migration and population movements: Egypt Nigeria developed both agriculture and ironworking during the first millennium b.c.e The Nigerian Bantu were believed to have somehow learned ironwork in the Middle East and brought it back to Nigeria with them; Nigeria’s Nok people were believed to be some of the first expert metal workers According to this scenario, by about 500 b.c.e the Bantu were skilled enough at working metal that they were able to quickly conquer the hunter-gatherers of southern Africa Historians today believe that the Bantu migration happened over a much longer period of time and was probably a process of gradual cultural transmission instead of a sudden burst of ethnic conquerors According to the present interpretation of the data, starting around 3000 b.c.e the Bantu people of Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger started moving slowing south and east The reasons for this move are unknown The Sahara became very dry during the second millennium b.c.e., and Berber inhabitants of the desert may have pushed the Bantu south as they moved into wetter regions This would have forced the Bantu into the rainforests of central Africa The Bantu migration was not necessarily a journey of conquest As the Bantu moved south and east, local peoples adopted Bantu languages and intermarried with the migrants Over the generations the Bantu language slowly spread southward, and Bantu physical traits appeared in populations where intermarriage occurred Modern historians also believe that the Bantu-speaking peoples did not bring ironworking to Nigeria from the Middle East but instead discovered it when they arrived in eastern Africa The non-Bantu people of Tanzania and Rwanda may have started working with iron around 800 b.c.e., without any influence from the Middle East or Europe, and the Bantu may have learned the craft from them However the Bantu learned to work with iron, by the fourth century c.e they were quite skilled at it and could make good metal farming tools These tools made it much easier for Bantu farmers to cut grain from tough sorghum and millet stalks, which gave them an advantage over peoples who did not have metal tools Even if they did not kill native peoples to take their land, the Bantu were much better equipped to raise food, which helped them become the dominant culture However it happened, the Bantu languages spread down the coast of east Africa by 400 c.e The Pygmy groups came into early contact with the Bantu, who lived near them Pygmy hunters traded with Bantu farmers, exchanging meat and hides for vegetables, pottery, baskets, and metal items In areas where the Bantu population grew rapidly, the Pygmies were sometimes forced to move, and this could have resulted in decreased Pygmy populations For example, the Twa of Rwanda gradually disappeared when the Bantu Hutu arrived in the second half of the first millennium c.e Around 1000 b.c.e the Bantu moved into the southern Africa, bringing agriculture and herding techniques with them Their progress was slow; Africa’s terrain does not allow for rapid transmission of crops and livestock, and dis- 693 eases spread by tsetse flies killed large numbers of people and animals As the Bantu population grew in Khoisan territory, the Khoisan Bushmen split into two groups The Khoisan remained hunter-gatherers, but they moved into more marginal habitats, such as the Kalahari Desert The Khoi, or Khoikhoi, became pastoralists They acquired livestock, brought to their region by the Bantu, and lived by herding The Khoi lived throughout the pastureland of South Africa As the Bantu spread through the region, they adopted some Khoisan practices The southern Bantu language, for example, acquired some click sounds and Khoisan words Around c.e Bantu culture had moved into Uganda, bringing along agriculture and metalworking Nilotic peoples also moved into Uganda from the north during the first century c.e These people included the Luo and Ateker groups They herded cattle and practiced subsistence farming Although there were some conflicts, the Luo soon intermarried with the Bantu and adopted Bantu customs Some Luo continued moving south into Tanzania and Kenya The Bantu arrived in northern South Africa around 450 c.e This event corresponds with a period in which local animals such as wildebeest and white rhino began to disappear from the area, presumably displaced by Bantu cattle The Bantu included many groups that emerged as separate tribes during the ancient and subsequent periods The Nguni people spoke the Nguni group of Bantu languages They lived throughout southeast Africa, inching their way south over the centuries The Nguni included peoples that developed into the Zulu, Swati, Phithi, and Ndbele The Xhosa were Nguni people who appear to have arrived in South Africa sometime in the fift h century c.e EGYPT BY KATHARINA ZINN AND MICHAEL J O’NEAL One way to know of migration (both emigration and exile) is to study the archaeological evidence of prehistoric societies The material culture found in excavations tells the story of the links between different cultures Thus, for example, archaeologists have found tombs that contain luxury goods that were clearly manufactured elsewhere, using processes and materials that were not available at the time in the area of the tomb It is often difficult to decide whether these links developed from intensive trade exchanges, invasions, or migration movements Concerning ancient Egypt, another important source used to explain migration movements—and sometimes the only fruitful one—is Egyptian texts, along with the artwork in tombs While surviving texts not provide a complete, continuous record, those that survive give hints about the movement of people throughout ancient Egypt Egyptians sometimes migrated to other countries Such migration movements were recorded in ancient texts, but the number of people who went to other countries was not high, and many wanted to return to Egypt to have an Egyptian burial with all the attendant funerary rituals Further,