Africa
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{ Series in S. Africa }
Pre-Cambrian. Quartzites, conglomerates } phyllites, jasper-bearing } S. Africa and
generally. rocks and schists. }
Generally distributed. }
Archeaan. Gneisses and schists of the } Igneous complex of continental platform. } sheared igneous
} rocks;granites.
and Australia. At the close of the Karroo period there was a remarkable
manifestation of volcanic activity which again has its parallel in the
Deccan traps of India.
How far the Karroo formation extended beyond its present confines has not
been determined. To the east it reached India. In the south all that can be
said is that it extended to the south of Worcester in Cape Colony. The
Crystal Mountains of Angola may represent its western boundary; while the
absence of mesozoic strata beneath the Cretaceous rocks of the mid-Sahara
indicates that the system of Karroo lakeland had here reached its most
northerly extension. Towards the close of the Karroo period, possibly about
the middle, the southern rim of the great central depression became ridged
up to form the folded regions of the Zwaarteberg, Cedarberg and Langeberg
mountains in Cape Colony. This folded belt gives Africa its abrupt southern
termination, and may be regarded as an embryonic indication of its present
outline. The exact date of the maximum development of this folding is
unknown, but it had done its work and some 10,000 ft. of strata had been
removed before the commencement of the Cretaceous period. It appears to
approximate in time to the similar earth movement and denudation at the
close of the palaeozoic period in Europe. It was doubtless connected with
the disruption of Gondwana Land, since it is known that this great
alteration of geographical outline commenced in Jurassic times.
The breaking up of Gondwana Land is usually considered to have been
caused by a series of blocks of country being let down by faulting with the
consequent formation of the Indian Ocean. Other blocks, termed horsts, remained unmoved, the island of Madagascar affording a striking example. In
the African portion Ruwenzori is regarded by some geologists to be a block
mountain or horst.
In Jurassic times 1he sea gained access to East Africa north of
Mozambique, but does not appear to have reached far beyond the foot-plateau
except in Abyssinia.
The Cretaceous seas appear to have extended into the central Saharan
regions, for fossils of this age have been discovered in the interior. On
the west coast Cretaceous rocks extend continuously from Mogador to Cape
Blanco. From here they are absent up to the Gabun river, where they
commence to form a narrow fringe as far as the Kunene river, though often
overlain by recent deposits. They are again absent up to the Sunday river
in Cape Colony, where Lower Cretaceous rocks (for long considered to be of
Oolitic age) of an inshore character are met with. Strata of Upper
Cretaceous age occur in Pondoland and Natal, and are of exceptional
interest since the fossils show an intermingling of Pacific types with
other forms having European affinities. In Mozambique and in German East
Africa, Cretaceous rocks extend from the coast to a distance inland of over
100 m.
Except in northern Africa, the Tertiary formations only occur in a few
isolated patches on the east and west coasts. In northern Africa they are
well developed and of much interest. They contain the well-known nummulitic
limestone of Eocene age, which has been traced from Egypt across Asia to
China. The Upper Eocene rocks of Egypt have also yielded primeval types of
the Proboscidea and other mammalia. Evidences for the greater extension of
the Eocene seas than was formerly considered to be the case have been
discovered around Sokoto. During Miocene times Passarge considers that the
region of the Zambezi underwent extreme desiccation.
The effect of the Glacial epoch in Europe is shown in northern Africa by
the moraines of the higher Atlas, and the wider extension of the glaciers
on Kilimanjaro, Kenya and Ruwenzori, and by the extensive accumulations of
gravel over the Sahara.
The earliest signs of igneous activity in Africa are to be found in the
granites, intrusive into the older rocks of the Cape peninsula, into those
of the Transvaal, and into the gneisses and schists of Central Africa. The
Ventersdorp boulder beds of the Transvaal may be of early palaeozoic age;
but as a whole the palaeozoic period in Africa was remarkably free from
volcanic and igneous disturbances. The close of the Stormberg period
(Rhaetic) was one of great volcanic activity in South Africa. Whilst the
later Secondary and Tertiary formations were being laid down in North
Africa and around the margins of the rest of the continent, Africa received
its last great accumulation of strata and at the same time underwent a
consecutive series of earth-movements. The additional strata consist of the
immense quantities of volcanic material on the plateau of East Africa, the
basalt flows of West Africa and possibly those of the Zambezi basin. The
exact period of the commencement of volcanic activity is unknown. In
Abyssinia the Ashangi traps are certainly post-Oolitic. In East Africa the
fissure eruptions are considered to belong to the Cretaceous. These early
eruptions were followed by those of Kenya, Mawenzi, Elgon, Chibcharagnani, and these by the eruptions of Kibo, Longonot, Suswa and the Kyulu
Mountains. The last phase of vulcanicity took place along the great
meridional rifts of East Africa, and though feebly manifested has not
entirely passed away. In northern Africa a continuous sequence of volcanic
events has taken place from Eocene times to latest Tertiary; but in South
Africa it is doubtful if there have been any intrusions later then
Cretaceous.
During this long continuance of vulcanicity, earth-movements were in
progress. In the north the chief movements gave rise to the system of
latitudinal folding and faulting of the Moroccan and Algerian Atlas, the
last stages being represented by the formation of the Algerian and Moroccan
coast-outline and the sundering of Europe from Africa at the Straits of
Gibraltar. Whilst northern Africa was being folded, the East African
plateau was broken up by a series of longitudinal rifts extending from
Nyasaland to Egypt. The depressed areas contain the long, narrow, precipitously walled lakes of East Africa. The Red Sea also occupies a
meridional trough.
Lastly there are the recent elevations of the northern coastal regions, the Barbary coast and along the east coast. (W. G.*)
III. ETHNOLOGY In attempting a review of the races and tribes which
inhabit Africa, their distribution, movements and culture, it is advisable
that three points be borne in mind. The first of these is the comparative
absence of natural barriers in the interior, owing to which
intercommunication between tribes, the dissemination of culture and tribal
migration have been considerably facilitated. Hence the student must be
prepared to find that, for the most part, there are no sharp divisions to
mark the extent of the various races composing the population, but that the
number of what may be termed ``transitional'' peoples is unusually large.
The second point is that Africa, with the exception of the lower Nile
valley and what is known as Roman Africa (see AFRICA, ROMAN), is, so far as
its native inhabitants are concerned, a continent practically without a
history, and possessing no records from which such a history might be
reconstructed. The early movements of tribes, the routes by which they
reached their present abodes, and the origin of such forms of culture as
may be distinguished in the general mass of customs, beliefs, &c., are
largely matters of conjecture. The negro is essentially the child of the
moment; and his memory, both tribal and individual, is very short. The
third point is that many theories which have been formulated with respect
to such matters are unsatisfactory owing to the small amount of information
concerning many of the tribes in the interior.
The chief African races.
Excluding the Europeans who have found a home in various parts of Africa, and the Asiatics, Chinese and natives of India introduced by them (see
section History below), the population of Africa consists of the following
elements: —the Bushman, the Negro, the Eastern Hamite, the Libyan and the
Semite, from the intermingling of which in various proportions a vast
number of ``transitional'' tribes has arisen. The Bushmen (q.v.), a race of
short yellowish-brown nomad hunters, inhabited, in the earliest times of
which there is historic knowledge, the land adjoining the southern and
eastern borders of the Kalahari desert, into which they were gradually
being forced by the encroachment of the Hottentots and Bantu tribes. But
signs of their former presence are not wanting as far north as Lake
Tanganyika, and even, it is rumoured, still farther north. With them may be
classed provisionally the Hottentots, a pastoral people of medium stature
and yellowish-brown complexion. who in early times shared with the Bushmen
the whole of what is now Cape Colony. Though the racial affinities of the
Hottentots have been disputed, the most satisfactory view on the whole is
that they represent a blend of Bushman, Negroid and Hamitic elements.
Practically the rest of Africa, from the southern fringe of the Sahara and
the upper valley of the Nile to the Cape, with the exception of Abyssinia
and Galla and Somali-lands, is peopled by Negroes and the ``transitional''
tribes to which their admixture with Libyans on the north, and Semites
(Arabs) and Hamites on the north-east and east, has given rise. A slight
qualification of the last statement is necessary, in so far as, among the
Fula in the western Sudan, and the Ba-Hima, &c., of the Victoria Nyanza,
Libyan and Hamitic elements are respectively stronger than the Negroid. Of
the tracts excepted, Abyssinia is inhabited mainly by Semito-Hamites
(though a fairly strong negroid element can be found), and Somali and Galla-
lands by Hamites. North of the Sahara in Algeria and Morocco are the
Libyans (Berbers, q.v.), a distinctively white people, who have in certain
respects (e.g. religion) fallen under Arab influence. In the north-east the
brown-skinned Hamite and the Semite mingle in varied proportions. The
Negroid peoples, which inhabit the vast tracts of forest and savanna
between the areas held by Bushmen to the south and the Hamites, Semites and
Libyans to the north, fall into two groups divided by a line running from
the Cameroon (Rio del Rey) crossing the Ubangi river below the bend and
passing between the Ituri and the Semliki rivers, to Lake Albert and thence
with a slight southerly trend to the coast. North of this line are the
Negroes proper, south are the Bantu. The division is primarily
philological. Among the true Negroes the greatest linguistic confusion
prevails; for instance, in certain parts of Nigeria it is possible to find
half-a-dozen villages within a comparatively small area speaking, not
different dialects, but different languages, a fact which adds greatly to
the difficulty of political administration. To the south of the line the
condition of affairs is entirely different; here the entire population
speaks one or another dialect of the Bantu Languages (q.v..) As said
before, the division is primarily linguistic and, especially upon the
border line, does not always correspond with the variations of physical
type. At the same time it is extremely convenient and to a certain extent
justifiable on physical and psychological grounds; and it may be said
roughly that while the linguistic uniformity of the Bantu is accompanied by
great variation of physical type, the converse is in the main true of the
Negro proper, especially where least affected by Libyan and Hamitic
admixture, e.g. on the Guinea coast. The variation of type among the Bantu
is due probably to a varying admixture of alien blood, which is more
apparent as the east coast is approached. This foreign element cannot be
identified with certainty, but since the Bantu seem to approach the Hamites
in those points where they differ from the Negro proper, and since the
physical characteristics of Hamites and Semites are very similar, it seems
probable that the last two races have entered into the composition of the
Bantu, though it is highly improbable that Semitic influence should have
permeated any distance from the east coast. An extremely interesting
section of the population not hitherto mentioned is constituted by the
Pygmy tribes inhabiting the densely forested regions along the equator from
Uganda to the Gabun and living the life of nomadic hunters. The affinities
of this little people are undecided, owing to the small amount of knowledge
concerning them. The theories which connected them with the Bushmen do not
seem to be correct. It is more probable that they are to be classed among
the Negroids, with whom they appear to have intermingled to a certain
extent in the upper basin of the Ituri, and perhaps elsewhere. As far as is
known they speak no language peculiar to themselves but adopt that of the
nearest agricultural tribe. They are of a dark brown complexion, with very
broad noses, lips but slightly everted, and small but usually sturdy
physique, though often considerably emaciated owing to insufficiency of
food. Another peculiar tribe, also of short stature, are the Vaalpens of
the steppe region of the north Transvaal. Practically nothing is known of
them except that they are said to be very dark in colour and live in holes
in the ground, and under rock shelters.
Principal ethnological zones.
Having indicated the chief races of which in various degrees of purity
and intermixture the population of Africa is formed, it remains to consider
them in greater detail, particularly from the cultural standpoint. This is
hardly possible without drawing attention to the main physical characters
of the continent, as far as they affect the inhabitants. For ethnological
purposes three principal zones may be distinguished; the first two are
respectively a large region of steppes and desert in the north, and a
smaller region of steppes and desert in the south. These two zones are
connected by a vertical strip of grassy highland lying mainly to the east
of the chain of great lakes. The third zone is a vast region of forest and
rivers in the west centre, comprising the greater part of the basin of the
Congo and the Guinea coast. The rainfall, which also has an important
bearing upon the culture of peoples, will be found on the whole to be
greatest in the third zone and also in the eastern highlands, and of course
least in the desert, the steppes and savannas standing midway between the
two. As might be expected these variations are accompanied by certain
variations in culture. In the best-watered districts agriculture is
naturally of the greatest importance, except where the density of the
forest renders the work of clearing too arduous. The main portion therefore
of the inhabitants of the forest zone are agriculturists, save only the
nomad Pygmies, who live in the inmost recesses of the forest and support
themselves by hunting the game with which it abounds. Agriculture, too, flourishes in the eastern highlands, and throughout the greater part of the
steppe and savanna region of the northern and southern zones, especially
the latter. In fact the only Bantu tribes who are not agriculturists are
the Ova-Herero of German South-West Africa, whose purely pastoral habits
are the natural outcome of the barren country they inhabit. But the wide
open plains and slopes surrounding the forest area are eminently suited to
cattle-breeding, and there are few tribes who do not take advantage of the
fact. At the same time a natural check is imposed upon the desire for
cattle, which is so characteristic of the Bantu peoples. This is
constituted by the tsetse fly, which renders a pastoral life absolutely
impossible throughout large tracts in central and southern Africa. In the
northern zone this check is absent, and the number of more essentially
pastoral peoples, such as the eastern Hamites, Masai, Dinka, Fula, &c., correspondingly greater. The desert regions yield support only to nomadic
peoples, such as the Tuareg, Tibbu, Bedouins and Bushmen, though the
presence of numerous oases in the north renders the condition of life
easier for the inhabitants. Upon geographical conditions likewise depend to
a large extent the political conditions prevailing among the various
tribes. Thus among the wandering tribes of the desert and of the heart of
the forests, where large communities are impossible, a patriarchal system
prevails with the family as the unit. Where the forest is less dense and
small agricultural communities begin to make their appearance, the unit
expands to the village with its headman. Where the forest thins to the
savanna and steppe, and communication is easier, are found the larger
kingdoms and ``empires'' such as, in the north those established by the
Songhai, Hausa, Fula, Bagirmi, Ba-Hima, &c., and in the south the states of
Lunda, Kazembe, the Ba-Rotse, &c.
But if ease of communication is favourable to the rise of large states
and the cultural progress that usually accompanies it, it is, nevertheless, often fatal to the very culture which, at first, it fostered, in so far as
the absence of natural boundaries renders invasion easy. A good example of
this is furnished by the history of the western Sudan and particularly of
East and South-East Africa. From its geographical position Africa looks
naturally to the east, and it is on this side that it has been most
affected by external culture both by land (across the Sinaitic peninsula)
and by sea. Though a certain amount of Indonesian and even aboriginal
Indian influence has been traced in African ethnography, the people who
have produced the most serious ethnic disturbances (apart from modern
Europeans) are the Arabs. This is particularly the case in East Africa, where the systematic slave raids organized by them and carried out with the
assistance of various warlike tribes reduced vast regions to a state of
desolation. In the north and west of Africa, however, the Arab has had a
less destructive but more extensive and permanent influence in spreading
the Mahommedan religion throughout the whole of the Sudan.
The characteristic African culture.
The fact that the physical geography of Africa affords fewer natural
obstacles to racial movements on the side most exposed to foreign
influence, renders it obvious that the culture most characteristically
African must be sought on the other side. It is therefore in the forests of
the Congo, and among the lagoons and estuaries of the Guinea coast, that
this earlier culture will most probably be found. That there is a culture
distinctive of this area, irrespective of the linguistic line dividing the
Bantu from the Negro proper, has now been recognized. Its main features may
be summed as follows:—-a purely agricultural life, with the plantain, yam
and manioc (the last two of American origin) as the staple food;
cannibalism common; rectangular houses with ridged roofs; scar-tattooing;
clothing of bark-cloth or palm-fibre; occasional chipping or extraction of
upper incisors; bows with strings of cane, as the, principal weapons, shields of wood or wickerwork; religion, a primitive form of fetishism with
the belief that death is due to witchcraft; ordeals, secret societies, the
use of masks and anthropomorphic figures, and wooden gongs. With this may
be contrasted the culture of the Bantu peoples to the south and east, also
agriculturists, but in addition, where possible, great cattle-breeders, whose staple food is millet and milk. These are distinguished by circular
huts with domed or conical roofs; clothing of skin or leather; occasional
chipping or extraction of lower incisors; spears as the principal weapons, bows, where found, with a sinew cord, shields of hide or leather; religion, ancestor-worship with belief in the power of the magicians as rain-makers.
Though this difference in culture may well be explained on the supposition
that the first is the older and more representative of Africa, this theory
must not be pushed too far. Many of the distinguishing characteristics of
the two regions are doubtless due simply to environment, even the
difference in religion. Ancestor-worship occurs most naturally among a
people where tribal organization has reached a fairly advanced stage, and
is the natural outcome of patriotic reverence for a successful chief and
his councillors. Rain-making, too, is of little importance in a well-
watered region, but a matter of vital interest to an agricultural people
where the rainfall is slight and irregular.
Within the eastern and southern Bantu area certain cultural variations
occur; beehive huts are found among the Zulu-Xosa and Herero, giving place
among the Bechuana to the cylindrical variety with conical roof, a type
which, with few exceptions, extends north to Abyssinia. The tanged
spearhead characteristic of the south is replaced by the socketed variety
towards the north. Circumcision, characteristic of the Zulu-Xosa and
Bechuana, is not practised by many tribes farther north; tooth-mutilation, on the contrary, is absent among the more southern tribes. The lip-plug is
found in the eastern area, especially among the Nyasa tribes, but not in
the south. The head-rest common in the south-east and the southern fringe
of the forest area is not found far north of Tanganyika until the Horn of
Africa is reached.
In the regions outside the western area occupied by the Negro proper, exclusive of the upper Nile, the similarities of culture outweigh the
differences. Here the cylindrical type of hut prevails; clothing is of skin
or leather but is very scanty; iron ornaments are worn in profusion; arrows
are not feathered; shields of hide, spears with leather sheaths are found
and also fighting bracelets. Certain small differences appear between the
eastern and western portions, the dividing line being formed by the
boundary between Bornu and Hausaland. Characteristic of the east are the
harp and the throwing-club and throwing-knife, the last of which has
penetrated into the forest area. Typical of the west are the bow and the
dagger with the ring hilt. The tribes of the upper Nile are somewhat
specialized, though here, too, are found the cylindrical hut, iron
ornaments, fighting bracelets, &c., characteristic of the Sudanese tribes.
Here the removal of the lower incisors is common, and circumcision entirely
absent. Throughout the rest of the Sudan is found Semitic culture
introduced by the Arabized Libyan. Circumcision, as is usual among
Mahommedan tribes, is universal, and tooth-mutilation absent; of other
characteristics, the use of the sword has penetrated to the northern
portion of the forest area. The culture prevailing in the Horn of Africa
is, naturally, mainly Hamito-Semitic; here are found both cyhnddcal and bee-
hive huts, the sword (which has been adopted by the Masai to the south), the lyre (which has found its way to some of the Nilotic tribes) and the
head-rest. Circumcision is practically universal.
As has been said earlier, the history of Africa reaches back but a short
distance, except, of course, as far as the lower Nile valley and Roman
Africa is concerned; elsewhere no records exist, save tribal traditions, and these only relate to very recent events. Even archaeology, which can
often sketch the main outlines of a people's history, is here practically
powerless, owing to the insufficiency of data. It is true that stone imple.
ments of palaeolithic and neolithic types are found sporadically in the
Nile valley, Somaliland, on the Zambezi, in Cape Colony and the northern
portions of the Congo Free State, as well as in Algeria and Tunisia; but
the localities are far too few and too widely separated to warrant the
inference that they are to be in any way connected. Moreover, where stone
implements are found they are, as a rule, very near, even actually on, the
surface of the earth; nothing occurs resembling the regular stratification
of Europe, and consequently no argument based on geological grounds is
possible.
The lower Nile valley, however, forms an exception; flint implements of a
palaeolithic type have been found near Thebes. not only on the surface of
the ground, which for several thousand years has been desert owing to the
contraction of the river-bed, but also in stratified gravel of an older
date. References to a number of papers bearing on the discussion to which
then discovery has given rise may be found in an article by Mr H. R. Hall
in Man, 1905, No. 19. The Egyptian and also the Somali land finds appear to
be true palaeoliths in type and remarkably similar to those found in
Europe. But evidence bearing on the Stone age in Africa, if the latter
existed apart from the localities mentioned, is so slight that little can
be said save that from the available evidence the palaeoliths of the Nile
valley alone can with any degree of certainty be assigned to a remote
period of antiquity, and that the chips scattered over Mashonaland and the
regions occupied within historic times by Bushmen are the most recent;
since it has been shown that the stone flakes were used by the medieval
Makalanga to engrave their hard pottery and the Bushmen were still using
stone implements in the 19th century. Other early remains, but of equally
uncertain date, are the stone circles of Algeria, the Cross river and the
Gambia. The large system of ruined forts and ``cities'' in Mashonaland, at
Zimbabwe and elsewhere, concerning which so many ingenious theories have
been woven, have been proved to date from medieval times.
Origin and spread of the racial stocks.
Thus while in Europe there is a Stone age. divided into periods according
to various types of implement disposed in geological strata, and followed
in orderly succession by the ages of Bronze and Iron, in Africa can be
found no true Stone age and practically no Bronze at all. The reason is not
far to seek; Africa is a country of iron, which is found distributed widely
throughout the continent in ores so rich that the metal can be extracted
with very little trouble and by the simplest methods. Iron has been worked
from time immemorial by the Negroid peoples, and whole tribes are found
whose chief industry is the smelting and forging of the metal. Under such
conditions, questions relating to the origin and spread of the racial
stocks which form the population of Africa cannot be answered with any
certainty; at best only a certain amount of probability can be attained.
Five of these racial stocks have been mentioned: Bushman, Negro, Hamite,
Semite, Libyan, the last three probably related through some common
ancestor. Of these the honour of being considered the most truly African
belongs to the two first. It is true that people of Negroid type are found
elsewhere, principally in Melanesia, but as yet their possible connexion
with the African Negro is little more than theoretical, and for the present
purposes it need not be considered.
The origin of the Bushman is lost in obscurity, but he may be conceived
as the original inhabitant of the southern portion of the continent. The
original home of the Negro, at first an agriculturist, is most probably to
be found in the neighbourhood of the great lakes, whence he penetrated
along the fringe of the Sahara to the west and across the eastern highlands
southward. Northerly expansion was prevented by the early occupation of the
Nile valley, the only easy route to the Mediterranean, but there seems no
doubt that the population of ancient Egypt contained a distinct Negroid
element. The question as to the ethnic affinities of the pre-dynastic
Egyptians is still unsolved; but they may be regarded as, in the main,
Hamitic, though it is a question how far it is just to apply a name which
implies a definite specialization in what may be comparatively modern times
to a people of such antiquity.
The Horn of Africa appears to have been the centre from which the Hamites
spread, and the pressure they seem to have applied to the Negro tribes, themselves also in process of expansion, sent forth larger waves of
emigrants from the latter. These emigrants, already affected by the Hamitic
pastoral culture, and with a strain of Hamitic blood in their veins, passed
rapidly down the open tract in the east, doubtless exterminating their
predecessors, except such few as took refuge in the mountains and swamps.
The advance-guard of this wave of pastoral Negroids, in fact primitive
Bantu, mingled with the Bushmen and produced the Hottentots. The
penetration of the forest area must certainly have taken longer and was
probably accomplished as much from the south-east, up the Zambezi valley, as from any other quarter. It was a more peaceful process, since natural
obstacles are unfavourable to rapid movements of large bodies of
immigrants, though not so serious as to prevent the spread of language and
culture. A modern parallel to the spread of Bantu speech is found in the
rise of the Hausa language, which is gradually enlarging its sphere of
influence in the western and central Sudan. Thus those qualities, physical
and otherwise, in which the Bantu approach the Hamites gradually fade as we
proceed westward through the Congo basin, while in the east, among the
tribes to the west of Tanganyika and on the upper Zambezi, ``transitional''
forms of culture are found. In later times this gradual pressure from the
south-east became greater, and resulted, at a comparatively recent date, in
the irruption of the Fang into the Gabun.
The earlier stages of the southern movement must have been accompanied by
a similar movement westward between the Sahara and the forest; and, probably, at the same time, or even earlier, the Libyans crossing the
desert had begun to press upon the primitive Negroes from the north. In
this way were produced the Fula, who mingled further with the Negro to give
birth to the Mandingo, Wolof and Tukulor. It would appear that either
Libyan (Fula) or, less probably, Hamitic, blood enters into the composition
of the Zandeh peoples on the Nile-Congo watershed. These Libyans or
Berbers, included by G. Sergi in his ``Mediterranean Race,'' were active on
the north coast of Africa in very early times, and had relations with the
Egyptians from a prehistoric period. For long these movements continued, always in the same direction, from north to south and from east to west;
though, of course, more rapid changes took place in the open country, especially in the great eastern highway from north to south, than in the
forest area. Large states arose in the western Sudan; Ghana flourished in
the 7th century A.D., Melle in the 11th, Songhai in the 14th, and Bornu in
the 16th.
Meanwhile in the east began the southerly movement of the Bechuana, which
was probably,spread over a considerable period. Later than they, hut
proceeding faster, came the Zulu-Xosa (``Kaffir'') peoples, who followed a
line nearer the coast and outflanked them, surrounding them on the south.
Then followed a time of great ethnical confusion in South Africa, during
which tribes flourished, split up and disappeared; but ere this the culture
represented by the ruins in Rhodesia had waxed and waned. It is uncertain
who were the builders of the forts and ``cities,'' but it is not improbable
that they may be found to have been early Bechuana. The Zulu-Xosa, Bechuana
and Herero together form a group which may conveniently be termed
``Southern Bantu.',
Finally began a movement hitherto unparalleled in the history of African
migration; certain peoples of Zulu blood began to press north, spreading
destruction in their wake. Of these the principal were the Matabele and
Angoni. The movement continued as far as the Victoria Nyanza. Here, on the
border-line of Negro, Bantu and Hamite, important changes had taken place.
Certain of the Negro tribes had retired to the swamps of the Nile, and had
become somewhat specialized, both physically and culturally (Shilluk,
Dinka, Alur, Acholi, &c.). These had blended with the Hamites to produce
such races as the Masai and kindred tribes. The old Kitwara empire, which
comprised the plateau land between the Ruwenzori range and Kavirondo, had
broken up into small states, usually governed by a Hamitic (Ba-Hima)
aristocracy. The more extensive Zang (Zenj) empire, of which. the name
Zanzibar (Zanguebar) is a lasting memorial, extending along the sea-board
from Somaliland to the Zambezi, was also extinct. The Arabs had established
themselves firmly on the coast, and thence made continual slave-raids into
the interior, penetrating later to the Congo. The Swahili, inhabiting the
coast-line from the equator to about 16 deg. S., are a somewhat
heterogeneous mixture of Bantu with a tinge of Arab blood.
In the neighbourhood of Victoria Nyanza, where Hamite, Bantu, Nilotic
Negro and Pygmy are found in close contact, the ethnic relations of tribes
are often puzzling, but the Bantu not under a Hamitic domination have been
divided by F. Stuhlmann into the Older Bantu (Wanyamwezi, Wasukuma,
Wasambara, Waseguha, Wasagara, Wasaramo, &c.) and the Bantu of Later
Immigration (Wakikuyu, Wakamba, Wapokomo, Wataita, Wachaga, &c.), who are
more strongly Hamitized and in many cases have adopted Masai customs. These
peoples, from the Victoria Nyanza to the Zambezi, may conveniently be
termed the ``Eastern Bantu.''
Turning to the Congo basin in the south, the great Luba and Lunda peoples
are found stretching nearly across the continent, the latter, from at any
rate the end of the 16th century until the close of the 19th century, more
or less united under a single ruler, styled Muata Yanvo. These seem to have
been the most recent immigrants from the south-east, and to exhibit certain
affinities with the Barotse on the upper Zambezi. Among the western Baluba, or Bashilange, a remarkable politico-religious revolution took place at a
comparatively recent date, initiated by a secret society termed Bena Riamba
or ``Sons of Hemp,'' and resulted in the subordination of the old fetishism
to a cult of hemp, in accordance with which all hemp-smokers consider
themselves brothers, and the duty of mutual hospitality, &c., is
acknowledged. North of these, in the great bend of the Congo, are the
Balolo, &c., the Balolo a nation of iron-workers; and westward, on the
Kasai, the Bakuba, and a large number of tribes as yet imperfectly known.
Farther west are the tribes of Angola, many of whom were included within
the old ``Congo empire,'' of which the kingdom of Loango was an offshoot.
North of the latter lies the Gabun, with a large number of small tribes
dominated by the Fang who are recent arrivals from the Congo. Farther to
the north are the Bali and other tribes of the Cameroon, among whom many
primitive Negroid elements begin to appear. Eastward are the Zandeh peoples
of the Welle district (primitive Negroids with a Hamitic or, more probably,
Libyan strain), with whom the Dor trine of Nilotes on their eastern border
show certain affinities; while to the west along the coast are the Guinea
Negroes of primitive type. Here, amidst great linguistic confusion, may be
distinguished the tribes of Yoruba speech in the Niger delta and the east
portion of the Slave Coast; those of Ewe speech, in the western portion of
the latter; and those of Ga and Tshi speech, on the Gold Coast. Among the
last two groups respectively may be mentioned the Dahomi and Ashanti.
Similar tribes are found along the coast to the Bissagos Islands, though
the introduction in Sierra Leone and Liberia of settlements of repatriated
slaves from the American plantations has in those places modified the
original ethnic distribution. Leaving the forest zone and entering the more
open country there are, on the north from the Niger to the Nile, a number
of Negroids strongly tinged with Libyan blood and professing the Mahommedan
religion. Such are the Mandingo, the Songhai, the Fula, Hausa, Kanuri,
Bagirmi, Kanembu, and the peoples of Wadai and Darfur; the few aborigines
who persist, on the southern fringe of the Chad basin, are imperfectly
known.
Peculiar conditions in Madagascar.
The island of Madagascar, belonging to the African continent, still
remains for discussion. Here the ethnological conditions are people were
the Hova, a Malayo-Indonesian people who must have come from the Malay
Peninsula or the adjacent islands. The date of their immigration has been
line subject of a good deal of dispute, but it may be argued that their
arrival must have taken place in early times, since Malagasy speech, which
is the language of the island, is principally Malayo-Polynesian in origin, and contains no traces of Sanskrit. Such traces, introduced with Hinduism, are present in all the cultivated languages of Malaysia at the present
day.The Hova occupy the table-land of Imerina and form the first of the
three main groups into which the population of Madagascar may be divided.
They are short, of an olive-yellow complexion and have straight or faintly
wavy hair. On the east coast are the Malagasy, who in physical
characteristics stand halfway between the Hova and the Sakalava, the last
occupying the remaining portion of the island and displaying almost pure
Negroid characteristics.
Though the Hova belong to a race naturally addicted to seafaring, the
contrary is the case respecting the Negroid population, and the presence of
the latter in the island has been explained by the supposition that they
were imported by the Hova. Other authorities assign less antiquity to the
Hova immigration and believe that they found the Negroid tribes already in
occupation of the island.
As might be expected, the culture found in Madagascar contains two
elements, Negroid and Malayo-Indonesian. The first of these two shows
certain affinities with the culture characteristic of the western area of
Africa, such as rectangular huts, clothing of bark and palm-fibre, fetishism, &c., but cattle-breeding is found as well as agriculture.
However, the Negroid tribes are more and more adopting the customs and mode
of life of the Hova, among whom are found pile-houses, the sarong, yadi or
tabu applied to food, a non-African form of bellows, &c., all
characteristic of their original home. The Hova, during the 19th century, embraced Christianity, but retain, nevertheless, many of their old
animistic beliefs; their original social organization in three classes, andriana or nobles, hova or freemen, and andevo or slaves, has been
modified by the French, who have abolished kingship and slavery. An Arab
infusion is also to be noticed, especially on the north-east and south-east
coasts.
It is impossible to give a complete list of the tribes inhabiting Africa, owing to the fact that the country is not fully explored. Even where the
names of the tribes are known their ethnic relations are still a matter of
uncertainty in many localities.
The following list, therefore, must be regarded as purely tentative, and
liable to correction in the light of fuller information:-
AFRICAN TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION
LIBYANS
(North Africa, excluding Egypt)
Berbers, including – Kabyles, Mzab, Shawia, Tuareg
LIBYO-NEGROID TRANSITIONAL
Fula (West Sudan)
Tibbu (Central Sudan)
HAMITES
(East Sudan and Horn of Africa)
Beja, including – Ababda, Hadendoa, Bisharin, Beni-Amer, Hamran, Galla,
Somali, Danakil (Afar)
Ba-Hima, including — Wa-Tussi, Wa-Hha, Wa-Rundi, Wa-Ruanda
HAMITO-SEMITES
Fellahin (Egypt)
Abyssinians (with Negroid admixture)
HAMITO-NEGROID TRANSITIONAL
Masai
Wa-Kuafi
NEGROID TRIBES
West Sudan Central Sudan Eastern
Tukulor Songhai Fur Kargo
Wolof Hausa Dago Kulfan
Serer Bagirmi Kunjara Kolaji
Leybu Kanembu Tegele Tumali
Mandingo, including— Kanuri Nuba
Kassonke Tama
Yallonke Maba Zandeh Tribes
Soninke Birkit (Akin to Nilotics, but
Bambara Massalit probably with
Fula
Vei Korunga element)
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