2023-04-28 16:00:00
The history of population movements that shaped the African continent is commonly associated with the emergence and evolution of the Bantu language, which appeared approximately 4,000 years ago and whose unstoppable expansion had a far-reaching impact on the linguistic, demographic, and cultural landscape of Africa. But now a new study recently published in the journal Science Advances doubts that its expansion was linear. According to the scientists responsible for the study, the Bantu-speaking communities of the tropical forests of the Congo region suffered a great demographic collapse between 1,600 and 1,400 years ago. A population collapse that, according to the researchers, could be due to a prolonged epidemic from which they did not recover approximately 1,000 years ago.
The research team led by specialists from the University of Ghent carried out detailed monitoring of the population evolution of the African continent from 1,140 radiocarbon dates of archaeological remains located in 726 sites located throughout the African rainforest, which they compared to 115 styles of ceramic production in the region. Their conclusions contradict the common belief that the expansion of Bantu-speaking communities was a continuous and large-scale process, emerging from about 4,000 years ago until the start of the transatlantic slave trade associated with the European colonization of Africa in the 16th century. and XIX.
The findings contradict the hitherto accepted belief that Bantu-speaking communities spread continuously across Africa.
The finding is not minor, since it would mean reviewing the history of the population of seven current African countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Angola). “Our study indicates that the expansion of Bantu language-speaking populations it was a discontinuous process that included several migratory waves, a more complex fact than previously thought”, he comments to National Geographic via email César Augusto Fortes Lima, postdoctoral researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, and co-author of the study.
An interdisciplinary investigation
The current debates about African decolonization and interest in the restitution of the continent’s cultural heritage, say the study authors, have revived interest in the European colonization of Central Africa, even if this process was a relatively short period in the long run. population history of the continent.
The research, included in a new interdisciplinary research project examining the interconnections between human migration, language spread, climate change and early agriculture in pre-colonial central Africa, combines an exhaustive analysis of dating of archaeological remains (a variable used as an indicator of human activity and demographic fluctuation), with the comprehensive study of the diversity and distribution of pottery manufacturing styles (used as an indicator of socioeconomic development). These Archaeological records were also compared with genetic and linguistic evidence, from which new insights into the history of ancient settlements of Bantu-speaking populations in the Congolese rainforest are gained.
Photo: ©Wannes Hubau, 2015
According to archaeologist Dirk Seidensticker, from the University of Ghent, one of the authors of the publication, this is a unique study, taking into account its multidisciplinary approach. “We are the first to integrate these three types of archaeological data sets on such a large scale and over such a long period to demonstrate that in Central Africa the two periods of most intense human activity (between about 800 BC and AD 400) and between 1000 to 1900 AD, are separated by a widespread population collapse identified between AD 400 and 600 As ceramics are one of the few tangible elements of cultural heritage that have survived the ravages of time, this is an important step forward for the archeology of Central Africa,” he says.
New discoveries about the controversial Bantu expansion
“We tend to see the current speakers of Bantu languages today as the direct descendants of those who originally settled in the rainforest around 2,700 years ago, and we think that the languages Modern Bantu developed directly from the ancestral languages of those early settlers.says the linguist specializing in African populations Koien Bostoen, from the University of Ghent, another of the authors of the study. However, the expert notes, the research results show that the initial wave of Bantu-language-speaking communities from the Early Iron Age had largely disappeared throughout the Congolese rainforest region by 600 AD. d. C, so we deduce that Bantu languages in this area may be almost 1,000 years younger than previously thought. “Broadly speaking – adds the expert – our study shows that African societies faced serious catastrophes long before the transatlantic slave trade of European colonization, which they had the opportunity to overcome and recover. It’s very hopeful.”
The Bantu languages of the tropical Congo region may be nearly 1,000 years younger than previously thought.
Photo: Koen Bostoen
Justinian’s plague, a possible explanation
According to the paleobotanist Wannes Hubau, from the University of Ghent, also a co-author of the research, the drastic collapse of the population around the years 400-600 AD coincided with wetter weather conditions across the region, and, therefore, it may have been promoted by a long-lasting epidemic. “We see a broad coincidence between the sharp demographic decline in the Congolese rainforest and the Justinian’s plague (541-549 AD). The plague, says the expert, could have wreaked havoc on people in Asia, Europe and Africa, which could partly explain the high population decline experienced in the center of the African continent.
“Justinian’s was the plague that most affected Europe, and the one that left the greatest number of deaths,” Cesar Fortes-Lima points out to National Geographic Spain. Since it is a highly contagious disease, it stands to reason that it has also rapidly spread to other continents without control, as is currently the case with the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, strains of Y.Pestis in several sub-Saharan African countries (such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia). Future studies using ancient DNA from Africa will help clarify which epidemic caused the population collapse.”, concludes the expert.
Whatever the cause, the recent study helps to better understand the dynamics and expansion of African populations. “Our research -explains Fortes- highlights the high complexity of African populations and their historical events in Africa, aspects that we still do not know in depth. In this new research we have analyzed different archaeological, genetic, linguistic and paleoclimatic data. with which we can have a broader vision of the different historical periods, which allows us to better understand the demographic flows that have influenced the high population diversity that we can currently find on the African continent”. The history of Africa never ceases to amaze us.
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