona case study again for evidence of this..Chaminuka
the great Shona spirit, is known as a snake charmer. He is associated with three
-
snakes, one of which is known by the name MABOTA.
Furthermore, the Jukwa spirits (the great national spirits or the divinities) are
sbmetimes called "Nyoka", meaning "snake". What is interesting is that when
- one of these great spirits possesses a medium, the medium actually glid6s on his
or her'chest like asnake. It is this bghaviour that has led some scholars into
thinking that there are some snake spirits that possess human beings in this
country. These are simply Jukwa spirits that associate themselves with snakbs.
Thus whilst the fish and any bird represents members of 'the Dziva-Hungwe
--Family, the serpent represents members of the Soko Family. This identification
with the fish, the bird or the serpent did not start in Zimbabwe or in West
Airica but in the Nile Valley. As the Bantu radiated from the Nile Valley into
the rest of Africa they took their symbolisrns with them.
However, we have digressed sdmewhat. Our attention should be centred on the
existence of Christianity in other regions of Africa. We have come acrct'ss
evidence of Christianity among the'ancestors of the Shona, and in the Darfur
area, When the Portuguese sailors of Prince Henry the Navigator reached the
, West Africalr coast in the fifteenth century, they made a rep-ort to the Kirig of
Portugal on the presence in Benin (Nigeria) of a powerful monarch'called
Ogane. - "In accordance with a very ancient custom, the kings of Beni, on
ascending the throne, sent ambassadors to him (Ogane) with rich gifts to
infofm him that, by the decease of their predecessor, thoy had succeeded to the
Kingdom of Beni, and to request him to confirm them in the same. As a sign of
" confirmation ihis Prince Ogane sent them'a staff and headpiece.. . . made all of
shining brass . . .. He also sent a cross, of the safne brass and shaped like
i -
something religious and holy. Without these emblems the people would tonsider
that they did not reign lawfully, nor could they call themselves true kings." (n).
Clearly, the crosi had become part of the royal emblem. The repo-rter makes it *
clear that this was in accordance with a very anbient custom, and therefore it
had deep roots in the society.
'
9r
 a
If we move to the Congo Region, we find J. Vansina writing, "The deacl were
burieil with their resseis and"their ornaments. lt eri ip.'irO? .oppri orO i*n
gbjects such as beltg, pins and already the so-called Kaiangu fnir crors
"roir." in .Africa.
has been found in one form or another by archaeologists eierywhbre
Walton talks of the evidence as pointing ",othe conllusion tirat the.ingot (the
cfoss and the "H"-shaped ingot) ieachei'S. Rhodesia from north-east ifrica at
- the beginning of the Mopomotapa period.;' Practically all the main elements of
the civilization of our early ancestors are easily tiaceible to north-east Africa.
- secret society, whictr was highly honoured and privileged, it-is very possible
C1rristianity is no exception and we cannot rejeCt the evidence that our ancestors
were christian when they migrated to the rest of Africa
I wish to remind the reader that although the existenceof Christianity helps to
strengthen my argulnent that the ancJstors of the Bantu came from the Nile
Valley, its greater significance lies in almost pinpointing the time these ancdsrors
left northfast Africa. This is something about which almost all the other
sources of our evidelce are inconclusive. We cannot establish precisely when
91ut-n. kingship, dry-stone building or iron-technology starr;d in thet Nile
Valley, But we know when Christianity was introduc-pcl there. Because our
'- ancestors were Christian when they radiated into all Africa,
it inevitabty means
theV migrated awly from the Nile Valley after the introducrion of Christianity.
1ly1
This too helps us to locate the crisis or series of crises that led ro their sudden
migration. Thus this issue of early Bantu Christjanity is highly significant.
(s) rRoN TECHNOTOGY
-L. not going to discuss at length the "Sione" or "Bronze" ages. This is not
because Africa did not experience these ages, but because *Jare concerned
with the peopling of the continent by-the Bintupeople and these were an Iron
Age people. Africa experienced a New Stone Age; it experienced a Bronze
Age. But here, we are going to dismiss th-em in a few sententes and concentrate
on the Iron Age "
The.Hamites and Negroes that we came across around 5 000 or 4 000 B.C.
*."*Stone Age peopi-es; those we saw urouno j 000 B.c. fatheringu th";;;;;
civilization of EgypLwere still a Stone Age people. .
Th6 Bushmen and Hottentots were a Stone Age people even up to the second
millenium of the Christian Era.. By the yrur" I '000'B.C. however, both the
Hamites and the Negroes were a Bionze Agr p"ople. This is however not the
"same as suggesting that the Stone Age was altogetherdead. I would go
so fa.r as
to suggest that Stone remained a factor until iron took over.
It is generally believed that the use of iron was first discovered in Asia between
-the Caucasus and Asia Minor
around I 500 B.C. By I 000 8.C., both the Hittites
and the Assyrians are known'to have been usjng it. From this region, iron
technoloBv !!91sn_rgad to Syria and from theie ii fil-tered irito Egypt. Eut as lare
as the year 40O B.C. there,is evidence to suggest that iron was n-oi kno*n at all
li , " i
i in Kush. Both the Egyptians and the Kushites buried their kings and queens
/' together with important items of their possessions but there were no.iron tools
r in them until after 400 B.C. By the year 100 B.C. however, the irpn*melting
-. industry had become possibly the most-important iridustry in Meroe and, at the
same time, Meroe had already become or was soon to become the greatest
iron-smelting ceirtre on the continent.
'Because iron-smelting in Kush was confined to a small clasi of people, almost a
,-that_the Kushites who migrated from the Nile Yalley at the beginning of the
. Christian Era, knew little or nothing about iron-smelting. But those who(left
:Kush from let us say, about 100 or 200 A.D., were certainly Iron Age people.
We must realize that the industry was not stagnant; it was developing as
' improvements were made in its technology. Hence it is not inappropriate to
. refer to the Early Iron Age-and the Late Iron Age. Those who migrated from
the Nile Valley towards the belinning of the Christian era could have acquired
"i' no more than the rudiments of iron technology.
The Bantu who peopled the continent of Africa were a fully Iron Age people.
But as we now know, they were also a Christian Age people. We sawChristianity
being introduced into Kush or Nubia in the sixth century; therefore, the Bantu.
who populated Africa must havq migrated away from the Nile Valley after 600
',' :{.D. These are the people who belong to what may be called the New or Lgter'
Iron Age
' Wainwright states that by 50 B.C. "The most astonishing change had come
: ovbr the scene. Smelting works on agigantic scale had already been initiated at,
$t Meroe . . . ". To this, Sayce adds, "Mountains of iron slag enclose the city
mounds on their northern and eastern sides, and excavation has brought to
;i . light the furnaces in which the iron was smelted and fashioned into tools and
weapons." Davidson states, "By th"e time of the buildiirg of Musawrat, Meroe
*ai the centre of the largest iron-smelting industry in Africa south of the
Mediterranean coast. It is reasonable to suppose that its products and, later, its
i. , technology went steadily and irresistibly into the lands to the west and south. In
this vitally important diffusion of iron technology, Kush was thEreforg to
southern Africa what the civilizations of the Mediterranean, a few centuries
earlier, had^been to northern Europe)t Ehe*here, he states that Meroe ". . i
deserved an honourable place among c.ivilizations. that have influencid thb
world. With Meroe, one may reasonaEy say, the history of modern Africa hai
begun."
Indeed, this iron technology did not spread from Meroe to the rest of Afriia
independently of the people who practised it in Kush. There were no iron-
.,,' smelting missionaries, so to speak, who left Kush and went about all over
Africa teaching communities the technique of iron-smeltingr The very people
, who practised it in Kush migrated tb the rest of Africa with their technology. Of
course, as these people spread their tentailes to all Africa they came across
93
 a
legr.ges. who had left the Nile Valley before the iron-smelting industry had
developed there. They absorbed these earlier migranis nnd tiught them t6e
technitue, just as they acculturated them in otheire$pects. BefJie the Great
B1n-tu Explosion of the period after 60Q A.D. there was no iron technology in
Africa south of the Sahara and outside the Nile Vallgy. The "scatteriri! of
fragments" from KuSh that I referred to earlier as a- result of this Gieat
Explosion, also meant the;'scattering"of iron technology from the same region
to all Africa.
leneral effects of tire spread of this iron technology on the ,.r,"
of Africa? It is,a fact that the smelting of iron marked the beginning of a new
revolution that brought other revolutions in its wake. In ordir to.ippreciate
this fully, the reader needs to be conscious of the simple fact that beiore the
discovery of iron technology, the peoples of the continent of Africa used stone,
bone and wood. With'implementi and weapons made out of these materials, it
was just not possible to "tame" the wild savannahs and wild equatorial forests of
the continent and convertlhem into worthwhile and habitabie farm lands. As a
result, the many jungles of wild Africa remained impenetrable to the Negro
peoples. The comi,ng iron technology
"l by those with immediately
and conquest of wild Africa
meant the. penerratlon
iron implements and weipons. This
can'only be appreciated fully if we realize that it took the Bantu'only four
hundred years, from about 600 to I 000 A.D. to convert the whole coniihent
tgJlh of the Sahara desert into a "Bantu colony". It was the iron implement and
theiron weapon_ rhat made this possible.
Earlier. I remarked on the very slow expansion, in terms of numbers, of both
the Hamites and the Negroes in the NileValley. We noted that the Negro was
already a feature of Africa by the year 5 000 B.C. yet by the year l0O l.O. or
eJen 600 A:q., there was still no "Bantu Africa" or "Negio Afiica". I suggested
that one of the reasons for this rather very slow expansion must be th-at the
populatiol itself expanded very slowly. If th-e population had expanded rapidly,
the Nile Valley wguld have reached a stage when it could simply not'cope wiih
the increased population density and this alone would have compelied the
people to migrate in large numbers to other parts of the contirrent. The mere
fact that the continent was still not Negro or Bantu by the year 600 .A,.D. is
strong evidence that the Nile Valley could still assimilaie all lhe Hamites and
Negroes on the continent. This rather very slow population growth of this
peoplg can justify our qrgument that one factor accounting foi it could have
been famine. If so, one of the factors accounting for recurrent years of famine
could have been the inadequacy of the implements used before iron technology
became a feature of the continent. It is difficult to imagine how a people
grow enough food for themselves when they used ri6n", bone Lnd wooden "ortd
implements.
** '
By the y9?r 300 8.C., the Nile Valley was certainly in the Bronze Age
approaohing the Iron Age, But eopper, bronze and brass implements "nd and
weapons were not-very efficient. It is even doubtful if they were really in
. ..":
abundance in the Nile Valley. These implements and weapons were brittle-and
they did not enable the Negro to tame the wild African jungles effectively; they
did not enable him to till the ground and make him self-sufficient in food. This
is exactly what iron technology enabled him. to db, hence his rapid expansion
and rapid conquest of th African jungles once this technology wassufficidntly
developed.
Even mining itself was difficult without iron implements and tools. No doubt
sorne sort of copper and gold mining went on before the discovery of iron
technology. But thig was.not easy and it must have been restricted to a small
percentage of the population of the valley. In addition, possibly only the ruling
classes benefited from it. We may remember that the founilations of the early
West African Empires such as Ghana, Mali and Songhay rested on the gold --
mining and gold-exporting industries. The people of the forest region extracted
gold; those of the desert extractedsalt. The gold-mining southern communities
valued the northe.rn salt; the salt-extracting northern communites valued the
southern gold. The northern desert-gold-seeking communities sold it to the
Mediterrdnean peoples who valued it highly. In this way a network of trading
links came into existence in West Africa. All this was facilitated by-iron
implements. We hear of no such trade in West Africa before the eighth century
A.D. This represented nothing less than a revolu.tion in West Africa.
If we turn to southern and eastern Africa, we find exactly the. same thing
happening and at much the sanie time. We hear of no gold-mining anywhere ,
south of.the.Zambezi River before 800 A.D. Whilst some sort of trading along
the East African coast north of the Zambezi River had started by that date, it
was very insignificant and still did not affect the region south of the river: By
950, after the Dziva-Hungwe people with iron technology had taken over
control of the region, gold-mining, iron-mining and fuory start to feature
prominently and the coastal towns started to grow significantly. We have no
reason to doubt that all this was made possible by iron implements. Because
iron implements were stronger and more durable, the extraction of both gald
and'iron ore was easier and faster and therefore more than was needed for
domestic purposes could be mined. In this way, iron technology promoted
foreign trade. i
WL cannot deny that iron technology brought about centralized states in.
Africa. We do nbt hear of any empirEi in Afiica.south of the Sahara before
about the year 800 A.D. All the empires that are known to have existed in
.A,frica were created by'people with iron technology. These include Ghana,
Mali, Songhay, the Empire of the Waqlimi and the Mutapa Empire. These
empires represented the superiority of iron over bone, stone, wood and even
bronze. Those with iron weapons rapidly conquerird those without and subjected
them to their rute. As the iron-possessing conque.rors brought more and more
territory under'their control, the need arose to appoint more and rnore
provincial or regional rulers from amongst themselves. These regional rulers
owed allegiancd to the central paramount ruler. But the regional rulers found it
 a
necessary to.assign districts of their own regions to their own sons, cousins
supporters. In this way, a feudal Ftructure
and (6) ARCHITECTURB
-African feudalism emerged and
' -
it was iron technology that facilitated it. From att ttrig, one-"uo ,"" that iron
technolcgy a revolution that brought about a chain of other revolutions in Under this section, I am consideriTg qry-slone building, hillside terraeing
Y3! and
nld. or dagga constructions mainty. wtrite drystone construction and even
hillside terracing are well-known to be
features of
The unity of Bantu Africa'is acco-unte9
t"r by the cemmon origins of the Bantu t,
'r1
"rnongr't-rt.i.ri'rr"6r,
north'east Africa, they were neve_r thought t,J ur il ;rt*;y urro"iut"d with
')
qeople who migrated from the Nile Valley io utt other partr 5t the continent. tI' j
thgse found in southern .A,frica. While ihe archirects or ttti.-in
north-east
Bercause they. came from ihe same locality, ttrey inJvtt bl, ;;e;;;;;
cultural traits including language. Certainly iion tectrnotogy irtn" of the most r l'.
lfri* ]vere
ge-nerally known, those responsible
in southern Africa were
for similar constructions especially
,ll
'
i.,':,
never thoughi to be indigenous peoples of the continent
important of these common ciltural traits. In all .Africa,i'tris tecrrnotogy *as sy'l of Africa. Historiansand politiqiarii in southerfrAfrica would not believe
"t{
':Y that
first.acquired eithel in pgypt_or Carthage. But Carthage-is noi .i'i";"h n;',
il.
t,,
'
'

' the Africans they saw in th9 r.egion could.have been responsibl,
f*;il;;;;
significance to Bantu AfriCa. If .iron smeiting became f.lrt*n to C"rtt that reflected an advanced ciiilization.pr;rr;siandardi of the d;t.
"g;
before Eg-vP-t; it then-spread to the rest of Africa south of the Sahara th.ouitl
a :,1
,#)
hY
' Ni;r;;i;
they harked at a.lmo$ .ut.y un"irnt ciriiiiaiion srch as Greek and phoenician
':
EqVPt and Kush..It did not spread to the rest of Africa inaepenaently
of it. ' 'urb civilizations as the sourcesbf ttre evidence of civilization that confronted
L
.
them
qther cultural traits rn southern Africa
- Divine kingship, rhe worshrp of tfrr Cfyptian Sun goa,
Christianity-and all the other feituris thar we hive exami'ned above. The
rf
\

.,' Of all these sfuctures' Great Zimbabwe is easily the most prominent
migration of these "Egyptian Kushites" to the rest of the continent after 600 and most
'n.
imposing in all southern Africa.-Inevitabty, thtori., *iiil'l;;;Ig;
.A.D. meant the automatic spread of these Nile Valley dulturaf traitsiofi; ;; rj' '
elements surround Great Zimbabwmor. than any other "onn..t.o
'fir " construction in the
of the centinent. '
f.sio1t. Fuel as recently as February 1980, potiii"iii,r-ru.t, ;il
*
smith of the
Rhodesian Front Party and Doctoi Brrtrrha UPAM made it clear durins
Thus, the unity g[Africa is not accidental or coincidental; it is explained j
by our election campaigns that the Phoenician school"tVas not dead. fn.v
ancient history. There was no iron technology in West Africa befbre the advent
in the legion of the Bantu migrants from"t"he'north-east; there was no iron
do not believe or do not want..!o "jifriffifi
-appeqr to believe that thes6 imposing
architectural structures were bujt, uy'atiicrns. Their ,"tirc
technology in central and sout[ern Africa before qrr" uOu."i-in ttre .egionr;i
political but it could also be that this is accouni"Jt"iriv are clearly
' Bantu migpnllflom tle north-east; there were no centralized states orEmpires
themselves are not academic scholars. E;;;il.,
vJ rorrvrsrrv since they
anywhere in Africa before the advent of the migrants from the north-east
after
600 A.D.; there wds no feudalism in Africa oumidr the Nile Va[ey A-rchitecture is one of the African cultural elements that demonstrate
Leiore;il;
theyear600 A.D. All these are features of Bantu civilization unJifid not rfr"ua
the unity
of the continent. It is not an isolated element nor is it uniqu"io nortrr-east
or
to the rest of Africa and could possibly do sp before ttr" tnigrution otitrese southern Africa. Like the other common cultural traits *, hurr"
examined. it
' people to the..ot!:.{ regions of1ot
th6 continent. When these [e?pte started to spread to all Africa with the p"opte *tro-f"i[.i"4 it in the Horn
of Africa.
There seems to be no archaelogical evidence to p.on. that there
ryigra19 jrom the Nile v4lev aJter 600 A.D. and for reasons ui.*Oy examined, were any of
n. they did not take one direction but radiated into all directions but main$ these constructions anywhere iriAfrica outside ttri Nite vrrr"v
u"iore 600ff.
towardsthe west and south. This meant the auiomatic radiation of the Kushitic However, before we examine architecture in ancient Africa. we
cultural haits to the rest of Africa. Because these great Bantu 1ni*ii1]o}!;;; need to
consider Great Zimbabwe and see how and where such ideas as
caused by a common explosion or a common serie-s of explosions] their that Great
effects Zimbabwe was constructed by the Phoenicians emanated. Some
in other regions tended to synchroni2e and this was only to be expected. of these
The schools of thought even went to the exre.nt of suggestift ,t r,
lhl gibri.rr rti"g
obstacles in the way of those that migrated towards thiwest were no greater 'solomon minei tris gotd-ir-om Zimbabw.-
Tft queen of Sheba was also
implicated and' naturafly. those who tended to believe these stories
started to
I imagine that it was theie foreign elements or rheir agents
- ano never ihe
I-et us conclude this section by quoting Arkell once more, ..There 'ti African - who were responsible for the ir,. .rJn. ;il;;r;;
'reason to think that iron-smelting - is no
was invented independently in Negro Africa,
and possibly the terracesas well. "onrt.r"rLr?i
bur every reason to believe that-the knowledqe of f;n-*;;[inj *ur gradually
Hunters, fortune seekers, missionaries and adventurers. such as
diffused over Africa from the Kushite capital,"M"ro.." This was so because Selous, visitid
the Zimbabwe before the British South Africa C"rnfuny f;;;J 6V
very Negroes who pgbulated
"A,frica were themselves Kushites.
6r.if Rhodes
occupied the country in 1890. One of these travelleri was Willir* p"ri"fi
riifr.
 visited Great Zimbabwe in 1888. He persuaded his Shona guides to direct him
to the hill above thavalley ruins and climbed in and ou4 by using monkey ropes.
He saw four soapstone carvings of birds; all facing east. He uprooted one of
these bird carvings and took it to South Africa where it was preserved in Cape
Town. In this way, Posselt started the desecration of Great Zimbabwe. He was
followe{ only three years later by Bent, who found another six soapstone bird
carvings on the fort. He looked upon these "birds" as stylised representations"
of either hawks or vultures and thought that they had a phallic symbolism. It
was he who started the theory of the Phoenicians. He argued that, to'the
ancient Egyptians, the hawk had served as an emblem'of motherhood. He went
on to maintain that a southern Arabian tribe of the Himyarite times used the
villture as a tctem. To him, the Zimbabwe birds were very similar to the
Assyrian Astarte or Venus and therefore.represented the female element in
creation. To him, similar birds among the Phoenicians were sacred to Astarte
and were often found perched on her shrine. Because some of the Zimbabwe
birds were found perched on the wall, Bent, belleved that they represented
what similar birds had represented among the Phoenicians. He argtred that the
bird symbolism must therefore be of Phoenician origin and the Phoenicians
must be responsible for constructing Great Zimbabwe.
In parts of Africa, cross-shaped and H-shapecl ingot moulds have been found.
These are thought to be of Phoenician origin. One such ingot was dug up from
a cave on the Acropolis at Great Zimbabwe. Bent again jumped at this and
treated it as "very good presumptive evidence to establish the fact that the gold
workers of ancient Zimbabwe worked for the Phoenician market." To him,
these Phoenicians visited this country for gold and it was during the course of
these trading links that the Phoenicians constructed Great Zimbabwe.
It is true that Zimbabwe hacl tracling connections with the outside world. But
that outside world did not include the Phoenicians. The whole trade was
orientated towarcls the east ancl was an Indian Ocean trade. The middle-men in
this trade were Arab or Moor traders. These came to the east coast of Africa to
collec-t items such as gold, iron orc and ivory. In return, they brought beads,
materials and shells that were of valuc to the Africans. Most of the beads and
materials came from Inclia; some came from as far as.lava. Trading links are
known to have existed between India and China and sOme Chinese items ended
up on the East African coast. The East African coastal towns of Sofala, Kilwa
and Malindi thrived on this Indian Ocean trade. The same trade was also the
backbone of the Mutapa Empire of which Great Zimbabwe was the capital.
The Phoenicians did not come into the picture at all. The builders of Great
Zimbabwe crossed the Zambezi from the north around I 000 A.D., after the
Arab traders had already established trading links with the Dziva-Hungwe
people in the interior. The records of these Arab traders make no mention o[
any other foreign trader along the East African coast. When the Portuguese
, ariived in 1498,-they came dcross the Arab traders along the east coast and no
more. By^implicatlng the Phoenicians, bent was stretching his imagination too
far.
9E
In
-$is-
way !91t set in motion the Phoenidian theory which the European
politiciang of this country have very much tried to keep alive in order to refute
any suggestions that Great Zimbabwe and lesser f,orts in southern Africa could
have been cbnstructed by Africans at all. These European adventurers and
.fortune seekers knew next to nothing about African history or custom and
tradition for that matter. Naturally, ttieir imaginations went wild on seeing
anything that appeared "unafrican" and that looked similar to any found
elsewhere in the world. This imagination was stimulated by the degeneiation of
$e once mighty Mutapa Empire which by 1890 was a poor shadow of the pasr.
But here again. these Europeans did not realise thai it was their European
fellows. the Portuguese, who had done so much to dislocate and fragment the
Shona Empire by dstroying the coastal trade and by encouraging rancour and
strife among the Shona themselves. In this way. the Portugueqe destroyecl the
cohesion of the Shona Empire and the only source of wealth. which wis east-
coast fo5eign trade.
In 1980. there should be nothing particularly interesting about soapstone bircl
carvings or any bird effigies at all. Historians are alive to the fact that the bircl
symbolism is not unique to Zimbabwe: it has been found almost everywhere in
Africa south of the Sahara: forinstance. in the Transvaal. in Mozam6ique ancl
even in Lesoto where Walton reported "a number of bircl effigies carried on tall
poles surrounding the "lelapa" of a witch-doctor in the Oitti Vattey in South
Basutoland. _ . .
Zimbabweans know for instance'that there is a whole tribe in this counrry
whose totem is Shiri (bird). But this totem also functions as a tribal designation
and so we end up with tribes simply called "shiri". The Shiri referred t5. as we
should be aware of now. is the Fish Eagle which in Shona is the Hungwe Bird.
] But the Hungwe Bird is also the Zimbabwe Bird. I have referred to one of the
threq original Great Bantu Families as the "Dziva-Hungwe" Family. this.has
been a reference to the "Masters of the Water" and we have come across
fSments of this Grgat Family throughout Africa. I called the Family ''Dziva-
Hungwe" because all its members were associated with water (Dziva - [ool) and
this is why their original designation was "Masters of the Water." But tilen. they
picked
-on a
particular creature that lived in water and started to identify
themselves with it and this was the fish eagle (Hungwe).
We in Zimbabwe have always associated the bird and bitd symbolisms with the
Hungwe people; the same applies to the'Mozambicans. the'Tswana and tlie
Suthu for. that matter. As we have discovered above. the Tswana. rhe.surhu
and the Nguni are all segments of the Dziva-Hungwe Family and are therefore
all closely associared with the symbolism of the birO.
'-FtgT. Mutapa to Rhodes," I made it clear that the presence of the soapstong
lT
E.9t (_Hringwe Birds) at Great Zimbabwe symbolisid the precedence'of .the
Dziva-Hungye people in this country over the Mbire S.oko Fimily that founded
1tt-e
Mutlga Tmpire. I made it clear that Great Zimbabwe was ionstructed by
Mutapa II whose name was Chigwangu'but who is today popularly known ai.
99
 * \
Rusvlngolfort). a nickname given to him after constructing the Zimbabwe
Fon. In Shona circles, you can only "[ive in peace with ihe land" if you
propitiate the ancestors of
.your predecessors *iro "tarnpd the land" for you.
You cannot brush them aside and treat them as non-existent with impuiity.
lq"otding to Shona thinking, the consequences of such an attitude and rurt
behaviour woul{ be nationil dr-ought and starvation which would intensify
fromyear to year if there was no favourable response from.those concerned; it
could be an epidemic or pestilence or chain of other misfortunes. In other
y9rds. to ignore the anceitors of your predecessors would spell disaster. For
this reason, the new invaders make an effort to propitiate the un""rto6 of their
predecessors.
The original'Bantu occupants of Zimbabwe were members of the Dziva-
lungwe FamilV. All indications are that they were already sourh of the
Zambezi River by 800 A.D. It was they who "tamLd" the land. Their conquerors
and successors were the Mbire Soko people who invaded the country iround
I 000 A.D. fng
{uire Soko paramounti (the Mutapas), uft".
country from the. Dziva-Hungwe people, did what thiy could to "rpturing
the
propitiatE the
ancestors of their predecessors. In dedicating anything, in .suppfibating for
rain, the Mbire Soko offieiants did not forget the aniestors oi the Diiva-
Hungwe people. At Matojeni in the Matopo HiUs even today acclamations are
made to Murengd Sororenzou (everything done at any of tfie national shrines
in th. Matopos is done in the name of Murenga Soroienzou), the great Mbire
Soko and Venda ancestor. The names Soko, T6vera and Sororenzou represent
the Mbire Soko conquerors of this country around I 000 A.D.; Dziva and
YU:*i represent the ancestors of the Dziva-Hungwe Family. In accordance
with Shona'thinking, the ancesiors of both familieimust work tolettrer for the
good of the country and hence must be propitiated together. Thi conquerors
must recognise the position, authority and influence of their predecessors if
they are to "live in peace with the land."
Jhis is exactly what is symbolized by the Zimbabwe Birds at Great Zimbabwe.
I wish to remind the reader that Gieat Zimbabwe was rhe true capital pf the
-M.utapa Empire from about 1050 (after the death of Mutapa I) to ibout lS00
when both Murenga, the Shona High'Spirit, and t[e Mbireparamount shifted
1[e trga$quarters\ of the 9mpi1e to thi province'of Guruuswa (present-day
Matabeleland). Because the African stati was a theocracy, Great Zimbabwl
Sulcf not be-a-politicalcentre without at the same time being a religiouscentre
By virtue of this, Great Zimbabwe was the centre of nario"nut pi8piiiution of
both the Dziva'Hungwe and Mbire Soko ancestors.Any bircl symbolism there
represents the Dziva-Hungwe people.
It may be_remembered that soapstone fish carvings or fish paintings were also
found at Great Zimbabwe. Theie, too, representel the Dziva-Hunirve people.
The fish like the Hungwe is associated with the "Masters of ttre ivatir." ke
I3u. to. this d-ay a big segment bf the Dziva-Hungwe Family whose torem is
Hove (fish). Thus, sonl of these carvings, paintings and symLofisms now start
r00
,
to be full of meaning with this unfolding of continental African history. If Bent.
the father of the Phoenician theory in ttris counrry. had known the trigins of
the Bantu in North-East Africa, he wouldeasily have understood the mlaning
of the soapstone bird carvings he saw at Greai Zimbabwe.
A.ll this is important because it helps us to understand aspects of the r.ulptur.
of thls continent, Now that we are aware of the existenie of the three Great
Bantu Familits in Africa, it is necessary to know what symbolisms were
associated with this family and which were associated with thai. In this *uy. *.
can determine who of the three Great Bantu Families were responsible for this
feature and who for thaJ. Archaeology gives ds evidence of occipation: it gives
us the periods of occupationl it giveJus hints on the nature of thecivilizati6n
of
the occupants. But it remains silent on the identity of the o."up*ir. itit
identity we can only discover through other sources. tnir is why it ii absolutely
necessary to know the main distinguishing characteristics and marks of the
three Great Bantu Families. Hence the bird and the fish symbolisms deserved
some attention
Whether the bird as a totem or tribal symbolism started originally in Arabia.
Assyria or Phoenicia. is not important. Ii should be evident by"now ihat the Nile
Valley was a confluence of.miny cultures. As such. Arab. jewish, Syiil ;;;
even Phoenician cultural elements may be detected in the civilization of tne
. what is important to remember is thai the Arabs or Syrians. phoenicians. the
Jews or Greek:.d.id not personally diffuse elements of tfieir cutturei,trir"gir"r,
.Africa.-T!ty did not physically visit west. Central or Southern Africu.irr.y
injected elements of their cultures into Africa through Egypt and Kush at a
time when the l{"glo was an inhabitant of that vfrreylas these Neg;ei
migrated from the Nile Valley to other parts of Africa. they *.r. oir.iay l"
c-ompound of various cultures and they took with them impoitant elemehts of
these cultures. Architecture and sculpture were elementi of these cultures.
The histonian, the archaeorogist and the anthrop.r"giri t;;;;;;;;-rffi
r di;
structures as Great Zimbabt"i were corfstrucrcd uy.{fri"unr. tt is ttre;;ii,kil;:
'lgt political reasons, who would like the public
,$ , Pho.e.nicians to tontinue thinking in terms of
or Greeks or some other ioreign product'of a known ancient.
'f,{;'
,1
civilization and never the African" as the buii-ders of such constructions.
\, Whilst the birdsymbolizes
t
I
the Dziva-Hungwe Family, the snake symbolizes the
rF,
*dr Soko Family. This.is also important, befause ana faiirtings of one
*t,'
9,{i
. serpent or another have been foundin qaly parts "uriing,
of Africa. tt e Sofo fa*iiy
pigked on the baboon and monkey for theii totemic animals. After death. thl
. 'giri.ts of their-ancestors associated with lions (mhondoro) and this is *try. in
.Zimbabwe, all the big ancestral spirits ranging from tounJing ancestors of
dynasties to the great national spirits sucfi ui Chaminuka. ire known as "
mhondoro (lions). In addition to association with land animals. the Soko
Family also associated itself with land serpenrs. for ZimUaU*eunt. Gr";;;'
certain snakes that are never to be killed or molested if they enter a home or
 a
'hut'
This is so because our great ancestors associated themsilves with snakes
and are actually believed to visit our homes disguisedas snakes.
To giue aiew
examples, the blind worm (which the Shona loof upon as a snake)
is believecl to
represe,t-t-h-. y^o$g:lt.of our great ancestors; a snake wittr strijes
on its back
and called MASERWE in Shoni, represents older
and more po*Jrtut ancestors:
a spotted snake called BVUNBI Shona represent, th, spirits associated
with rain; the python-,-by virtue of-b.ythe
its size and "inriocence" (it does not normally ,.
bite) represents the oldest and most powerful national spirits,
by the Shona.
MAJUKryA
"rir"o
There can be no doubt that members of the Great Soko Family
associated
themselves with snakes. Even this day when Jukwa .pirim tut posession
r
mediums, the mediums themselvesglide like snaket. r riuub p"o",Iurry
of
seen this
many times. Here is a report from alady missionary who aciuatty
witnessed the
possession by threj.spirits one of'which was a Jukwa
spirit, of a woman in the
Masvin-go area of Zimbabw.
- "Butt[" lady missionary il
ffyirg t::.*prr'. rhese
spirits from the communicant, o-ne very persistent one.l think has not
gone.
He.(the spi_ri_t) speaks Shona from yatopos near Bulawayo. His name
is Shoko,
he is from Mwari of Matojeni . . . This demon sneers ar you
or at the word of
God, and somelir:.: he liughs and cries and dislikes rh; smell
.f Eil;;;";:
At.times he glides like a snike. This one is called Jukwa btihevrr,uringu;.
Q8t
This rloes not mean possession of a human being by the spirit
of a snake. It
m.Tns possession of a human being by a spirit ofi man who tract
with snakes. The report suggests t-hai the'name of ttre lu[wu rpirit
associli"r; t.
(Soko). As we should know-5y now, is Shoko
Soko is not a name but a totem, because
the "Masters of the Land" chbse to identify themselves with
the baboon and
T|?k.Y way back in north-east Africa. ittir uny snake carving or painting
Africa is most likely to depict th-9 pggsence in ihat locality of a segmenr in
br
segments of the Great'Soko Fam-ily. whatever culture is repres"ntri
by that
carving is very likely to be the culture of a segmenr of the Gieat
Soko rim1y.
One other animal associated with the Mbire Soko Family was
the lion. It was
pow.e-rancl fierceness. It was a land animal and thus
th.:,tfb?l-"f
wtth I he Masters of the Land. To this day, anyone who has
associatecl
an inkling of Shona
traditional religion knows that this animal is associated with
ancestral spirits
PoIe than an-y other. Some of these spirits are believed to Oirgrit" themselves
in the form of lions. The Shona believb that there are lions
which can be called
ancestral lions. All the founding ancestors of dynasties, the
otAer sp-iii;;;;
most of emanating from chiefs are called MHON-pOifCj unJ ifri,
.the-spirits
means "lion". .ll

What is not known is that this iissociation with lions did

not start in Zimbabwe
but in Kush. The lion was the emblem-of a powerful Kushit" the snake tail into three pointins ro
referred to as a goct)"ba[ed Apedemek. TnL mosi]il;;;;;r"ii.'i],
rfiriiisometimes "'' ,ly3*".9:t:fiL""t rhe Bantu TRINrry as depicted by
Kush was
\
t
the Lion Temple. Tame lions are believed to hafe been bred in Kush and these
were kept at the Lion Temple which was built in honour of Apedemek. Lion
carvings were made in his honour. When the Soko Family migrated away from
Kush, they took this symbolism with them and continued to associate riith the
Lion. To this day, they do so at least in this country. But lion carvings have been
dug up in many partq of Africa. Furthermore, association with the lion is known
to prevail in far more than Zimbabwe. This is living evidence of Kushitic
origins of the Bantu people. Furthermore, association with the lion helps us to
discover some of the Bantu segments of Soko origins for such groups are
segments of The Masters of the Land. Figure I represents the Merotic (Meroe
wis the capital of Kush) Lion God. It is interesting to note that the God has the
body of a inake and the head of a lion. This is not surprising since both the
snalie and the lion symbolize the same family. The Masters of- the Land. If
therefore you come utrosr ancient carvings or moulds of lions and snakes. you
can almost be certain that you have come aerossoccupation sites of segments
of the Soko Family. The existence of the Lion Temple and Lion God. both
central features of Kush. further suggest the dominance of the Soko Family in
Kush and this remained the position up to the Mohammedan invasion and
Bantu explosiori of about 640 A.D. Maps4. 5 and 6 make this very clear. This is
why the Sokos trailed behind the Dzivas and the Tonga in the migrations to
both the south and the west.

After this background material, ldt us go back to North-East Africh and see
what architecture existed there about the time the Bantu started their dispersal
to the rest of Africa. The pyramids are well-known to be an ancient feature of
north-east Africa. But these concern Egypt and Kush only and nowhbre else in
Africa were they ccinstructed. Because I am interested in common cultural
features of the Bantu world, these pyramids are irrelevant here. However. the
knowledge and skill that brought the pyramids into existence. was not applied
in the construction of pyramids only and did not end with the construgtion of
the last pyramid. The existence of these pyramids in Egypt and the Sudan is
evidence of skills in drystone building. The same skills could be diverted to
the construction of other structures needed for other purposes. The important
point to note is that skills in drystone construction started off as a feature ofthe
Nile Valley. From here, the [r.nowledge spread to other parts of the continent as
the Bantu migrated from the Valley. i
I have explained that the Great Bantu Explosion resulting in the birth of Bantu'
Africa took place after 600 A.D. If this is correct. then all the drystone
constructions and terracing outside the Nile Valley should be features of the
period after 600 A.D. Indeed there is good archaeological evidence to provE
that every mairr drystone consruction anywhere else outside the Nile Valley
was constructed after 600 A.D.
The practice of hillside terracing appears to have started in southern Arabia.
From here,- it spread to the horn of Africa. It is almost certain that it was
brought to the horn of Africa by Arabs who established the kingdom of Axum.
 a
Between 300 and 400 A.D. we saw Axum invading- and
conquering Kush. In , Africa at some time during the first seven hundfed years A.D. was destroyed by
this way' the technique of t.r!!\i$e g rp.r"l int6
lr;;"tu the'Nite region. But Islam, that its makers retreated southwards through Kenya, and that it finatty
Ethiopia (Axum was part of Ethiopia) remaTnJj ih; ;il;;f
was from there.that.ii spread to the other. r"gionr
;ili. practice. rt came to an end somewhere about the fourteenth toJifte"nih centuries, possibly
of Africa. Inciaentally, the earlierl'.
practice is not d.ead i1 p;trlonia even to th-is d-ay. The
gives an indication of ttie importance anasign'iticance
f"idid i"por, by Bent Islam became a force after the death of Mohamrned in 632 A.D. The retreat of
oi ttris"practic", the Azanians into Kenya and Tanganyika as a result of the activities of the
"All the surroYndjry hills have been terraced ,' Moslems can only have started after 632. But I have no quarrel with Huntingford
for cultivation . . . Nowhere in
Greece or Asia Minor have I seen such an enormous extent on this conjecture. I have argued barlier that the Great Bantu Explosion was
mountains as in this Abyssinian valley (thr Y"hu valley).
of terraced
nu"or"or of thousands too sudden and too explosive and could only have been caused by serious
of acres must have been under ttre moit crises or series of crises in the Nile Valley. I proceeded to examine ihe crises
n"* rrothing is
"ur"tri"ultiiation,
left but r99uf3r lines of the sustaining walli"- it i. r"pori*ur "na*uo" in 1g93. It .that troubled the region and came to the firm conclusion that the Bantu
gives and indication of the extent uri*portance of Explosion took place after 600 A.D. and that it was caused by the activities of
td. fru"it"r;i i";d;i"g i,
Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a mountainous country and someit
was necessary if meaningful agriculture wait.,
irg;i";g these lines the Moslems after the death of Mohammed. This is preciseiy the conclusion
be practiseOlfne fi%t;;til';; Huntingford arrives at in the above quotation. It is clear, too,-that the cultural
the. practicein the country ii accounted for uy ihe early riiii"*"rt in the elements of Azanian civilization were not diffused over Africa independently
of migrants from southern Arabia. These newcomers were certainly
r.esi91t of the Azanians themselves. The civilization did not "flow" out of ihe valley
the Horn of Africa by 300 A.D. andwere shortiy to vanquish in
Kush, the Negro into Africa; the Azanians themselves took it out of the valley to the .est of
kin-gdom, and cause iomething bordering on Airican Africa. Its makers retreated southwards through Kenya, Huntingford told us.
Valley.
oiJpiiri.. Lo* the Nile
But did the-y end in Kenya? Furthermore, did they retreat southwards only?
what is importan,l-for our purposes is that hillside rerracing Did none of them go westwaids? Why should they all have migrated southwards
did not end in the only and who is there in the south anyway? It is representatives of the three
Horn of Africa. The Greit liuntu Explosion siurteo
around 640 .A.D. The Great Bantu Families - Dziva-Hungwe, Soko and Tonga. But we.have seen
Bantu people started to scatter from ttrl Nite valley in westerly
and sourherly segments of the same three families in West Africa and of course in central
directions'as a resurr of the onsraught of tai Morr"'n r.
th.e valley, th.ey rook their skills i"itt trr"m una
A;iir;)i;igru,"d from Africa.
on" of ttre,m w;;;;;r;j;i;
hillside terracing Further south,. in eastern Zimbabwe and western Mozambique, 'w come
So.uth,of Ethiopia, along the Kenya-Tanganyika aeross constructions and terraces that immediately remind us of Ethiopia and
border, has been discovered a
ruined ancienr city thought to hive population oi d;;;; ;;; Engaruka. About them, Davidson.writes, "These many forts and dwellings,
"oniui*ol
andforty thpusand. rtris riineo city is now called Engaruka. Drystone construction store-pits and terraced hillsides of eastern Rhodesia and western Mozambique
and terracing were be.prominenr rruturrs oiengu*i":fil;;"haeorogist, are now known to extend across an area of 2 000 or 3 000 square miles anil a
Dr'.Leakey, mad.e lgrrg :g
the following report on this ancienT.iiy,:.iir-" Iiour", of p_roper inspection of Mozambique may yet reveal them as still more extd'nsive."
the
main city are all upon very weli-made rtoo" *ulls. The terraces include
These are the constructions and terraces known as Niekerk and Inyanga.
pathways, terraces and house terraces . . . There is Concerning Niekerk Davidson writes, "Here too the hills were terraced with
a vast mesh of stone walls
and terraces in the. valley ruins which I take to b" connected astonishing care, to within a few feet of their summits. Here too, there are a few
in some way with
cultivation and irrigation, but this is not prouid.-,, places within this large area where it is possible to walk ten yards without
stumbling on a wall, a bui[ding or an artificial heap of stones. And here too the '
This makes it clear that hillside terraces did not remain
a feature of Ethiopia craftsmanship in drystone building.was admirably conceived."
gnly' This went hand in hand with irrigution-una both became features
Tanganyika and Kenya. But which *"y di"i ;h;;" rililr of Tfre man who investigated both Niekerk and Inyanga and reported on them
start? rtuntingtord gives
us a clue: "Irrigation by means of such-canals . . whs Maclver. He erei saw evidence of irrigation ut"tnyunga-inO reported."a
. is still pru"iir"I uy
Maraket . ' . on the west escarpment of the Rift valley. ftivarllJi tt " Suk of high-level conduit, by which the water could be carried-along the side of a hill
to have learnt it themselves and it is-probaurv un ar"niun
b".ba.ou,
and allowed to descend more gradually than the parent stream. There are very
in Azania, our old kingdom of Kusli. "-" re!"cy'l
'YEsv' r'
we are back
many such conduits in the Inyanga iegion and they often run for several milei.
,r

Huntingford thinks that civilization associated with this The gradients are admirably calculated, with a skill which is not always
terracing, irrigation, equalled by modern engineers with their elaborate instruments. The dams aie
Lr-:ttting and drysrone building in r"niu uno rung"nvi[u, ,tirr"o
700 A'D. "We may surmise that a Eiuitir"tiirn ,"hi"h
around well and strongly built of unworked stones without mortar, the conduits
flogrished in the Horn of themselves are simple trenches about one metre in depth."
 a
one can immediately understang *hy people like Posselt, Bent
and the members 6y the Mbire Soko people around I 000 A.D. It"was these Mbire Soko people
sf the B.s.A.c. ro-r,ia it impossible iobeli"r.ir,ut Ai;r""'";;;;';;.p"nsible
all this evidence of a some*'hat sophisticated cultrii;. u;ff]|;}j1"t!, for ' who established the Mutapa Empire; it was they who started stbne constructions
oo dateabte on Zimbabwe Hill. The man who organized the first constructions was Chigwangu
material has been discoverecl and it has not been possible
to ruy *t,en the first who, as a result, earned for himself the name RUSVINGO because he had
occupations and constructions at both Niekerk und Inyungu
place' It is however thought that the first occupations
*iglrt have taken constructed an imposing fort for himself. After the death of his elder brother,
might have occurred Mutapa I, he became Mutapa II and the capital of the new Mbire Soko Empire
around 600 A'D. or so, and this early Iron Age occupation-ho,
been divided shifted from Mutuisinazita in the Wedza-Marandellas area to Great Zimbabwe.
t.w9 periods called Ziwa I and Ziwa II. wiuld it be too
It9
Dziva I and Dziva II ?
much to cail them Because Rusvingo was a brother and not a son or grandson of Mutapa I who
occupied the country around I 000 A.D., he could not have started to construct
However, most of the terraces. constructions ancl irrigation the fort after 1050 because the gap between them in terms of years must have
conduits are
thought to be features of the lTth or l8th centu.y. It i, been small. For this reason,-l argued that Great Zimbabwe must have been in
ci"o. that much more
archaeological work is needed in this area. In any ior., *t existenc'e by about t025 A.D. Of course additions were made to the fort after
u, ir in[rmring is the
8]a1ing eviclence of constructions, rerraces ancl irrigati;; ;";l; that are so the initial constructions and they were made after the death of Rusvingo. Any
similar to what we have come across. in- Ethiofia ancipngaruka evidence of occupation at Great Zimbabwe after I 000 A.D. must necessarily
at ttre Kenya-
Tanganyika border. This has persuaded some scholars represent Mbire Soko occupation. The Mbire Soko people drove the Dziva-
to call this culture..the
southern Azanian culture." indeed, Azanian it was, not Hungwe predecessors to the south and west of the country. We have discovered
only because its
architects origin-atecl in Azania. but becairse they were themselves that about9[)"/o of the present Tswana people of Botswana are members of the
descendants
of Azanians 'Dziva-Hungwe people; we have discovered that no less than 90% of the Bantu
- or Kushites.
In Western Ugrndu. a fortress very similar to Great Zimbhbwe people in South Africa are members of the same Dziva-Hungwe Family. Can
has been found
reported on. This is cailed Bigo. Even some of its pots this be surprising when we'know that they were the first Bantu people to
Td
discovered
and
to be very similar t6 those of Great Zirbab*e. About
b";l;;;ffi;; the region south of the Zambezi River and that they were driven to the
occupy-around
them. -south I 000 A.D. 6y the invading Mbire Soko people? Are their
Davidson says, "The resemblances with Zimbabwe are so striking as to seem
overwhelming numbers in the regions south and west of Zimbabwe not very
forg thih a c-oinciclence: where the builders of Zimbabwe built
in dbundant strong evidence of their precedence south of the Zambezi over everybody
local stone. those of having no stgne available. built in earth." To this.
9ig-".
Waylands adds. "Bigo is far more-primitive than Zimbabw",
irrougt, it is almost
else? / t

certainly younger. yet both are. so to say. growths from the The important point to note here is that all the evidence of lron .Age culture
self-same stem.
Bigo was a late abortive bucl and Zimbabwt fr early flowerand associated with Great Zimbabwe is evidence of Bantu occupation and Bantu
borh are Bantu. culture. The first qualified archaeologist to examine Great Zimbabwe was
In the last analysis their cultures spring from o root...
"o.rnon Randall Maclver, who did so in 1905. His verdict was that, in the architecture
The scholars'verdict on Great Zimbabwe is now necessary. The phoenician of Great Zimbabwe, "There is not a trace of Oriental or European style. of any
school has no substance in its arguments; the champion,
oiking iolomon and period whatever. The character of the dwe'llings contained within the stone
the Queen of Sheba have no substance either. There is
archaeo-l-Jgical evidence walls, and forming an integral part of them, is unmistakably African; the arts
of occupltion at zimbabwe Hiil before r 000 A.D. The archd.i&il;#;;
and manufactures exemplified by objects found within the dwelling are typically
1075 : ptu, o,
su,SCeslf that stone constructions on the hill started around
African, except when the objects are imports of well-known medieval or post-
minus 150 years. I think it would not be claiming roo
much to say that the medieval date." This verdict was rejected by the "Phoenician school" which
present unfolding of Shona history has settlea Ine
orgurnrnr, or", Great continued its propaganda that the great fort could.nev-er have.been constructdd
Zimbabwe, with regard to who the iort ond when he did so. by Africans. As i r6sult of this coit.ouersy, Britain d"nt Dr. Gertrude Caton-:
"onitrr"ted
In *From Mutapa.lo that any evide_nce of Iron Age occupation Thompson to re-examine the fort. Her verdict was, "Examination of all evidence
Thod-es^^largfd from every quarter still can produce not one single item that is not in
atZimbabwe Hill before I 000 a.p. is evidenc" oi Driru-Hung*Etccupation: ' gathered
accordance with the claim of Bantu origin and medieval date." Elsewhere, she
any evidence oloccupation after I 000 A.D. represents
Mbire S"oko occupation.
This is so because, ai I stressed in the above book, the added, "I am definitely unable to fall in with the oft-repeated and compromising
earliest known Bantu
peopfe to occupy.the_region south of the Zambezi River *"r" definitely suggestion that Zimbabwe and its allied structures were built by native workmen
members of the Dziva-Hurrg*. Family. The Bushmen, under the direction of a superior alien race of supervisor." About trading
of course, came into the
region- long before the Dziva-Hungwe people, but connections with the east coast, she wrote, "The trade connection with India is
they
were they an Iron Agepeople. TheJe Dziva-i{ungwe people
*i*
not Bantu nor undoubtedly strong - indeed I believe it to be the primary stimulus which led-
were then invaded to the development of the indigenous Zimbabwe culture."

t07
 I
lllpiteweof all this, the "Phoenician school" remained adamant and as late as
^J:80' find politicians of the old brder still harking back ro rhe phoenicians,
[ing Solomon and the Queen of Sheba as responsiSte for the consrruction of
Great Zimbabwe. Their reasons are of not academic but political. The
reasoning was undoubtedly that no credit "ourr"should be given to an African,
because it becomes a source of pride and arrogance. If lhe Africans came to
know that their ancestors constructed Great Zlmbabwe, it would be asource,.
9l ylity when what the colonial administration was after. was t" f6p *
"t
d,-"i9:9 as possible. Of course the existence of similar structures in other parts
of Africa was not known. Great Zimbabwe was therefore looked ,pon u,
Bur thar we know about Ethiopia. Engaru.ka. Bigo. I;il;g;:
l,!i?y"-. .now
Niekerk and Mupungubwe.
are the Phoeniciantheorisis going tolnsist that"all
these structures. and- many more were built by Phoeniciais'l 6an they say this
without suggesting that Africa was once virtuhlly a Phoenician "colbny'l""Now
that we know that all the constructions. t"r.o"ei and irrigation in Africa were
features of the period after 600 A.D., is it logical to coritinr" rupporting the
Phoenician school'l What Phoenicians were th-ere in Africa oroun.l'400 or I OOO
A.D.'l There can be no scholar worth the name who bothers to spencl a minute
on this theory any longer.
Just south of the Limpopo River in the Transvaal of today. was discovered
the
fortress of-Mapungubwe by a farmer called van Graan in 1932. Although
smallel and less imposing, it is very reminiscent of Great Zimbabwe and
6e
no more than an "off-shoot" of the Zimbabwe culture in the *oy tt ai N;irrli
"on
Khami and DhloDhlo are "off-shoots" of the Zimbabwe culturl. Van Graan
and his colleagues found beads, bits and pieces of iron, copper urd ;,
'An exciting seach followed and more occupation sites'*er. found g;ki:
of the
. Y_tp,rn.gufwe type. In 1934, van Tonder discovered an extensive "grave-area"
wnlch tn tact:v_as_a royal cemetery associated with the west and east of
Mupungubwe. He found more gold ind more bits and pieces of metal. There
was no doubt that the builderi of Mupungubwe were an Iron Age Bantu
peoplg. I believe it may not be long befoie *e know rhe name of the iran who
. '
organized the construction of Mufungubwe.
I hinted in "From Mutapa to Rhodes" that the great bhoru mhondoro,
Chaminuka, had recruited as one of his juniors th6 UUire Soko man who
pursued the Dziva-Hungwe people south bf tne Limpopo River to establish
himself as the regional iuler of ihe most southerly MUi"r" frfutapa province.
This man is thought to
th_e grandson or great-grandson of Rusvingo, the
-be
builder of Great Zimbabwe. I intimated that-the flmily concerned had been
asked to look for the skin of a lion for this ancestor. Unfortunately, the fruition
gl tnis. development has been delayed by the war thar has bien raging in
Zimbabwe. But rituals have now been resumed and we should tno*, p"otrTUry
by the end of 1982, much more abotlllvlupungubwe and the founding ancestoi "
of this southern Mbire province. The foun?"r, of Mupungub;" were not
independent of Grgat T,imbabwe and must be looked upon"u, a segment of
'-r---
those that construci'ed Great Zimbabwe.
:.
:We have seen much of dry-stone building, terrpcing and irrigation works along
the whole eastern belt of Afri'ca from Ethiopia to S. Africa. But is there
anything like it in West Africa'l "Terraced hillside cultivation and irrigation
*as to be an integral and imposing aspect of early civilizations in east and
south-east Africa. Tt had long exiitedin southern Arabia where the whole of
rhat gleaming fabric "yof urbanity had depended on making a little water go a
long wayi and on conserving the soil of steep hillsides. Hillside terracing mly
still be slen. on a great scale even today as far as western Darfur. Surveyo-rs in
1958 found it abandoned for the most part, over an area of some 12000 sq.
miles from the sub:Sahara hills of the Jebel Marra and Mebel Marra's dead
volcano where no orie lives or cultivates today." (29)
This makes it clear that thecultural elernents of Azanian civilization associated
with dry-stone buildings, terracing and irrigation are not confined to the
asrern half of Africa from Ethiopia to S. Africa. This is because the Azanians
did not'only spread to southern Africa after 600 A.D. but also went to the
region west of the Nile Valley. We have discovered their presence in those
re[ions through the.cultural elements considered earlier; we now discover
their presence there through architecture.
I am by no means the first one to see that this architecture appears to have a
common parentage. York Mason writes, "All the structuresappeaf to be of the
same perircd and to have emerged fully-fledged from some previous design."
Mason here makes two important points: the structures appear to havg originated
from the same parentage and they cropped up all over Africa at about the same
time. This is in fact the theme of his book. He is not the only scholar who has
been impressed by this. "Various and contrasting though they were, the
foundations of Zimbabwe go back to much the same period as the foundations
of Ghana.
of the walls of the Acropolis and the elliptical building was
The initial raising-han
not much later thp time when Mali grew strong, and Timbuktu and
'Djenne saw their transfoimation into seats of thought and learning. The miles
of careful terracing and the hill-top forts and store-pits and stone dwellings of
Niekerk and Inyanga were made while Mohammed Askia and his successors
ruled the western Sudan." (30)
This is precisely what all these chapters have been about and this is only
possible if the Bantu migrations started about the spme time. We canqot deny
ihat these Africans migrated in definite directions and from a particular centte
or region. There is archaeological evidence that by the year 400 A.D. people
with Nilotic (Kushitic) cultural traits had reached the Darfur region west of the
Nile; there is archaeological evidence to prove that by the year 700 A.D. people
with Nilotic cultural traits had reached the L"ake Chad region; there is evidence
that by 850 A.D. people with Nilotic cultural traits had reached the western
Sudan proper and that the Ghana Empire had already taken shape. Coming
down to the south from the Horn of Africa evidence is conclusive that dry-
stone building, terracing, irrigation and even Christianity became features of
,
 *
Ethiopia before they affected any- other region to the sourh. But by 700
A.D. adopted the Khoisan clicks. The Egyptian ancient Sun-worship his disappeared
thgse Ethiopia_n cultural traits hab affectedKrnya and even Tanganyika
evidenc-e9 ur Engaruka. By 9ffi A.D.
as is almost altogether and is detected oniy in the barliest ancestors when they take
south of the Zambezi Riveras is proved!!ey lrad Sgcqyne reutrre, Jr ttr" ,"gion up mediums who actually practised it many centuries ago; ancient Christianity
b1, Niet<ert< aiO I"y;G;. By.l 100. Jr"n
Great Zimbabwe was in existenie and Mupunguu*" *uritro;?ly aiquired way back in the-Horrt of Africa has disappeared almost completely
this means that the Africans did not radiati inti Africa from several
t
appear. AII and is only associated with the earliest ancestors, as we have seen in Zimbabwe,
"radiation" centres of the continent. It must mean corners or who acrually practised it; by I980, dry-stone building, terracing and hillside
at the same time that the irrigation had come to a halt except in very few and isolated places and areonly
force accounting for this sudden explosion must be a common one
must he Islam.
and this detectable through earlier constr,uctions, some of which have become perrnanent
features of the continent. But traditional religion, although it has also to some
f.am.Pt
susgestingll,utthe west African Bantu are identical in cultural traits
to extent evolved, has remained largely intact and was, even up to the time of
the zambians or Zimbabweans; I am not suggesting that the Zairese colonization. the greatest and most. powerful African force to be reckoned
aie
identical to the Tswana or Namibians in cirlturii rraits. What I with. Even today, the foreign scholar hascome to recognise it as a force of no'
d;';;il;;
insist.on.yvinq is that they are similar and that this similartty ilil'#;;;; mean magnitude. Those who are of the opinion that African traditional religion
or coincidental but has a common parentage. Differences t[.r" is dead - killed by westernisation since the days of colonization - are much
Bantu who migrated into all Africa were riot mechanical machines
*urt u". irr"
but were mistaken. The unfolding of ancient African history- that we are witnessing here
human beings ung intelligent human beings is itself /result of the strength and revival of African traditional religion. The
- - who
a.1d t9 adapt themselves to new situations. rri'iy did not"orlinurA
to O"ret,rf
remain static nor did chief religious (or spiritual) personages are also the chief historical figures in
they develop and. adapt at the same rate and exactly along the every African community. This being so, the unfolding of African religion
same lines.
Situations were different and so was the resourcefulness of their
well know that Europe was very much innuenced by Greek
lil;;:'\i; must necessarily mean the unfolding of important aspects of African history.

know that Europe was very mrrch influenced_by Rohan civilization;

.iriii-li";, ;; Many of my oWn historical findings have come to light because of the greatest
but by unfolding of African religion in Zimbabwe since 1890. If religious developments
1500 Britain was not exactly what Germany or Russia now taking place in Zimbabwe were to be repeated in a few more African
was in cultural t"rrnq uy
Ittfi) France was nol exacily what Britain or ltaly *;t i, terms. All countries, I do not doubt thatin.a matter of a few years we will haye unearthed
these countries developed aidifferent rateis and along
somewhat"rr*rrr
different lines most of the important threads of African history way back to Kush. '
because of their o-wn particular environments and=tn" jirr"i"n-i
impinged on them in spite of their common Greek or Roman culture.
for"", thrt
All this is Divine Kingship is alive in Africa, true enough: but this is only an aspect of
equally true of Africa and therefore what we expect is similarity
and noi African traditional religion and this is why it is more alive today than the other
identity; and similarity plenty. "So immediately similar in their use of
ther.e is cuttural traits that we have examined. It is unfortunate that scholars have so far
stone for dwbllings,. irrigation, soil ionserration".in their ;l;i"g
and metal not looked upon it as such but this does all the same not mean that they have
work; in their knowledge of widely various pharmicopoeia; in thlir
fusion of been right. Destroy the main corner-stone of African traditional religion and
tribal law and custom *iih an inter'tribal and tiibute-paying
systern of divine kingship will die a natural death. Even the King or chief himself will,
power; in their trading habits; in their cultivation of ne* "rntralized
frro"n6 unJ fruits which cease to be a religious figure.
had come from ou$ide Africa; even in their indigenoi+;iG;t
' these cultures of a common -- were all
origin?" (31) The ais*er to this question is.a
positive and emphatic "yes". I fr'ave quoiecr the above tt) Colonialism and its son, Christianity, have made considerable inroads alainst
demonstrate the
extent to which other scholars also see what I have called :'the religion ever since their advent, but they have failed Jo change the essential
unity of Africa...
The important thing to remember is not only that this unity e*iririut strticture and character of this traditional religion. I am afraid that the Chribtian
J - ----- -----J also that
it is accounted for by common origins. missionaries and their agents have been tooiasily satisfied by shadows rather
than by the substance. ttr"y have been misled by figures appearing on their
registers. I look upon these figures as representing the outer man - the.outer
(71- TRADITIOiVLI RELIGION African - but not necessarily the inner man. In Christian terms, I look upon
Nowhere on the continent do the Africans demonstrate greater the outer man as the shadow and the inner man as the substance. The fact that
unity than in $o many have turned up for church services does not necessarily mean that the
$otjiopl religion. rhg orlgi-nal Kushitic languag" rp"[;-btih" B"ntu in rhe "
Nile Valley has evolved in different parts of Airici'and regioil same number of inner men has been spiritually involved. The fact that so many
rp""k languages have turned up for baptism does not mean that an equal number of inner men
incomprehensible to each other; for instance, the Soutfr,qfricln
bantu have has been converted to Christianity.
 a
The African himsef t no*i well that there are many reasons for which
he seeks
baptism and for which he may turn up at'a Christian church service. I
know of
many teachers who were kicked out of certain denonflnational schools
in this Religion is the heart of the traditional African and this is the area in which
country because they had refused.to be baptised as members of those particular
denominations- They had_originally been accepted as teacherr,in ttr"hop"
traditional Africans are most united. This, at the same time, emphasizes the
tfrui extent to which Africa -- Bantu Africa
th"Y
were going to relent. Theie are many denohrinational schooli
in Zimbabwe - is united. Parrinder, inhis "African
Traditional Religion" quotes the following:-
for instance which,
lP to independence in 1980, would.not accept pny childrel r.
whbseparentsandthemselveiwerenotmembersoftheirdendminitions. "An authority on Malawi writes, "No approach to any appreciation of indigenous
ideas regarding God can take any path but that through the thought-area
occupied by the ancestors." To this, Cullen Young adds, "To us thJidea of
ancestral priority has just no meaning, brt to thde older African men and
Furthermore, both primary and secondary education-in Zimbabwe women in the backlapd villages, life fiom day to day, and we might legitimately
as elsewhere
in Africa, has been almoit entirely in mission hands. The firsi governmenr say, from moment to moment, has no meaning at all apart fromlncestral
PIiryry school for Africans ever to be established in Zimbabwe was Mzilikazi presence and ancestral power." Parrinder refers to Soulh Africa,
- of"The
in 1946; the first government secondary school for Africans was Goromonzi ancestor spirits are the most intimate gods of the Bantul they are part the
also in 1946. All the familiar primary and se"ondary go6rnrn"ni or tribe and are considered andlonsulted on all impoitant occasions."
r"t ools that 1am1tY
are in the country today date from i956 on. But thisivm onry in urban
areas. In Zambia, - "The family divinities are the ghosts of one's grandfathrs;
The rural areas hav-e rbmained predominantly in the hands of the missionaries. grandmothers, father and mother, uncles and aunts, broth6rs and sisters." In
Thg.treadmaster of each school had at teasi to be u t;t Nigeria, "all the Ibo believe that their lives are profoundly influenced by their
ordained evangelist for him to get his post. He had to.r"it. ";u;;;tist
if not an
at leist an outward ancestors,andthisbeliefhasfarreachingsociologicalconsequences...Sacrifrce
' appearance that h: *.u: a genuine evangelist in order to retain his appointment. has to be offered to them atiegular intervals, orwhen the d-iviner indicates." In
The teachers under him had to creat; the same appearance ii tirly were southern Ghana, "in the everyday life of the Ga, the dead are very present . .
t; .

L:"p their jobs or avoid victimization by the churctr itrrougtl the headmasrer. Most people, as a regular habit,. never drink, and many nerer-eit, without
The parents wanted their children to gg to school and they:i"o t uo throwing a small portion on the ground for their forefathers." In Sierra'kone,
to assume
an air of religiosity and had to demoirstrate this uy turirinj uf t"r church "prayer is normally offered through a succession of ancestorc. Two distinct
services. The children were literally forced into it andiad ro o"ptiJn, groups of ancestors are worshipped
had to go to school.
since they - those ancestors whose narnes and feats
are known . . . and those who died in the far distant past." In the Sudan, "We
can--only understand the place of the kingship in Shifluk society when we
tealize that it is notthe individgal at any time reigning who is king (nor is it any
The result of all this was that each denomination baptised huge numbers familV head who rules) but Nyili,ang (the greatest founding ancestor) who is thl
of
Africans each year; each "converted" equally huge numbers; each registeieJ medium between man and God, and is believed in some way to partieipate in
-be
"
Jr-ugelnumbers on its rolls. But was it the inner Af.i""n who had been converted? God as he does in the King." In Zimbabwe,
-"There can nb meaningful
Were these missionaries not processing mainly rnoao*r rather communication with the Cr&tor without going through a hierarchy of ancesto-rr.'
than the substance?
is important is what these Afric-ans oiduiteiuttl"airg *All over Africa, ritrerittre
Ilrt rh;;;;r.h service.
Did they not carry on with their traditional rituals after baptism? 9n Africa in general, taid is tilled plunted, thq
Did they not blessing of the spirits is demanded. Then when the crop is ripe,"nd there are most
continue to visit the traditional doctor after the church service important First-fruit ceremonies of which the essential principle is that the
and in the hour
of need? If so, had the denominations concerned converted the inner spirits must eat of the fruits before men partake of them. These have been'
outer African? Rituals were indeed conducted by these Africans
or the
secretly or at g3ll$ "rite_s of primogeniture" since the spirits, if deprived of their priority in
$gh,t, or iri-a different gui!9 in order to avoid ihe wrath of the teacher, the the hierarchy, would takE revenge by threatening the harvest . . . The Afritan
headmaster' the lay.evangelist or the missionriy t ir*;li-'I-dJiri"nn", community is a single, continuing unit, conscious of no distinction in quality
were
covered to visit traditionil doctors in areas whLre one was between its members still HERE on earth, and is members now THERE.
unknown, for the
reason' This does not mean that the missionary have wherever it may be that the ancestors are living."
converted the inner
African; this dods not mean that traditional r"iigion *asaiaJdut
t"o;;;; i From all this, can we doubt that Bantu Africa is indeed.united in traditional
underground. It cannot be doubted that some tt of being religion? Hilda Kuper, writing on South Africa, states, "The piling up of
eager church members because they made"r"iirJ moneta.y" "pp""rln""
piititr
positions. This situadon prevails to this duy.
out of their ethnographic detail produces an impression of chaos where there ii in fict bnty
variation on a few themes. African societies can be broadly classified into i
 t -___--_,--
limited number of economic and political types and the djfference between the
most varied.A,frican tribes is slight when compared wit[the difference between
the most highly specialized African society and develdped industrial societies.
By comparison, African tribal societies are relatively undeferentiated and
homogeneous." To this, Parrinder adds, "This great comparative homogeneity
of African society is apparent in the religious sphere."
Ttiere are misconceptions in some of the above quotations. For instance, many "
ancestors are referred to as gods, ghosts and the like; it is suggested that
African worship-ancestors. But what is important is that Africa demonstrates
amazing unity in religion and that this uniiy is not and cannot be accidental.
'Africa
IVe cannot talk about the unity of in religion without discussing her
unity in politics. This is so because, as we Saw urrdr "Divine Kingship," an
African state is a theocracy and not a secular state. The king is the central
political figure and at the same time is the most importantreligious figure in the
polity. But that same polity is an economic and social polity; Here again, the
king is the head. For instance, it was the duty of the king or chief to see that the
rituals for supplicating for riin, the "firstlfruits" and "harvest festivals" or
rituals were organized. If the king neglected them, the African believed that'
the religious forces concerned would_be enraged and would hit back by "drying
up" the skies, in which case no rain would fall. The famine that might follow
would ceitainly have political and social repercussions on the kingdom. Therefore,
the organization of such rituals was not looked upon by the African as purely
economic. It was political, economic, social and religious. Each such kingdom
worthy of the name had a paramount chief (or king) at its head; it had regional
chiefs below the king; it had district chiefs below the regional chiefs; these in
turn had sub-chiefs or ward chiefs under them; the kraal heads were next in the
hierarchy and then came village elders below whom were commoners. At the
bottom were slaves or people who could be categorized as slaves. This was
feudalism and it was a feature of most if not all.kingdoms in Africa. This again
emphasizes the total homogeneity of traditional Africa total in the sense that
-
the similarities pervaded not one but every aspect of the life of the kingdom.
(b) THE IDEA OF GOD
The one element of African culture that is least,understood and that has been
subjected to greatest distortions, is traditional religion. I have just stated above
that in treating religion one is dealing with the real African; everything else is
peripheral. The idea of talking about politics here, economics there and
religion or social life over there, is a feature of Europe and not of traditional
Africa. This can only be appreciated if it is again realized that an African state
was a theocracy and nof a secular state. 't
I personally questioned many missionaries over the years on why they were
doing nothing about the political situation that existed in Zimbabwe bbfore
independence. Th6'answer I was given by many of them was that the church
.i
had nothing to do with politics. Zimbabweans may also remember the numbers
of aspersions cast against some missionaries by our European politicians for
making political statements. They may remember too how many clergymen
and other dignitaries were deporied fiom this country for 'Joining" p6iitics.
This perpetuates the notion - absurd to the African
- that-religion ian live
apart {rom politics; that a compartmentalized life was possiblJ. It may be
possible in Europe or America; it may be possible in modern Africa today. But
it was not possible in traditional Africa and it was highly artificial. To the
African, all aspects of life were inseparably inter-woven with religion as the
cementing force. Remove religion from life and everything disintegrates. This
.can be easily appreciated if it is realized that the potitical teaders were also the
leaders of every other asnect of life. The most important leaders were the
departed members of each community. But these are also the very characters
who were the chief religious figures in each community. They are venerated
loduy because of their religious authority. That religious authority was determined
by their political authority as the founding fathers of their various communities.
But the bommunities they founded had economic and social elements as well
and hence they were founders of political, 6conomic, social and religious
polities. By virtue of this, the living head of an African state was a vicar, with
the-founding and departed ancestors as the owners and real rulers of thatState.
This explains why and how an African state was a theocracy. The king was
divine because in him were combined the powers of titular head of theltate
and those of the founding ancestor to whom he was heir and vicar.'-
All this was highly nebulous to the early missionary and the colonial administrator.
The position was worsened by their strong feelings that there was nothinggood
in the African system. The immediate aim was to throw overboard ever thing
that the African stood for. No time was spared to understand the system. Yet at
the same time, after staying in Africa for a few,years and after managing to
speak smptterings of a vernacular language, these missionary and golonial
authorities looked upon themselves as experts on the African and African
customs and traditions. They were quick to put on paper what they thought
represented the African and in this way distorted what the African stood for.
No foreign scholar can legitimately claim to know and understand the African
:- the traditional African - if he does not see and understand traditional
religion in the right perspective. It is not enough to observe what Africans d_q'in
religious circles and claim that you understind thdm and their religion. To.
observe and record a Cathqlic mass is not nec'essarily to study and understand
Christianity no matter how many such masses you observe and record. What
makes the position worse for the foreign observer is that even the majority of
the Africans themselves may be unable to'explain inteltigently and inielligibly
why they do trhat they do, other than that they have been advisdd to do it and
that they are doing it according to tradition. But the foreign scholar, the early
missionary and the administrator were quick to make conclusions of their own.
drawn from a western angle, and put them on paper for general consumption.
In this way, serious misconceptions were accepted.
The foreign scholar who can legitimately claim to underytand and know the
traditional African has himself to be "Africanised'. Thi$neans that he has not
only to live with Africans in a traditional'setting from an early age but has to
live as an AfricAn and be reared as an African. In this wo], he becomes an
African in culture but remains an American or ^A,sian orEurope.an in complexion.
Regrettably, in view of the political circumstances that have prevailed in
colonial Africa, this has not been possible. The result has been that much of
what has been written about theAfrican has been put on pAper by scholars on a
"flying shuttle". They must stay in Uganda for not more than a month; in
Zamhia for two weeks; in Nigeria for six weeks and in Zimbabwe for three
weeks or else they fall behindschedule. dlternatively, they do their research by
proxy - by employing agents who go about collecting the material for them.
They then proceed to claim to know and understand the African.
I-et us now examine the African idea or ideas of God. There can be no doubt
that belief in Ood is universal in Africa and modern scholars ,ue alive to this
fact today, unlike their predecessors. The debate is largely now over whether
Africans are monotheistic or polytheistic. There are not two or three Gods in
Africa. There is only one God, the all-pervading God, the Creator and the
source of all power. In the quotations above, we have seen ancestorc being
referred to as "the African gods"'and "ghosts"; these are among the serious
misconcepdons referred to earlier. Differinces there are between communities,
but they are'minor and cannot make Shona belief in God one religion and
Njanja, Zull, Xosa or Yoruba belief in God another religion. The Catholics
differ from the Methodists; the Salvationists do not conduct their services after
the Dutch Reformed fashion. But we do not talk of these organizations as
religions. We call them denominations and some would use the word'fscts".
This is so because although there are differences between them, the essential
ingredients of Christianity remain the same. Belief in one God for instance, is
common to all of them. Belief in Christ ii also common to all of them.
What essential religious attributes rlo the Shona have that set their beliefs aPart
from that of the Nlanja of Malawi? What essential differences exist between
the Kikuyu and the Ibo of Nigeria and that make their beliefs a religion apart?
This is precisely where the foreign scholar has created an appearance of chaos
in Africa where surprising homogeneity in fact does exist.
The religious differences that do exist between African communities are
largely results of different political developments, which were often caused by
environmental circumstances. For instance, some communities lived in desert
or semidesert conditions and were forced by their environment to be noinadic.
They had to split up into small groups because their ecology was incapable of
sustaining high densities of people. As a result, highly structured communities
were not possible. Communities such as these noinadic ones could not have
highly structured religious systems andwhatthey have may borderon polytheism.
On the other hand, otfrer communities occrrpied well-watered and rich agricultural
regions, that were capable of sustaining high densities of people. In this case,
H6
highly structural political systems sere pocsiblti. Consequently, their religious
syslenls were also highly structured and were often monotheistic. Here and
therc such as in the-Mutapa Empire, Ghana, Mali.and Songhay, agriculture
combined with trade. In this care, supra-tribal political stnrctures called erf,pires
emerged. The political authority of the emperor transcended ribal boundaries.
After death, such emperom became what we call territorial spirits,'national
spirits or divinities. Thus, the religious structure is clearly determined by the
political structure, which was itself determined by environment. However, the
essential ingredients have remained the same. For instance, belief in God has
remained universal; belief in the power of the ancestor has also remained
universal.
(C) TIIE ANCESTOR
The place and role of God in Africa can only be understood in relation to that
of th ancestor. In Africa, G.od does not work independently of the ancestor.
'Likewise the
ancestor cannot.work independently of God.
In Africa rorn"'for"ign scholars think that they have come across a"lazyGod".
They hav'e seen Him as a "remote God who lives in idleness like a Negro king".
' far and too remote to be of much significance to the African. Those interested
in these views should read my "Dynamics of Traditional Religion," in which I
I devoted the biggest chapter to traditional religion and in which I quoted many
of these views. To begin with, Bantu Africa (or all Negro Africa) has no special
God of her own. If there is one Creator in the world
- and the universe - that
same Creator is also the God of Africa. Secondly, if He is remote at all, He is
,
- only so in terms of his Position vis-a-vis the living in the hierarchical order of
. creation. In terms of power and influences, He is as close to the African as the
vest and shirt the Afri-can himself is wearing. Thiidly, in terms of industrjr, He is
.lhq *ost alert and the busiest Force that one can imagine. Fourthly. if He is
indifferent to what happens on earth, then He is no God at all. The African
himself believes that there is nothing that can move, nothing good that can
, happen, nothingthatcan remain normalwithout the interventioriand presence
gf God._The African believes_in an all-pervasive and all-powerful God -
Omnipresent, Ornniscient and Omnipotent.
I
; The sources of the misconceptions of the foreign scholar are easy to detect.
Indeed, it was not easy for him to see anything else. This is because in tAfrica.
God has hierarchical chains of juniors through which He operates. These
hierarchical chains consist of ancestors ranging from the oldest, furthest and
most powerful to the youngest, nearest and leasi powerful. The oldest, furthest
. and'most powerful are the nearest to God and therefore furthest from the
living; the youngest, nearest and least powerful are the ones who died most
' recently and are therefore nearest to the living order but furthest in terms of
, distance in the hierarchy, from God.
tt7
 a
The situation is what has misled the foreign scholar. In everyday operatiorls,
the living order deals with the youngest "jiniors" who are n.ur.rl to it. These
go,lsilt of the most recently deceased members of tffe family hierarchy and
include the fathers, mothers (if they be dead), grandfathers, grandmoihers,
geabgrandfathers arqt great-grandmothers. Some of them u." pei*nally known
to the living order: Their interest in the,well being of their living members is
lnQuestionable.-If they allow their own lines of desCendants to diJout, it means
t-hat$ey have allowed themselves to die out, which is'unthinkable. The truly
dead African is he who has no progeny and no one will accept this without a
struggle. The greatest curse an Afriian can have is failure to have descendants.
If your line dies out at the level of grandchildren or great grandchildren, you
become as dead as the man himself died withput Each unceito.
inevitably struggles to see his lines of descendants"tritOi"n.
extending and a1 the
descendants together generally making good progress. This can Snly happen if
they are protected against all possible dangerithat may threaten them and if he
gives th."T all possible guidance and advice. Thus,the living order knows how
intensely interested in their descendants the ancestors urE. Th"re ancestors
c-a1 o{y be indifferent to the welfare of the living ar their own peril
- at the
;:i :,1;:l"TI::,:T:::J,?rs have no power ot tr,"i. own rhere is no
ancestor who can possibly be independent of the All-Pervasive Power who is
God. P"h major ancestor, such ai the founding ancestor of a dynasty, is no
more than "a
-power-distribution centre." He is a major link in the ancestral
hierarchical chain
The picture may be clearer if I use an electricity system as an analogy.
Consider Zambia and the Kariba Hydro-electric po*er system. The Kari"ba
Power Station is the source of Zambian electricai powe.. F.o* Kariba, the
main line leads to Lusaka. From Lusaka, one line branches off towards Livingstone;
a second line goes to the east towards Fort Jameson; a third line travels west
towards Barotseland; a fourth line continues to the Copperbelt. In this way,
Lusaka becomes a major distribution centre. But each jine from Lusaka has
sub-distribution centres from which smaller lines radiate to the outlying areas.
In these outlying areas are smaller distribution centres which seive-all the
regions in their vicinity. In the end, the whole of Zambia may be criss-crossed
with power lines, of varying importance. The sub-stations at Monr" or Mongu
is n9t independent of the major power station in Lusaka. The minor po*it
st_ations throughout the country are not independent of the sub-stations at
Monze and Mongu; above all, none of these itations, including the Lusaka
major distribution centre, is independent of Kariba.
What all these stations- represent is not difficult to see in terms of African
religion. Kariba is the source of atl power and represents God; the Lusaka
\Iajor Distribution Centre representsihe first human ancestor to be created by
God; the four mail power lines represent four sons of the first man who by
virtue of their positions, become the first four founders of the major segments
to descend from the'first man. The sub-stations at Monze and Mongu represent
the regional capital of each line descending-from the first man. The lines
radiating from those regiohal capitals represent the major Houses and major
chieftainships descending from the regional ancestors. All these chieftainships
work under the general suzerainty of the regional founding ancestor. The
minor stations established throughout the country and radiating from the sub-
stations represent the districts each under a sub-chief or headman. The terminal
,. stations represent the kraals and kraal-heads all under the direct control of strb-
'-
chiefs, and also the most recently deceased ancestors such as fathers, mothers,
grandfathers and grandmothers.
Let us go back to ou1 electricity analogy. Although everybody is fully aware
that the source of all the electricity in Zambia is Kariba, very few have direct
connections with Kariba proper; very few ever appeal for issistance to the
authorities actually in charge of the p<iwer station at Kariba. In fact, very few
even know how to contact these authorities directly. Those in the remote areas
deal with the authority in charge of their terminal electricity stations that
supply them. All emergency cases, all repair work and all payments are the
concern of these authorities in charge of terminal stations.
What goes on between the stations thdt serve them and the Lusaka Major
Distribution Centre is largely irrelevant to the ordinary consumer. The majority,
of the consumers may not even be aware that the immediate bos.ses of the sub-
station masters are in Lusaka. But everybody is fully aware that all the etectricity
comes from Kariba. How the sub-station masters tap it from Kariba is none of
their business. What they want is to be served with electricity and of course
they know their men on the spot; the terminal station masters, the minor
station masters and the sub-station masters. These are the officers who serve
them. As long as these people get their electricity, Lusaka and Kariba are
almost irrelevant to them.
L-et us imagine for a moment that there was an electrical problem at one
terminal station and one or two consumers rushed to Lusaka for help. These
people will certainly be referred back to the terminal centre or minor station
that serves the termina\centre. If the problem be a major one, they rhight be
referred to the sub-station centre but this would be very unlikely. Certainly the
Lusaka Major Distribution Centre will not give them technicians to accompany
them back home to attend to their terminal problems. This is so not because
Lusaka has no interest in the affairs of the .ank and file of the people out in the
rural are:rs but because there is a definite electricity hierarchy. Every member
in the hierarchy is there to serve not himself but the people undr him. Each
member of the hierarchy must play his full part if the interests of the people are
to be served to the maximum
(d) TRN)rTrONAr RELTGTOUS pHTLOSOpHy
I African traditional retigion has a definite philosophy which must be understood
in order to understand all the complexities of the religion. This philosoplry
explains the emergence of the ancestral hierarchy, its importance in the dayto-
day lives of the livinge order, and its relationship
--------r with the All-Pervasive Force
whlch is God.
ll9
 t
ii''
Africans believe that the living-part 6f the creaied orderdoes not know
God, " The next stage concerns the direct descendants, the children of the first
because God is aj th9 top of ilong and ever lengtheningbrr"i, the created ancestor. These constituted the second generation of humans on e4rth. They
order. on the other han'd, the fivlng pil;] the creatd order "t i; ;1h;-;;,
bottom of the chain. The chail i1 eier lengthening becaurc n"* generations did not know God directly but through their father. This father, the firit
ancestor, taught them what he could about God; he was the only one with
are. born by the liulng pgt! o-f the createi order] The
junior members of the whole hieyryfrv of human creation. livin.g are rhe mosr i direct instruction from Him regarding His wishes and how He was to be
are totally physical and their "sight" iivery short. They
rriaaJitio;,-;:h"y ': attended to. In this way; the first ancestor won a special status by virtue of his
imnfediately around them and oily what ii
r"i only what ii ' position - the status of being the intermediary between the Creator and the
"ur,physical Ly". it
to the created order of which he was part.
and superiol t6 tne 1iving. .io"
"*pos"d
9"u9 pa-r! of the created order is different from
begin with, the dead are older and nearer the source of creation than
the li-"ving.
The second generation had its own children. These children constituted the
Secondly,-the d:.a9 are only physical in the sense that they *Li" Ln"e physical third generation of humans on earth..This third generation was further away
1u.."., beings;.they arerrowipirits like the creatoi. it irdrv,i-t tG ,, from the Creator. It learnt'what it could a,bout the Creator from,the second
dead is much "longe1". They can "see" more than is i--"Oi"i"iy",.sigh[';6i gneration
more than is exposed to the human eye; they can "see" what is to".ound
them,
' - from its own fathers and mothers - which had been tutored by
the first ancestor. As more and more generations were born and older onei
come in the
ttitui'e. They can ward off d-angers threateningtheir progeny. died out, a hierarchy of generations emerged; the living generation is always at
Aff it ir makes the
deadpart of the created order superior to the"living partl Inierms of
' the bottom of the chain of creation; direcl communicition between it and the
distance in
the chain, the living ale the farthtst away from t# b."utor; i,
ti#Jri;;; : Creator, according to African thinking, is not possible.
"sight" and wisdom,.the living are the *ort inferior in the whoG
chain. To the
African, it would bebdd for the most inferior to have direct links with , The Shona of. Zimbabwe say "a chief without juniors is no chief at all". This
the most means that most of the administrative work of ihe chief must actually be done
superior and furthest, God. In addition, it would equally Ui oal ior
the livingto 'on his behalf by his juniors.'This includes even the trial of cases. H-e must of
claim to know the Greatest Force, the Most Superior of all Forces
Furthest of all Forces. Inevitably, the living African admits
and the i course be physically present and listen to all the arguments and finally pass the
that he does not judgment. Furthermore, when a plaintiff approaLhes a chief to pieient his
know God and therefore direct communicalions with Him
This must be stressed. "r"
out of question. , case, it is unthinkable that he can rnake a direct approach to the per3on,of the
:i chief. rre'mus[
crller. He'must go tnrougn
through me chief?s juniors.
the cnlel's 'l he case rtselt
The next P-oinl to understand is that although the African believes that Junlors. The itself rs rLhyed to
is relayed ro the
not know God, he at the same time believeithat there is somebody
he does i' chief through a chain of juniors untilit reaches a noble looked upon as only
God orwho knows Him better than he himself. Th-tr1;-tir;iirJi"'.""sror
who knows ,. second to the chief who then relays it to the chief himself. The-situation is
to be similar in negotiating marriage deals. It is unthinkable that the prospective son-
created, because God revealed Himself to His first human creation.
were in direct touch and communicated directly. withoui-itri,
The.6-i;;;
two in-latv makes a direct approach to his prospective father-in-law. He must do it
communication, through an intermediary.
God:s first human- creation would never have known what to
do for Him. For-insrance, tre wouta;"r-h;;H6wn how to thank"dd,r
creation and forall the blessings bestowed on him. By virtue"it irtirr;;;t";
r#ti; ','
All this is summed up by another Shona saying, "Kukwira gomo hupoterera."
This means that if you want to climb to the summit of a high hill or mountain,
' and his direct links with God, the first ancestor is tire nearest io ttre Cr;;;i;;
Power. He is also the oldest, the most powerful anA the mori
rup"rior link in
this whole hierarchy-9f human creation because he is closest highest mountain imaginable. If the Africans do not dare to approach their
to the source of
power' the creator. He is only inferior to the creating power I human superior. directly as we have seen above, it is incomprohensible that
Itself.
The belief that God was in direct touch with the first man or firstgeneration
of i they can be expected to approach God directly as it,He has no juniors.. They
h1ryan beings- is widespread in Africa. Those ini"r"rt"d in
the details of the I,. only indirect connections with Him,
have onlY Him. through
throush the generations
senerations ahove
above them
them.
are referred to my 'lDynamics of rraditi;";i R;ligi"r';;g;in. whether
*.bjp"t
this occurred here on earth or in heaven does not reatt! i ttris also explains the origins of divine Kingship. The king is divine because.he
matter is that many Africans have myths that suggest th;t
*utiE . What does is an important link in a divine chain consisting of the ruling hierarchy of the
'touch with man; but as a result of the mischief Coa *u. in ai.eci created order. That whole hierarchy is divine because it is a ''conduit" carrying
Lr ambitions of some of the divine authority from the Creator. It is not only the king who is divine; every
humans, He retreated into His own world or the humans
were abandoned here ancestor carriei some divine power. The king is more divine because heis part
on earth. From that poinr on, rhe created order started
to n;;;;;rt from the of the main "conduit" carrying power for distribution to the whole triG of
Creator, after having once known Him and His wishes. This
in African theologyl ", -----:is important
is wtrai nation; the ordinary ancestor is less divine because he is part of a "subsidiary
conduit" conveying divine power only to his progeny which is a small segment

r2t
 a ,l
of the whole community. Without this divine power, the ordinafy artcestor
would not be able.todo anything for his descendants. He would not b; Gqd in Africa is not indifferent to the people He created. He created them fora
different reason and He would want them to continue ihultiplying and.generally making
- from an ordinary living being. Iiis the divine element ttrat muf.es him different.
progress. Inefficiency or indifterence on His part adveqsely affects the whole
In a se-nse, God isvery remote indeed. His theoreticaidistance from the living npoi"r line" to the smallest terminal station in the remotest partof the country.
part of the created order is determined by the number of generations In short, the whole ancestral hierarchy is useless without God, the source of all
between
'the first ancestor th9 living. But in ter*r of pr4cticat "power and influence power and all wisdom.
-1n!
he is near to the living becauJe the power of thi n"urrrt ancestor who
deals The togical consequence of this philosophy is that there is no "ancestor
*'th the. day-to-day affiirs of the living, ir c"J'r power. Here uguin,
o;;k;il;"
electricity analogy is helpful. In termi of physical distance, th? Kariba power worship-" in Africa.-The Africans worship God, but through His juniors. His
Station is certainly very fir from Fort Jamir6, orKasama or Mongu. But juniorJare the ancestors who are His creation and who range from the oldest
once Lnd most powerful to the youngest and least powerful. They are in touch with
the Kariba turbines are turned on, it does not taketi." ioi to no* io the masses of the peopte because they are the direct Inasters and at the same
"r""t.i"Ity ffi;;
these.outlying stations. In terms of time and effect therefo.",-itr"
electricity is ve-rY close to these stations. It is also n"""r."ry io realize that time the direct seivants of the masses. The masses communicate with'them
'according to African religious philosophy, God's .opower tur6inesi' regularly and appeal to them for any assistance in their day to day "electricity"
;;;;;;
switched off and therefore His power ii ever flowing to the last ierminal point, problems. Naturalty the relations bet*een the masses and the immediate
the youngest and most inferioi of the living beingsf Therefoie, references ancestors are much more intimate than those between the masses and the more
to remote ancestors and the remoter God. This is what misled the foreign
Godasremoteareoftheoreticalandnotfracticilsignifi"u*..
observer into construing that the African worshipped the ancestor.
To describe God as.lazy and indifferent to what happens on earth is like Of course this ancestor must be highly respected and even feared. He is God's
describing tfe electricity authorities in direct charge of the Kariba power instrument of creation beqause, without hlm, the living themselves would not
Station as lazy and indiiferent to the electricity neEd, of the rank be there; he carries god's divine power; he is God's instrument of administration
and file
throughout Zambia. The -urr". of the Zambians in the iurur areas on earth;,he is highly interested in the welfare of his progeny and taps God's
may
certainly be tempted to think that this is the case, because'they do not power for their benefit. All the diplomacy and all the ingenuity of the ancestor
know
what happens at the Lusaka Major Distribution Centre and at is geared towards the protection 4nd general prosperity of the living:
K;iba. Theyare
not-e]en likely to know the actual technicians who are in ctrarge otboth
Kariba
and Lusalca. Tlre.v may not even be interested to know. But their;;ila;;;; This being the position, it would be most ungrateful of the living part oI the
the local technicians who actually serve them are bound to be very created oider not to respect, praise and even fear the ancestors who do so
different,
. because they are of immediate concern to them. tn aoJition tilry actually see much for them. If they disappoint them, they might turn their backs on them, in
them running around and putting things in order for them. Because which case God's blessings witt not flow to them since the ancestors themselves
of their
personal knowledge of these local technicians, the rank and
file of the p."p[ are the "conduit". The ancestor participates in God as he participates in man
can pass judgment on them. But they cannot-do the same with the and must be highly respected. God and the ancestor are as one in their
authorities manning Lusaka and Kariba because they do not know them.
iigf,;; determination to piotecf the established order.
[n
actual fact howevJr, it cannot be true thai ihe technicians in the remote
outstations are busier and more interested in the welfare of the masses. There are two further attributes of the ancestor. He is more than a human
They
are able to keep their lines alive--only because the highe. oiii""rc being because he is a spirit like God and because God participates in him. A
' Kariba *unugini spirit can only communicate effectively with another spirit. Segondly: !!t
and Lusaka are alert and efficiint. If things go wiong either at Kariba
or un""rtor is a human being partly because he was a physical human being aird in
Lusaka, the technicians in the remote areas imrn'ei'iatery UEcom" n"fpf"o
S", a wey stitl has the attributes of a human being, because he can take possession
trJf efficiency and effectiveness depend largely on tt r emiiieocy ana emectiveness
of the senior officials at Kariba and Lusi'ku. fn" truth *"y *"tt be that the of a iiving being and in that way assume a physical form again. Y!r"" he does
technicians and officials at both Kariba and Lusaka are much more this, he becomes in almost every respect a village elder again. We brew him
alert and
busier than those in the remote areas controlling the rrU-r,",i.*;ffi; beer in the way we do for our living fathers and other villagg elders; we dress
stations and terminal stations. In terms of interest in ihe *rftu." him (cover him up with a material) in the way we dress other elders; we buy him
otthe rank and a watking stick, a battle axe, a dagger and anything else he used to posse-ss
file of
[9 peopte, none of them is less interested or more irt"r"riei;il;;; t
They all have- _a duty to serve the people and none can afford to be when he was here on earth. As a living father, grandfather or village elder, he
9tl:J.
indifferent to the welfare of the people he is intended to serve. advised us and generally cared for us. Today, after death, he still advises us and
cares for us in ihe same capacity. It is a serious crime to ill-treat and starve a
 a
living father, grandfather or village elder and it
is believed that serious miifortunes
' can befa[ one who does it. It iJan I have indicated that Africa demonstrates rernarkable unity in religion. Bclief
father, mother, grandfather or vilrage
"qu"uy
,";i"*;;t.;;.;fr* to care for a in one God is universah belief in the power of the ancestor is also universal;
;rd;il-,h;il;;d. rituals such as those connected with the supplication for rain, first fruits and
The second attribute of the an_cestorcompletely harvests are universal; possession by spirits ii itso uiriversal. This is remarkable
misled the foreign scholar. He unity. Divine kingship, which is only a reflection of a belief in ancestral power,
saw the African brewing beer and dedic'atirg'ii-i.'tri";;;;.. .
references.to God. He law him without any
dedi;,ing
ibrii ;;;"i-gou,,
religious regalia, to the ancestor wirh;;i;;;rJf"r"n""s or items of
to GoI. To this foreign
,' Religious unity implies African cultural unity in gareral, because, as we have
observer, the African was worshippid;h;;;;estor. seen, the African state was a theocracy. Atl the"cultural elements were inter-
But in actual fact, he was related, with religion as the cementing force. But cultural unity can only be
feeding, clothing and honouring.t iit it.i
."tt er, grandmother, grandfather
or iillage elder in the usual *uy-he did when tt explained by historical developments and attributable to orle of two possible
elders were alive. But when
he grows up, it becomes his turn to look causes: either a foreign conquering power invaded the whole continent and
after his"r"
parents and the village elders.
This African who is brewing u""., olJii;il'""imals imposed its own culture on the Africans, or Africans have common historical
religiou5 resafia is onry contiiuingl" pr"y hil and other elements of origins. It is a fact that the Bantu populated the continent of Africa after 600
r?t" ur"omebody fully grown and
' therefore looking aftei his eldersJt un alrrcunlgnores
his living morher, father
A.D. If the continent was invaded and acculturated by a foreign power, that
and other elders, they too will lose irt"i"ri power could only have done so after 600. If so, that power could never have
thatnare believea to fono*. uk"*ise, iian
i" [im with au irrE;;;r"qffi;; been a European power because the culture of Europe around 600 A.D. was
airi"an ignores his dead mother, vastly different from the African culture in question. Shall we iirfer that the
father and other elders, they too will punish [i-
by removing their protective
cover' It is all a continuation of the ilt;ilionlt invading power was Arab power, because this was the time the Arabs ernbarked
ipr it ui'pi"ruiled before on general conquest of other regions and continents? But here again, we know
death bctween childr.en and parentsorgrandchildren irag."r;'Jiarents.
is very little ng* There that the Arabs were Moslems and they invaded to spread Islam. Bantu culture
it, except that huii;;;;."aches to the deceased have
taken a formalizedln-form. Thire is no n""o to is not Islamic except in specific areas where Moslems did conquer and spread
liuke references to God because their religion as has been recorded. Indeed, all this is an academic exercise; the
they did not do so in their dearings *irh ;;;h
other;h;; rh"yi"r" alive. possibility of a foreign power invading and acculturating the contlnent after
uppttciate that it i.t easy to distinguish between these two attributes 600 A.D., or even between 100 B.C, and 600 A.D., is out of the question. The
I
ancestor' to regard 19,him as a pe.son-al friend without ,n"onr"iously of the answei is simply that African religious unity, like general African cultural
influenced by his position, or ur ;;;J being
your personal relations with him." B-ut in
r"*: withour being influenced by unity, is explained by common Bantu historical origins in north-east Africa.
spite of this, the t u-in attributes of These Africans could not have originated from any other part of Africa
the ancestor are discernible as are the rela'tionships
uet*een thJliving and the because no such other part had these cultural elements. Africans themselves
ancestor' With certain rituals that concern the
ancestor as an agent of God the throughout the continent state that they originated in the north-east. In view of
approach is different. A ritual in supplicutio,
the Harvest ritualaregood examptii, Here,
rti rain, the pirst-Fruits ritual and this cultural unity, do we really have a reason for doubting their claims?
the messages are transmitted to the
youngest and most recently
' transmit the message to th-e- deceised tribaior national ancestor. He is asked to
one a.bove him und-ro on, until it reaches (S) THE BANTU TRIMTY
remembered who either will be asked to tiuni-irrh;;;;;A;;a"d the last-
asked to transmit it to "the unknown or wi, be This heading r^efers to the original ethnic TRINITY of the Bantu Family.
ones beyond/above you who should Scholars who have done real work on African history, customs and traditions
trans-?nit it to God." unfortunately, t".
tt t r"ign scholar, rnort of the day-to- are in no doubt that the ancestors of the Bantu had a qommon ancestry and that
day rituals that areasy to witness concern"
, rls a father' mother, or village trrr in"rr;;;il fi;;ond capacity they originated from a common geographical lochhty. A Kenyan Afriaan
-the conclusion elder. b""um. God is ;"; il;tly involved,
historian, Muriuki, says "The Bantu-speaking peoples of Kenya have a common
is reached that-the ar.icans *oishipped ancestors ancestry with the bulk of the present inhabitants of eastern, central and
I have been asked in the past: "The ancestral Southern African". I have gone further than this to say that all the Bantu in all
chain from the point of creation
to the living generation ,nurt be enormolsly Africa have a common ancestry and I am not abandoning that stance.
long; does it not [u[i too long.for '

"Africans to transmit their messages to God una-io]"rl."priffi

living part of the created order?. i" il back ro the ir
From the southern tip of Africa, Monica Wilson working on the Xosa of
O-*""]iili.
from the first ancesror is continrou d;;; -io is not so, beCause the chain Transkei, has this to say, "The Bantu of S. Africa show marked similarities'in
therefore instantaneogs.
trr" living; the response is economy, local grouping, law, ritual and symbolism with the cattle people of
the Sudan, Uganda and Kenya borderlands. . . . Each item taken alone has
 t
little significance but when there are many, one begins to speculate what they do So in
ancient movements linked the Sudan with tlie TranikEi,'toi itll;;lik;ly iil;; great spirits or mediums of the lahd (makombwe and majukwa)'
this meant' 'W"
the whole pattern has been twice invented." I am arguirfgthroughout thiibook
. shrills of threes. tn"it r*n handi in rhythms of three.l' 4lt
"fup
of the Dziva, Tonga and Soko"' Furthermore' each
that the "whole pattern" has not been 1'twice invenied"I WhatAe see all over honour you in the name
stick
Africa are remnants of a corRmon culture pointing at a common Bantu ancestry medium of tt.r" ;;ir ipirits is requireJ to possess a three-headed
(tsvimbo). The one orthe iou", of this^book is anexample of it. To the rir'edium
and original commol ge-ograpt the Soko and the
igullocality. But that original Banru Family had Concerned, it means, "I operate in the name of the Dziva'
a definite structure. It did not all of a suddbn multiply inlo fifteen, thirty oi the assitance,
on" Tonga',. fy p"srtring this stick-and by using.it, he is summoning
hundred tribes.Ivlyanalysis above points to a Trinity consisting of the Dzivas,
the Sokos and the Tongas. Let us now turn to definite Bantu guid"ance and power of all the three ancestries'
f,ractices which visiting the Tana
make it clear that the Bantu were aware of their Trinity'and that they Towards the end of 1ggl, I watched President Moi of Kenya
the way by throngs of Kenyan tribesmen who
commemorated this Tririity. Although we have lost the significance of thesl River Scheme. He was met on
practices, they are continued to this day in many parts of Africa right ihrough, t[.e dominant feature was the
were singing unJ "IVe
"nunting.'But
in rhytf,ms of tfrrees. {n.Irlfitional terms this meant,
This means that without knowing it, the present Bantu people continue to Soko and the Tong1"'
"f"ppi"g"&-hands
welcome you and greet you in the name of the Dziva,the
commemorate their original Trinity. - the
I am hero referring to practices associated with the figure three. I do not Next, I watcheO ffig".iuns doing their traditional dances' Here' again'
_dominant feature was the clappi"ng of hands in rhythms of threes'Again,.in
believe that there is a tradition that starts from nothingf Every tradition has the Dziva' the
traditional terms, it mean "Weiejo"ice and dance in the name of
historical origins, be those origins remembered or not. This is true of the
. Soko and the Tonga".
practices associated with the Baptu Trinity.
check on
The most obvious example of the existance of the figure three in Bantu Africa
I have picked on a few examples most of which yoY can actually firyr.e three in
;.d"y. f u- rur" you can find nr*rrous other examples of the
is the fire-place. All African traditional pots are cooktd on three and not two or Are
Africa. Here indeed are Africans commemorating their original Jri$ty! or
four fire-stones. This means "We are iooking in the name of the Dziva, the "invented" fifteen
*" going to be so naive as to say that this figure thiee was
soko and the Tonga". As Monica wilson warried us above; one tradition on its
fiftt times overs? ' ,

has no-significance. But analysed together with other practices, it becomes

problem
This Trinity has archaeological evidence to support it too' The.only
9Y.n'
full of significance. The modern scholaican argue that tire Bantu make their Africa
pots sit on three and not on tw<l because they bilance better on three. But in so far has been that we were not awhre of the existence of a Trinity in
tir. ur"haeological discoveries did not mean what they mean to
the end, such an argument proves inadequate and unsound. and so some of
a few examples, in Zimbabwe'
If we look at West Africa, we find that when the Ashanti of Ghana crown their
;;;;;;f"; rh. eir;"*w of tiis Trinity. To givetogether with.Leopard's Copje
what are known as Zimbabwe Periods I and-Il
king, he is made to sit on the traditional Golden Stool three and not two or four
and Gokomere cultures are well'known to represent one cultural stratum' In
times. This meant and still means (although the people concerned today may ,,F.p* Mutd;;Rhod"f I have stated thit this represents Dziva'Hungwe
not know it) "We are crowning you in the name of thb Dziva, the Soko anO ttre -y ,

cultural stratum in Zimbabwe is cauia Zimbabwe, Period III'

Tonga". If we cross over to Zimbabwe, we find that before 1890, chiefs-elect "uttu,"whowerethefirstBantupeople_t99ccupythis.c!u}!rY-Thqn,e.x1 This is the
were taken to pools of water before sunrise'on the day of installation. There, with the construction of the Zimbabwe Fort and I stated
stratum associated
that it ,"pr.."nted the arrival and occupation of this country- by
they were emersed in watr three times and then covered with btack/white the SOko-
Mbire Family. These were new invaders who drove the Dziva-Hl'9y:!T{:
materials (Hungwe materials) and were carried home for the completion of the
io*urO, S. Africa and Botswana. Zimbabwe Period IV represents no
installation. This again meant, "We crown you in the name of the Dziva, Soko more
and Tonga" and this was the Shona equivilent to the Ashanti Golden Stool. of Mbire culture'
than the evolution
When the Shona wash up babies, they throw them into the air three times and should not
What is missing is a stratum representing the Tonga Famity' But this
this means, "We wash you and rearyou in the name of the Dziva,the Soko and
surfrise u, noi in view of whit we have come aCross above. The early fonga
The invading Soko
vou *ifr ti;J ril"
the Tonga". Watch the Shona shaking hands traditionally and but Mozambique.
did not become a feature of Zimbabwe
!!ey always do it in threes and again lhis means "I greet you in the name of the MLir" Famity aron" them to the south along the east coast. Their descendants
Dziva, Soko and Tonga". Watch traditional Shoni *omen greet strangers in across earlier and
are the frforu.Uquan and S. African Tongiwhom we came
some parts of the country such as the northern and western piovinces, y6u will through
still close to the east coast. We saw some 5f the* entering Zimbabwe
from
find that as they say words of greetin gatadistance, they bend their knees three
the south-easiirn corner (the Hlengwe) but much later and again
and not two or four tlmes. when shona women ulutate (kupururudza) for the
Mozambique.
 Theie ean thus be no doubt that the early Tonga were not a feature of
Zimbabyg:
Th" majority of the Tonga in Zinibau-wJtgday u.i feature of the
Zaqrbezi Valley and are closely related to the ZambLn tonga. " fn"v rpifi"a
across the Zambezi into this country much later and were not a--ble to pln6truti
into the interior. That a.Tonga cultural stratum should be found missing in the
interior of Zimbabwe should therefore not be surprising:
If we cross over to East Africa, we find something quite interesting. Two "
Belgian archaeologists did'some work here and discovered three definite
archaeological strata..They are Jean Hiernaux and Emma Maquet.
ftreyi"unA
the earliest Bantu cultural stratum which they called 'A'. Oh top of it, they
found a second cultural stratum re-presenting inew group of Bantu peopie Uui
yjlh a different culture. They calied this st-ratu. 'E'. Siitt on topbt ii, trrey
found a third and later stratum
$-ain rupr"r.nting a ne* Baniu people with a
different culture. They called this straium 'C'. 5o these two archi"ofogirtt
up with an archaeological trinity representing three early Bantu cultires
9n{ed
in East Africa. e -J
I have not scrutinized the evidence closely enough to say at present which
:lr-atu[ represents the Dziva, which the Soko and *hich thl Tonga. But in the
ligt t of these other discoveri":, tlg discovery of an archaeologlcal rriniatis
' fascinating and assumes great significance. I hive no reason to do"ubt that thlse
strata represent Dziva, Soko and Tonga segments.
-Any
scholar who believes that the Bantu have a common ancestry (and they
appear to be very many) implicity admits that they originateO iiom a common
geograqhical,locahty: H9w else could this happenit ttrJ original two ancestors,
one male and one female, were a thousand miles apart?
It is a fact that a-single family-does not and can not all of a sudden multiply into
len 9r twenty tribes. The mother and father are the starting point of a tri6e. The
family grows until it constitutes a subtribe. The subtribe gr5* until it constitutes
' a tribe. The tribe then splits up into two or three or-four segments. These
segments in turn grow into tribes and also split up. This is knowledge
"o*rion
to us for a new sub-tribes and tribes were foiming all over Africa when ,n. *ei"
overtaken
!V ttre dvents associated with the New Imperialism of the late lgth
century Indeed, has the formation of sub-tribes and tiibes come to an end even
today? What were mere individual families in 1890 in Zimbabwe have tra"i
grown into sub-tribes in terms of numbers. Colonialism of course interferrei
with g.eographical contiguity that went with the formation of new sub-tribes
and tribes. But the impoitant point is that each family, ;; itg-;; i";;; irffi
, tPliq up into a few segments first and these segments, giveriplenty of land in
old Africa, almost always grew into independ'ant tribEs. Th; Ba;tu riiniiy
' suggests that the original Bantu Family oiiginally split into three tribes that
yerg very aware of their common origins andcommon geographical contiguity. r
Each of these three acquired culturil traits of its o*nT
Lcquired its own
indentity. In due "u-"h
each of these three tribes split up into segrnents which
in turn grew into"ou.se,
trfues. Although each new segment started to make its own
tz$
history and to acquire new cultural traits, it at the same time maintained the
major characteristics of the parent tribe. The result today is that the Dziva the
Soko and the Tonga have each maintained their mhjor cultural traits such as
association with water, association with land and matriliny and are up to a
point still identifiable as distinct groups to this day. That the majority of the
Bantu can still be traced to the Dziva, Soko and Tonga Trinity can not be
disputed.
There is no evidence of the original Bantu Family'splitting into two, four or six
segments. But certainly there is enough evidence to suggest that it split into
three segments that in due course became independant tribes from which all of
us later segmented.
The reasons for the splintering of the original three tribes can easily be guesed.
The effects of the Arab invasion of north-east Africa h-ave been discussed. You
shoutd also realize thatsome of these Bantu people were pastoralists. As their
numbers and animals multiplied, they needed.more land for pastures. Naturally,
. they encroached
on more and more land thereby moving further and further
away from their original parent dynasty and establishing a tributary dynasty for
their immediate needs in their locality. In due course, segments broke away
from them, moved further aiield and did exactly the same. We should realize
'
too that land was plentiful in Africa and that this in itself encouraged migration
from one [ocality to another. But it was not everybody who moved; it was
segments that did so and others remained behind. This no doubt cuiminated in
the severance of relationships, formally or intormally, bepeen them. Just
imagine what would have happened in the ranks of the Xosa of S. Atrica if the
Boers had not dammed them back after 1652 and if the African land mass
continued further south! This helps you to understand what the Bantu did as
they migrated away,from the Nile Valley to the south and west without major
human hindrances in their way.
Some of these Bantu segments were agriculturalists. Others were bottr
agriculturalists and pastoralist. These people had no way of fertilizing their
soils. They resorted to shifting cultivation. As the density of population made
shifting cultivation difficult or impossible, segments broke away and established
themselves on new land a fair distance away from the parent dynasty.
In due course, they grew into tribes and their ow$ segments repeatEd the
process. This means that segments of the existing dynasties were always on the
move establishing themselves on new land. This represented growth, territorial
expansion and migration. For as long as land was plentiful, this process was to
continue.
The third factor was that of disagreement within a tribe or sub-tribe. One of the
greatest sources of disagreement was succession to chieftainship. Very often
there were fights between factions over who was to succeed the late chief. The
defeated party migrated to establish a new dynasty a fair distance away under
its own candidate, The "fair distance" could be a hundred kilometres or more.
t29
 t
Such a move could mark the bqginning of severance of rtdations between this
new dynasty and the parent dynasty. Quarrels over bootycaptured in war could
precipitate fights resulting in a similar migration of the defeated party. Many
quarrels were over women and resulted in a similar development. For inStance, a
man of standing could fall in love with the wife of another man of standing.
Each had his own following. A fight could start between them and one party
was'defeated. The defeated party ran away to establish itself beyond the reach, "
of the winning party. One group could accuse another of sorcery or witchcraft.
The iqiured party could migrate to establish itself on a new piece of land
outside the control of the other party. Alternatively, the two parties fought
over it and the defeated party hived away and migrated. This continued to
happen up to the colonial era. It is still happening today except that it is largely
now confined to individual families and not tribes or whole segments of tribes.
An equally important cause of large scale migraticln was inter-tribal conflict.
The causes for this were many. It could be desire to capture the domestic
animals of another tribe; it could be desire to capture and take to wife the
daughters of another tribe; it could be envy of the land of the neighbouring
tribe; it could everr be conflict of personalities between neighbouring chiefs, it
could be a conflict ov'er hunting grounds. Whatever the reasons might have
'been, conflicts took palce between tribes. Some of them were defeated and had
to migrate and reestablish themelves beyond the reach of the victors. Some
tribes were shattered and regrouped in three, four or more segments very far
apart. This caused not only segmentation but large scale migration as well.
Naturally, the migrations take the direction of lowest pressure. In Africa in the
early days therefore, most migration took the southern or western direction
from the Nile Valley. These were the directions not yet occupied by strong Iron
Age people.
f J-i"r. briefly and in very general terms summarizing the factors accounting
for tribal segmentation, fragmentation and migration. We have, all over Africa,
lots of examples to prove the validity of all these factors. What I am here saying
is that as a result of one or rnore of these factors, each of the origin4l three Bantu
Tribes, Dziva,, Soko and Tonga, segmented and segmented over and over again
without end and at the same time migrated and migratod over and over again
until they occupied all Africa. As segment after segment was shunted this way
and that way, the segments from the three got inter-woven together except in
South Africa and Botswana where there was still fresh land to occupy. This is
why to this day, the identification of members of each of the three Families is
.easier in Southern Africa then elsewhere in Africa.
As a result, in one country, you find a big majority of members of one Family. [n
another, you find a balance betwren two or all three. Generally, you find
represantatives of atl three in practically every country south of the Sahara in
varying proportions. This is what prompted my statement in "From Mutapa to
Rhodes" that Zimbabwe, in ettinic terms, is a microcosm of Bantu Africa. The
onus is on those whp cio not accept my argume,nt (a) to prove that this is all
nonsense (b) to give us their own theses and prove their validity.
EPILOGUE.
"No doubt what I have dared to put on paper here is a challenge to more than
the Shona. It is a challenge to th6 historians and anthropologists all over the
continenf of Africa, and to the scholars the world over who are interested in
what is happening on this continent. If the challenge is taken up, it might mark
the beginning of "A, new History of Africa".
I wrote the above words in January 1978 when I was completing "From Mutapa
to Rhodes". It is August 1982 as I write the Epilogue to "The Birth of Bantu
Africa". Whoever is acquainted with the material in my earlier book can.not
fail to be impressed by developments that have taken place since my submission
of that earlier manuscript for publication. It is my hope that this new book on
Africa will quicken research on the history of the continent. I look upon "From
Mutapa to Rhodes" as not ntuch more than an eye opener for Africa. The
"Birth of Bantu Africa" possibly takes us a long step towards the anticipated
"New History of Africa" and may well mark the beginning of that new history.
This makes it clear that I do not look upon our history task on ,Africa as
completed. But it looks as if we are starting to see our goals, or some of the
rirajor ones. If so, then we have definite directions along which to work. I think
that the absence of such directions has been a major stumbling block in the way
of our search for the history of this continent. The history of Africa does not
start in the year 10 000 B.C. or even 100 000 or 500 000 B.C. It starts with the
creati.'on of ihe continent itself, when'ever that was. Of course, the larger part of
that history may concern animals. It is not my intention or hope that we will
manage to discover all that early history. It is largely the history of the Negro
that the historian and the anthropologist are and will be dealing with. This is so
because Africa is largely a Negro continent
Whatever future research may discover about the history of the continent, ohe
factor is Constant and will remain so. That factor is the ubiquity in Africa of the
)
Bushrnen, now called the San people. It would be biased of us not to admit that
Africa, for a very long time, was no more than a Bushmen continent. Although
we know little about the early history of these people, evidence is conclusivg
that they once occupied the whole continent. They are the only peop.le
associated with the rock-paintings that are familiar to us, and these paintings
are everywhere on the continent; this in itself is conclusive evidence that these
short men were everywhere in Africa long before the qontinent was populated
by the Negro race. It is likely that they too started in one corner of the
continent and gradually spr,ead to other corners. That corner migF alsq have
been north-east Africa; but at the same time it might have been the southern tip
.
or even the Congo region. There is nothing definite we can say about their'
origins but, at least, we are in a position to say that the continent was once
ir entirely theirs.
A second race of taller and lighter complexioned people also started in Africa.
in the Nile Valley. The exact identity of this race is not known. Some chose to
call it the Hamite race. Others are now suggesting that the word Hamite should
 a
be dropped from usage because no such people ever e4isted in Africa. But
, generally att are agreed that 6 race of talt people wit[ dr white morphology
existed in Egypt many, many years ago. There is archdeofogical evidence io
prove this. A human skull or nearly-hgman skull said to be about two million
years old has been unearthed in north-east Africa. Suggestions that the whole
human race might even have started in the Nile Valley trave been made and it
looks as if there is sound archaeological evidence for them. For my purposes
here, the name we give to this race is-not very material. What is material is that
a race of tall people with a white morphology was created on the cofitinent of
Africa and specifically in the Nile Vailey. fhe position appears to be that, by
the year 10 000 B.C., there were two distinct races on the continent of Africa
- here, they drifted into Angola and Nainibia and then into South Africa. In this
a race of short people associated with rock-paintings and a race of tatl people
with a white morphology confined to the Nile Valley in what was latei to-be
Egypt. This is important because all else appears to be a result of the inter-
action between these two.
The inter-action I am concerned with here has nothing to do with acculturation
but gommingling. I have already said that the San p6ople (Bushme4) were at
one-time everywhere in Africa. I even went further to suggest that they ioo
could have started in Egypt. Whether they started in Egypt oi not, the fact that
they were at one time throughout Africa means that they come into contact in
Egypt with the second race but of taller stature and a white morphology. They
commingled and this brought about a third race of a people who were not as
shdrt or as dark in complexion as thesan and at the same time not as tall or as
light in complexion as the Hamites. This marked the beginning of the race we
today call Hottentot. Further commingling brought about the Negro, the
subject of this book.
Both the Hamites and the Negroes were physically stronger than the San. By
the year 3 000 B.C. the civilization of Egypt was starting. This means that ideai
of government and better organization were devetoping among the Hamites
and Negroes. Greater physical strength and better organization made these
*lamites and Negroes militarily stronger than the San people. By virtue of this,
they drove the San further to the south and west of the Nite Vittey. Earlier in
this book, we saw an Egyptiaq southern adventurer capturing a dwarf in the
regions further to the south, an event of great interest io the?haraoh of the
time. This means that the San people were becoming a very rare feature of the
peripheral regions of the Upper Nile Valley. They could only have been so
because these shorter and weaker people were drifting away from the stronger
and better organized Hamites and Negioes. This is rup-port"d by the fact thaiin
the southern dirbction,this drift away from the stronger races continued as the
Negroes trekked into the south*in"the 18th century, as is evidenced by the
position south of the Limpopo in the middle of that century. The drift of the
San.away from the Nile Valley was not only in a southerly diiection. There was
also a major drift westwards, especially towards Darfur and the Lake Chad
reglon.
That the Khoikoi (Hottentots) are a younger race than the Bushmen cannot be
doubted. Whilst there is evidence to prove that the Bushmen have been
everywhere in Africa, it is not true that the Khoikoi have heen to every region.
For instance, they do not seem to have been known in Malawi, Zimbabwe and
Mozambigue at all. Although they are a featyt" 9l Botswana. they seem to have
come into'that country from the south in the lgth century and not from the
north, as they.moved away from the advanie of the Boers from the south. But
thby too hadbriginally come from the north. They were behindthe Bushmen in
the advance to i-he south and the Bantu were immediately behind them. From
the north-east, they sefm to have diverted west into the Congo Region._Ft9T
way, they avoided the ehslern and central regions of Southern Africa. At the
South Airican frontier, the Hottentots were certainly behind the Bushmen
when the Boers settled at the Cape. This reflects the sequence of the migrations
from the north, and the sequenie itself also reflected the order of creation in
Africa.
So by the year I 000 B.C. there were four distinct races in Affica. This does not
'
m"an thaicommingling came to a halt. but whatever further inter-mixing took
- place only helped to moOity the features
_ of the already extant four races. The
N"gro continued to commingle with the Hamite; the Negro continued to
coirmingle with the Hottentot; the Hottentot continued to commingle with the
San. It could even be said that the Hamite was edged out of existencelargely by
the Negro. It is a fact that Africa hls people of alltreights, all complexions and
" all statlres, ranging from the pure San to ihe near-Hamite as represented by the
Galla today.
Frsm the very start of African history, therefore, the dominant human element
in Africa *aia feature of north-east Africa and closely associated with the Nile
Valley. It may even be correct to s1y that the entire human element in Africa
started in north-east Africa. The Hamite started as a feature of north-east
Africai the San might not necessarily have started there but were certa.inly also
a feature of the region: the Negro started there; the Hottentot started in north-
east Africa. This ii on importint point t[at explains who the Bantu were and
whence they originated. Ii they hid originated from everywhere in Africa,'we
would toOuy not-be talking abbut the birth of Bantu Africa.
Although Bantu AFrica was born at a particular timo - between 600 A.D. and
I 000 AID., I have not suggested at any time that there were no Negro p_eoples
tiltering out of the Nile Valley before 600 A.D. Indeed. the distinction I made
betwee-n Negro and Bantu il a result of this realization that Negro peoplg
filtered out Jf the Nile Valley earlier, To look for ethnic differences betweeh
the Negroand the Bantu is to look for something that does not exist in history. I
have slated that atl the Bantu are Negro but that not all the Negroes are Bantu,
because althodgh the ethnic origin of the Bantu is also the ethnic origin 9f tl"
Negro, the Negioes who are cailed Bantu are so-called because of particular
culiural traits ilot u.ro"iated with their cousins who are simply called Negro.
 t
The difference came about because by the year 600 A.D., when Egypt and
Kush had developed a distinct culture *t i.t had grow-n ou"i tt e prerlbirs five
hundred years oiso, segments of the Negro race f,ad dlready left the area and
were therefore not part of this culture.
pV g,e ye1r t00 A.D. Egypt (which incorporated the bigler part of Ethiopia)
had acquired iron-technology'and' were Sun-worshippeis. In addition, they
knew something about dry-stone building as is evidenbed by the prer"nce df *
the pyramids and other stone constructions. But their iron-technology belonged
to'the early lron Age. It lacked certain refinements that became a feature of
th-e. period around 600 A.D. Furthermbre, both Egypt and Kush were not
Christian because Christianity had not been introducLd yet. But their kings
were divine. At the same time, the language or group of languages spokJn
arotmd 100 A.D. was different from that spoken in 600 A.D. bicause certain
elements that were a feature of the period around 600 had not yet been
introduced by the_Ie?r 100. For instance, the Axumite conquest-of Kush
between 300 and 400 could not have failed to have a linguistic impact on the
Kushitic {anguage. What all this means is that the Negroes who left the Nile
Valley before let us say A.D. 300 were definitely products of Kushitic civilization,
some of whose elements were divine monarchy, Sun-worshipping and therefore
associationwiththeram,iron-technologyandaKushiticlanguagethathadnot
yet acquired the major characteristics of the present Bantu-tanguages. It also
means rhat the Negroes who left the Nile Valley after 600 A.D. were.also
definitely products of a Kushitic civilization whosemajor elements were divine
monarchy. more advanced iron-technology (Later Iron Age technology),
Christianity (tinged with a fine filament of Sun-worshipping), diy-stone building
(together with iirigation and terracing) and a languag'e tfr'at naa all the majoi
characteristics of the Bantu languages. This is where the differences between'
the so-called "true l.,legroes" and the Bantu lie. One group is a product of an
earlier civilization: the other is a product of the same earlier civilization plus
:
ne.w elements.
In view of this it cannot really be surprising if archaeologists found evidence of
occupation of isolated parts of Africa by Iron-Age Nefro peoples as early as
100 A.D. or 200 A,D. My argument is not that thiS should not bi expected, but
that Africa was still not Negro, but San. Even more important, those scattereq
Negroes were not Bantu aicl th"refore Bantu Africa had not yet been born. i
have traced, earlier on, the crises that troubled the Nile Valleyafter I 000 B.C.
My.aim was to show the factors that forced the Negro peoples io filter out of the
rggion e'ven before the major Bantu Explosion of the period after 600 A.D. I am
therefore not of the impression that no Negro peoples migrated away from
Kush and the neighbourhood before 600 A.D. dtherwise, tlere would be no
distinction between Negro and Bantu.
, history of this country. Today. the descendunt. of the Mbire S9k9 Rgople do
If we have made a breakthrough in African history, that breakthrough lies in
the discovery that the Bantu werb originally divided into three great:families,
the Soko Masters olthe I,and, the Dziva Masters of the Water and Matrilineal
segment called Tonga in Central and Southern Africa.-Tha.t three Great
Airican Families did-exist in Afiica is unqustionable. This is the gratest
,G.iti*rce of my "From Mutapa to Rhodbs". If we look at the whole East
Airican belt from ih. Gr"ut Lakei to the Limpopo a.round 900 A.D., we find the
entire area occupied by members of the th?ee families only' lhe Sokos were
still around the dr*ut Gt.t in Tanganyika to the east of Lake Tanganyillg9
occupying a district which they callei MBIRE after their.grandfather MAMBIRI'
The Tonla were further south and occupied the region- to the west of ?,!'
,Malawi. fh" Driua Family had already crossed the Zambezi about a century'
before and occupied the iegion betweLn the Zambezi and Limpopo and were
confined largely to eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique. .
The religious revotution that is currently taking place in Zimbabwe makes this
positiorivery clear. The Mbire Soko fiiUe was-established in Tanganyifl.by
f,rl.tr.rrgu Sororenrou (from whom the word Chi-murenga was derived)'
This
Murenla was then migrating from Kenya. H-e has just becof.e^11r active spirit
il;il;J for the firstiime iin.r he caused the revolution of 1896-7 which was
glrun his name. He knows his cousins and the Soko sgg1eIs.which remained.
' iorth of the ZambeziRiver. Furthermore, this Mbire Soko Tribe was led out of
iongu"yika for the south by Chaminuka, Murenga'ssonand thegreatest of the
Shoia mhondoro in Zimba-b*e. It was under theleadership of Chaminuka that
the Mbire Soko Tribe drove the Tonga people further to the south and then
diverted them to the wesr and drove-thim up the Zambezi River along the
norit bank. Fortunately, this Chaminuka has taken possession ota medium
"rn one since his last medium was killed by the Ndebele in 1883- He too
the first
tells of other people that he came across on the way towards the Zambezi and
these were the matrilineal Tonga people. Fortunately too. Tonga conflicts-with
the Mbire Soko people ure.nihrined in one of the oldest a.n$greatest Mbire
Soko traditional iunes - Vana vaPfumojena vakauya - and this I produced in
..From Mutapa to Rhodes". There can therefore be no doubt that there were
matrilineal Tonga peopte between Lake Tanganyika-and the Zambezi river
around the year 900 A.D.
South of the ZambeziRiver, there was only one tribe aroun{ 900 A'D'. th'
Dziva-Hungwe Family. Reports of them are enshrined in Arab documents that
make references ro t[re Kingdom of the Waqlinji around S_ofala in about 900
"- A.D. This is the family that ias invaded by the Mbite Soko Family about I 000
A.D. The man who led the Mbire then and who Uecame the first Mutapa i.n
Zimbabwe was Chaminuka's son called Kutamadzoka. The title of the Mbire
Soko paramounts was NEMBIRE and so this one was Nembire Kutamadzoka'
He was called MUTAPA by the Dziva-Hungwe Family that he invaded'and
Fortunately, too, h. has taken upi medium and he relates the earl.v
"onqu.r.d.
not hide the fact that iheir pr.d"."tsors in Zimbabwe were the Dziva-Hungwe
they were the first
feople. The Dziva-Hungwb themselves do not doubt thatRiver'
buniu people to occupy the region south of the Zambezi
 a
To verify the validity oflll these claims, look at the position as it stands today in
that we came across earlier. If I am right, then it is possible that the segmentation
southern Africa.
lhe fgnga, whom the Mbire soko p"opl" to have took place as early as about 800 B.C. - about the time of the establishment of
driven up the Zamb3zi "tui* and
V-a[ey, are"still there in rhe rafirtIn-Zimbia
uo the kingdom of Kush which is likely to have been named after its founding
Bantu groyP can claim to have settled in the Zambian belt south
as far as Livingstone before these
of Lusaka and father. By 600 A.D. each of these three Great Families had grown significantly
people. ffre vfUire S"k"-#i'ly and this is why each was able to have segments that migrated both to the west
claims to have taken over the regionlongu
betlwein tire Zambeziand the l,i-popi
down to the east coast from the bziva-Hrogto" people around r 0m and south.-soeven the Negroes who were not Bantu (who migrated out of'the
A.D. To Nile Valley before the Gieat Bantu Explosion of the period soon after 600
prove this, even about 85% of the Zilnbabweans and Mozambicans are
-toduy,
descendants of the Mbire Mutap-as. Tracing the existing communities A.D.) were segments of the three Great Bantu Families. In other words, every
theii original_Great Bantu Families.wur tnJ-ajor objeJtive of JFro* Mrd;
back to African is a mtmber of one or the other of the three Great Bantu Families.
to Rhodes". Furthermore, the Mbire Soko pebple to have driven the A word on the Tonga today is necessary. It geems as if they arethe smallest of
Dziva-Hungwe people to the south and west. it ttiir is"tui* thE Great Bantu firirities.today. They are a small fraction in S. Africa; they
true, we should then find
their descendants somewhere south and wesr of Zimbabw", unJ *"io'ili;il may be about l%inBotswaha; they do not seem to have a bigger representation
to find them. We have in this book examined Borswana and S. Afri;;;;"fiI;; in Zimbabwe; I put them atTo/o in Zimbabwe; they are again a small minority in
discovered that about 90% of the Tswana and 90% of the S. African Malawi; and I estimate them to be about 50% in Zambia. They-are in the
Bantu are
members of the- Dziva-Hungwe Family. L uie* of this *e majority only in Namibia where the Ambo are still'matrilineal to this {1V ulO
hare no reason to
doubt that the claims made 6y both Mbire Soko and Dziva-H;il;p;;i;';;; the Herlro are semi-matrilineal and semi-patrilineal like the Hlengwe of South-
-------o
basically correct. east Zimbabwe. It tooks as if their second greatest representation is in Zambia.

The existence of only three distinct family groups in all eastern Africa
from the
Great l.akes ro rhe Limpopo immedlat"iy"ruf"s one wonder it
Balt-u are also not segmenti of those it r"6. We examined Malawi "rilirJ;;;
and Zambia
and found clear descendants of these three Great Bantu Familiis; we
examined
zu!:? ani y9 found a community stilr called Soko ro this day; we;;;;;;;
to West Africa and saw that Maii wql an empire of matriii-#ai p"opte (ca[J
' Tonga in Central and Southern Africa) and that the Songrra! einpiie
created by the Sokos who were also called the "Masters of the Land'-and
fishermen. We also noted that there is to this day
a community in Nigeri;;"u;;
the Isoko people and that the "god" of the Nrp" tribe i.'cuti"o Soko like'
Murenga of the Shona. we came icross a Dziva-Hung*".;file-x referred
to
as tfie "Masters of the Water" like their cousins in'soithern
AFrica. Realizing
that these West.African people parted company with their Zimbabwean
or
S' African cousins about I 400 years ugo, thi, cannot fail to impress us as
remarkable. The conclusion it must leid us to is that all Bantu
Africa is
populated entirely by descendants of the three Great Bantu-Families
and I
have no reason to doubt that this is the case.
In fact, I would claim that all Negro Africa (rather than Bantu Africa) is
populated entirely by segments of the three Great Banfu er*ili"..
referring to the Bantu as the Negroes who migrated from"Azania (or
I ;;
I doubt if their representation anywhere else'in Africa is any higher than in
Central Africa or-southern Africa. In view of the fact that the three Great
Families were born at exactly the same time, one wond6rs why the Tonga
shoutd be such a minoiity compared with the other two. The answer must
simply be "matriliny".
When Tonga men marry, they migrate from their homes to their wives'homes.
was
The children are not really theirs but belong to their wives. This does not make
it easy foi a husband to marry many wives because he would have to spend all
his life travelling between homes. Although polygamy exists, the'number of
wives each man can marry must rem6in very small. This inevitably restricts the
growth_of each man's prpgeny. On the other hand,-the Sokos and Dzivas are
patrilineal and patrilocal: All the women move to the homes of their husbands.
it is therefore possible ior each man who has the means to have as.many as
twenty or more wives. Inevitably, the system lends itself to great exiransion.
Furthermore, in the patrilineal societies; many wives and many children enhance
the social position of the father. Therefore there is an incentive for many
children on the part of the father. This is not the case with the matrilineal
system. Many chiidren do not enhance the social position of the father because
iir"y ar" not really his. All this has affected the expansion of the matrilineal
Tonga Family,and accounts for its small. size compared with the other two.
.

soon after 600 A.D. But this should not mean tJus that the tni""
fusni The major task of the historian and the ethnologist now is to trace the African
Families came into exisrence around rhe year 600;;:;'i;;;il"nlt
or.at Bantu communities all over Africa back to the original three Great Bantu Familieq.'
the Negroes divided into three Great Famlties around 600 A.D.
*run tt such as I have done in Zimbabwe, Botswana and S. ,Africa. Thisis the only way
It "t
is possibii . in which
they can prove beyond doubt the validity or otherwise of my conclusion
that-the segmentation into three and the severance of relations 'that Africa-is populated by segments of only three original Negro families
between them
all alluded to earlier'had taken place 5ff) or even I 000 years
that the founding fathers (and amother representing thl mutriiineal descending from the same man. Where the totem system is fully develoB,ed
"u.fi"i.l-6""ri.-r,
segment] such as in Southern Africa, this is not a difficult task. Where it is not highly
were the immediate children of Kush rn"niioned in f,re A;;b;G;;iionleg;i
developed or where it does not exist at all it is a difficult task.
 One area that needs attention in this respect is the Congo region. I do not
' believe
that it is p_ossible to really clarify the history of the oiiginJof some of the
communities in Zambia, Angola and Namibia before fipt'u"nderstanding that
of zate. The Congo region must be a meeting phcL, a "confluenci" of
segments of communities from West Africa, East Africa and the Lake Chad
area.In turn, segments of communities from Zaire migrated into Zambia and
Angola and then from Angola into Namibia. Therefore the early history of
these countries is closely associared with that of lhe Congo region.
Archaeqlogical research must go on. Much has been discovered through this
discipline but no dodbt more awaits discovery. Moreover, now that we-haue a
g9d picture of the African groups that have populated Africa, our archaeological
finds are going to have much more meaning-than before. Now that we know
some of the important symbols associated with segments of the Africans, such
as the association of the Dziva people with the bird and fish and the association
of the Sokos with the snake and lion, aspects of our archaeological finds may
easilyfallintopldceandsomakeearlyAfricanhistorymoreintelligible.
Above all, great importance should be attached to traditional religion as-a
' source of early African history. There
is no doubt in my mind thit in the
absence of written records traditional religion is the most reiiable source of our
ancient history. I am sure that were it not for the religious revolution taking
glu": i.l Zitlfbwe, I would never have been able tolnearrh this-history oI
Zimbribwe. What we should understand and appreciate is that traditional
religion is not indepeqdent of African history. Every religious tradition has
historical origins. Furthermore, there is no ieligioui figuie whose religious
significance has no historical origins. Murengu or Chariinuka of the Sfiona,
Nyikang of the Shilluk, Kintu of the Ganda and Shango of the Yoruba serve as
99od exa-mples of this. They'were cardinal figures, historical figurbs, in the
history of the tribes associated with them. Today as a result of thJse historieal
positions, they are virtual gods, great divinities, in the religious circles of the
communities associated with them._ We cannot discover important aspects of
our traditional religious practices, iituals and figures withoui at the same time
unearthing equally important aspects of our history.
Throughout Africa, claims of north-eastern origins have been made. Examine
some traditions and you will find that they have associations with the east or
nofih-east. For instance, in many parts of West Africa, corpses are buried
facing the east and this is meant to associate the deceased wiih his ancestors
who came from the east; communities in Southern Africa such as the l,ovedu
bury thbir impgrtant figures with their faces turned northward where their
ancestors came from. These practices have a historical foundation. Sun-
worship and association with the ram are well-known to be associated with
Egypt and Kush; divine kingship which is universal in dfrica is known to have
started in Egypt and then it spread to Kush; the ancient centre of iron-
technology is well-known to be Meroe, the capital of Kush and from here it
spread to the rest of Africa; dry*tone building, teracing and hillside irrigation
aie features of north-east Afiica but spread td oqher parts cif Africa; we are
calted Bantu because we speak a related group of languages.-But that grouP of
[aneuagesisknowntobeKushiticand1herefore.hasnorth.easternorigins.
Cnliiti"anity is well-known to have been introduced into north-east Africa atter
300 A.D. ahd before 600 A.D. For our ancestors to associate thenrselves with
Christianity must mean early association wilh North-East Africa- Above all"
aliibu" ,ruOitionol religion iemonsrares African unity. That cultural unity
can only be explained" by common historical origins. Becatrse the divine
elemeniis dominant in thii traditional religion, these historical origins must be
associated with EgYPt and Kush
Indeed we are Kushites. But the Kushites were genetically and culturally-
children of Egypt. Therefore, we are Egyptians'as well. Thg early history of
. Africa unravelled independentiy of that of Kush and Egypt. If this is
"ornofbl
attempted, the history of Black Airica, and of the African himself, issuspended
tike a tiuilding without a foundation. It is unfortunate that the colonial administrator
did not knoi this and did not bother to find out. The result was that he was
qu1"f. to describe the African as a savage and adamantly re-fuyd to belie.ve that
he could have constructed such imfosing structures as Great Zimbabwe'
Mapungubwe and associated forts. He did not believe that the African could
have bein responsible for the terraces and irrigation works found in many
parts
that this African was descended from one
of Africa, for he had failed to realize
of the earliest and possibly greatest of the ancient civilizations of the world.
Indeed, the African of the period 600 to I 000 A.D. may have been more
civitized and more cultivated than his Europeaq counterpart. Then; barbarism
*us ravaging Europe, Roman civilization was crumbling and travelling from
on" part"of itre continent to another was extreqt^lY dangerous- This was the
iirnrit Africans in West, North and South-East Africa were embarking on the
"
famous.,silent Trade" whose success dependecl on absolute honesty on either
part.
The gold that was the pillar of this trade in West Africa came from the Forest
gold
belt and was carried the whole way across the desert to north Africa; the
. ;h;;** ttr. trade came flom the interior of what is
fiirur of the sourh-easlern and beads,
toduy Zimbabwe. It was carried right from the interior to the coast
materials and shells of all sorts ni"t" carried the whole way back t g*i'. 1
been savages. The fact that this
["opf. cupable of doing thiscould never have itself an indication of the order,
trade ever started and irr* for centuries is in
itre discipline, the self-Iontrol and rhe respect for human life that prevailed in
Africa ai the time. The fact that imposing dry-stone structures were built and
continued to be consrructed in the tZiir ahO l8th centuries as well
is'an'
of Africa.
indication of the peace and order that prevailed in parts
 a
All this came to a halt with the advent of the "civilized man", the Portuguese, NOTES-
on the African scene. It was the Portuguese who destroye.d the West African
trade in gold and saft; it was they who destroyed theZery Empire and brought l. J. H Soga, the Ama-Xosa, Life and customs, Lovedale Press l93l p' 8
the trade of the east coast to a halt; it was they who destroyeci the Congo and Z. B. Davids"", OiJ Rfri"o n.Jit.ouered, Gollanpz, 196l p. 128
Angola by offering the Gospel with one hand andslavery with the other; it was 3. Ibid, P.45
they who started the slave trade in West Africa; it was the European in general 4. Ibid. 'p. 29
who plundered especially West Africa through his slave trading activities and 5. Ibid. P.28 .
in that way brought African cultural development to a halt by diverting all 6. A. J. Arkell, The Dawn of African History, 196l p. l l
African energies iind attention to this trade. Which of these two, the African
and the European, was more civilized in essential details? Z:. Lb;*XS'i,:1,1, rhe Dawn or Arrican His_tory, rei^r .p:P
It is clear that those of us in Zimbabwe who reject a common ancestry for the 9. G. W. Stow, it "no"es of S' Africa, 1905' pp' a32433
African Zimbabweans simply do not know their history and in the interests of 10. Ibid.P.433 a?!-- rr^^-:rt^ 1977' p'6
the country should remain silent. If they are neither Soko or Dziva or Tonga ll. T. R. H. Davenport, A Modern Historyof s. Africa, Macmillan
originally, ttren they can only be either descendants of the Arabs or of the t2. Ibid. P. 8
Portuguese. I hope too that many will discover through this book that our 13. Ibid. P. 50
regiorialism and tribalism are baseless and shameful. One can now assert 14. J. H. Soga, The AMA-xosA, Life and customs, Kegan Paut l93l p' 7
cqtegorically that Timbabwe, in ethnic terms, is a microcosm of Bantu Africa. 15. Ibid. P.6 txt p; 96
ol<I Africa Rediscoverecl, Gollangz,.
' 16. B.
Bantu Africa is a ctrifd of Kush and, in turn, Kush is a child of Egypt. Therefore, Davidson.
whether we like it or not, we are distant Egyptians. 17. N. Levtzion,' Hi.,";t;f W.ti-Atica, Vol. l, Znd bdn" l'ongman ' 19'16

p. 133
18. Ibid. P. 135
19. B. Davidson, old Africa Rediscovered, Gollancz, l96l p.64
20. Ibid. P.62 1976
21. N. Levtzion, History of west Africa, Vol. I ' 2nd Edn' Longman '
P' 138 t ^ rr--^^- t^Lt an
196l ^p'61
22. B. Davidson, old Africa Rediscovered, Gollancz,
23. Ibid. P. 100
24. Ibid. b. ss
25. Ibid. PP.6?-8
26. Ibid. P. l0l A i rr. tt\4l p'216
27. A. Obayeri, Hir,ory of west Africa, vol. l, 2nd Edn . 1976
28. M. L. Ouni.i, ft. Coa of the Matopo Hllls p' 50 l96l p' 183
29. B. Davidson,'oro Africa Rediscovered, Gollancz,
30. Ibid. p.229 r o'

31. Ibid. PP. 240-l

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