The Bantu (Abantu)[edit]

The Bantu people or Abantu (meaning people) are an enormous and diverse ethnolinguistic
group that comprise the majority of people in much of East, Southern and Central Africa. Due to
Zambia's location at the crossroads of Central Africa, Southern Africa, and the African Great
Lakes, the history of the people that constitute modern Zambians is a history of these three
regions.
Many of the historical events in these three regions happened simultaneously. Thus, Zambia's
history, like many African nation's histories, cannot be presented perfectly chronologically. The
early history of the peoples of modern Zambia is deduced from oral records, archaeology, and
written records mostly from non-Africans.[5]
Bantu origins[edit]
The Bantu people originally lived in West/Central Africa around what is today Cameroon/Nigeria.
Around 4000 to 3000 years ago, they began a millennia-long expansion into much of the
continent. This event has been called the Bantu Expansion, which was one of the largest human
migrations in history. The Bantu are believed to have been the first to have brought iron
working technology into large parts of Africa. The Bantu Expansion happened primarily through
two routes: one was western via the Congo Basin and the other was eastern via the African
Great Lakes.[6]
First Bantu settlement[edit]

Ila Headman's son in Southern Zambia, Cattle formed an important part of their society.

The first Bantu people to arrive in Zambia came through the eastern route via the African Great
Lakes.

Enormous Ba-Ila settlement. These communities have been of interest to mathematicians due to

their fractal pattern design.

They arrived around the 1st millennium AD. Among them were the Tonga people (also called Ba-
Tonga, "Ba-" meaning "men") and the Ba-Ila and other related groups who settled
around Southern Zambia near Zimbabwe. According to Ba-Tonga oral records, they are believed
to have come from the east near the "big sea".
They were later joined by the Ba-Tumbuka who settled around Eastern Zambia and Malawi.
These first Bantu people lived in large villages. They never had an organised unit under a chief
or headman and worked as a community and help each other in times of field preparation for
their crops. Villages moved around frequently as the soil became exhausted due to using
the slash-and-burn technique of planting crops. They also kept large herds of cattle which formed
an important part of their societies.[7]
The first Bantu communities in Zambia were extremely self-sufficient. Many groups of people
who encountered them were very impressed by this self-sufficiency. The early European
missionaries that settled in Southern Zambia also noted the extreme independence of these
Bantu societies, one of these missionaries noted:

Ingombe Ilede trading post in Southern Zambia.

"[If] weapons for war, hunting, and domestic purposes are needed, the [Tonga] man goes to the
hills and digs until he finds the iron ore. He smelts it and with the iron thus obtained makes axes,
hoes, and other useful implements. He burns wood and makes charcoal for his forge. His bellows
are made from the skins of animals and the pipes are clay tile, and the anvil and hammers are
also pieces of the iron he has obtained. He moulds, welds, shapes, and performs all the work of
the ordinary blacksmith."[8]

Batonga fisherwomen in Southern Zambia. Women have and continue to play important roles in many
African societies.

Ruins of Great Zimbabwe, Kalanga/Shona rulers of this Kingdom dominated trade at Ingombe Ilede.

These early Bantu settlers also participated in the trade at the site Ingombe Ilede (which translate
sleeping cow in Chi-Tonga because the fallen baobab tree appears to resembles a cow)
in Southern Zambia, at this trading site they met numerous Kalanga/Shona traders from Great
Zimbabwe and Swahili traders from the East African Swahili Coast. Ingombe Ilede was one of
the most important trading posts for rulers of Great Zimbabwe, others being the Swahili port
cities like of Sofala.
The goods traded at Ingombe Ilede included: fabrics, beads, gold, and bangles. Some of these
items came from what is today southern Democratic Republic of Congo and Kilwa Kisiwani while
others as far away as India, China and the Arab World.[9] The African traders were later joined by
the Portuguese in the 16th century.[10]
The decline of Great Zimbabwe, due to increasing trade competition from
other Kalanga/Shona kingdoms like Khami and Mutapa, spelt the end of Ingombe Ilede.