Western Bantu-speaking farmers

Western Bantu-speaking farmers appears on the timeline as a people or culture of Lower Congo and Angola (Central and Southern Africa) from c. 1000 BCE to 1400 CE, a span of 2,399 years. Its people spoke Bantu languages (Kongo, Shona, Zulu, Swahili, Luba, Ganda).

Bantu-speaking farmers moved south from the Cameroon grasslands through the rainforest, reaching the lower Congo by about 500 BCE with yams, oil palms, pottery and later iron. Their chiefdoms grew into the Kongo, Tio and Loango kingdoms.

See Western Bantu-speaking farmers on the interactive timeline

Facts

Dates

c. 1000 BCE to 1400 CE

Duration

2,399 years

Type

People or culture

Region

Lower Congo and Angola, Central and Southern Africa

Language family

Bantu

Events in Central and Southern Africa during its time

• 1000 BCE Bantu farmers reach the Great Lakes
• 500 BCE Iron smelting in the Great Lakes
• 50 The Periplus describes Azania
• 1331 Ibn Battuta visits Kilwa
• 1350 Great Enclosure built at Great Zimbabwe

Neighbours in Central and Southern Africa

• Swahili city-states c. 800 to 1700 CE
• Kingdom of Kongo c. 1390 to 1914 CE
• Kingdom of Zimbabwe c. 1220 to 1450 CE
• Kingdom of Buganda c. 1300 to 1966 CE
• Kilwa Sultanate c. 957 to 1513 CE
• Bunyoro-Kitara c. 1400 to 1899 CE
• Kingdom of Mapungubwe c. 1075 to 1220 CE

Elsewhere in the world at the same time

• Republic of Venice c. 697 to 1797 CE, Europe
• Byzantine Empire 395 to 1453 CE, Europe
• Byzantine Empire 395 to 1453 CE, Middle East
• Ghana Empire (Wagadu) c. 300 to 1200 CE, North and West Africa
• Holy Roman Empire 962 to 1806 CE, Europe
• Kingdom of Aksum c. 100 to 940 CE, North and West Africa
• Srivijaya c. 650 to 1377 CE, Southeast Asia
• Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty) 1270 to 1974 CE, North and West Africa
• Moche (Mochica) c. 100 to 800 CE, South America
• Carthage c. 814 to 146 BCE, North and West Africa

Questions