Who are the Bantu? [ top of page ] The term “Bantu” is used as a general label for over 300 ethnic groups in Africa. They make up a major part of the population of nearly all African countries south of the Sahara. Among the best-known groups are the Swahili, located throughout eastern Africa, and the Zulu, predominantly in South Africa. The Bantu are known more as a language group, however, than a distinct ethnic group. The people that comprise this group are placed there because they share a common language family and similar social customs. Though they belong to a variety of different tribes, the Bantu refugees in the United States generically refer to themselves as the Bantu. Who are the Somali Bantu? Where did they come from? [ top of page ] In recent years, the Somali government has promoted the notion that Somalia is a homogeneous country, but Somalia is actually comprised of several different groups. The Somali population is estimated at about 7.5 million people, of those, the Somali Bantu population is estimated at about 600,000. The Somali Bantu came in two waves and belong to three distinct groups: Those who are indigenous to Somalia Those who were brought to Somalia as slaves but integrated somewhat into Somali society Those who were brought to Somalia as slaves but maintained their ancestral culture and languages The first wave of Somali Bantu came to Somalia centuries ago during what is recognized as one of Africa’s major migrations. During this time, Bantu-speaking peoples trekked eastwards from the west and central parts of Africa where a sizable portion of them settled in the Sub-Sahara region. The second wave of Somali Bantu came during the 18th and 19th centuries and are principally descended from six African Tribes: the Yao, Makua, Nyanja, Ngidono, Zigua and Zaramo. The Sultan of Oman, Sayyid Said, whose sovereignty extended from northern Mozambique to southern Somalia, regularly abducted Africans from these areas and forced them into the slave trade. During this time, Arab slavers captured and shipped thousands of Bantu men, women, and children via Zanzibar’s slave market. Although many of these slaves were sold to European buyers, some slaves were sold to Africans on the continent, Somalia included. One common story among many of the Somali Bantu is that their ancestors were actually tricked into slavery. In the late 1830s, there were several years of drought in Tanzania that resulted in widespread starvation. Many Africans, in the hope of averting their families’ untimely demise, accepted promises of wage labor in a distant land. When promises of a better life failed to entice them anymore, the Arab slave traders, and their African accomplices, used brute force. Those that were enticed/forced from their homes were sold as slaves once they landed in Somalia.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 05:54:29 +0000
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