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Phylogeographic analysis of the Bantu language expansion supports a rainforest route

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Significance Southern Africa has been shaped by the large-scale expansion of Bantu populations fueled by agriculture: Currently, 240 million people speak one of the more than 500 Bantu languages. However,… Click to show full abstract

Significance Southern Africa has been shaped by the large-scale expansion of Bantu populations fueled by agriculture: Currently, 240 million people speak one of the more than 500 Bantu languages. However, the timing and geographic routes undergone by the Bantu populations remain largely unknown. We use cutting-edge phylogeographic techniques to show that Bantu populations migrated through the Central African tropical rainforest around 4,400 y ago. This adds to the growing evidence that agricultural expansions can successfully overcome ecological challenges as they unfold.

Keywords: bantu language; phylogeographic analysis; analysis bantu; bantu; expansion; bantu populations

Journal Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year Published: 2022

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