Bantu Expansion in Southern Africa

Timeline

1. 901–940Limpopo River valley · Southern AfricaBantu-speaking migrants brought iron smelting, millet and sorghum cultivation, and cattle herding techniques south of the Limpopo River. Archaeological sites show increased 10th-century iron slag, farm tools, and cattle bones, indicating that agricultural economies gradually replaced predominantly hunter-gatherer lifeways.
2. 920–980Zimbabwe Plateau · ZimbabweLarger permanent villages appeared on the Zimbabwe Plateau with rising population density. Early stone-building techniques began to be applied, and gold mining and regional trade networks strengthened, accumulating technical and social organizational experience for the later construction of Great Zimbabwe's stone city.
3. 950–1000Eastern coast of South Africa · South AfricaAs Bantu expansion reached eastern South Africa, it made contact with existing Khoisan-speaking peoples, with mutual influence in linguistic loanwords, pottery styles, and pastoral techniques. The linguistic dominance of Bantu languages in southern Africa was further consolidated, forming the prototype of today's multi-ethnic landscape of the region.