The Peopling of Africa

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

@Akan @IllmaticDelta @Poitier @KidStranglehold

Rice and Yam Hearth

I came across a book (The Peopling of Africa: A Geographic Interpretation, Yale, 1995)which details how the African continent became 'peopled'. The book has information on population movements, the impact of differing foodstaples, technology, state-building etc.

A portion of the book is dedicated to West Africa's peopling. In it, it claims that two agricultural traditions carried people into the rainforest belt of West Africa. One involving yams and the other involving rice.

The rice migration carried Mande peoples (Susu, Malinke, Komo, Vai, Kru) and related tribes down from the confluence of the Niger, Gambia and other rivers - pushing peoples like the Wolof and Serrer towards what is now Senegal/Gambia.

For the Yam peoples, it pushed the Edo, Igbo, Yoruba, Ewe and others down from Central Nigeria/Benue River valley. What's interesting about this migration is that it carried iron technology first developed by the Nok peoples over 2000 years ago with them along with yam crops. Additionally, the author claims that the Bantu came out of this migration.

If you look on Google Books, a map detailing this is on page 121.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

In regard to West Africa, a few things perplex me:
A) Where do the Hausa come from? Are they a migration out of the Sahara when it became drier thousands of years ago?
B) How did the Fulani people came to be? Do they have 'Afro-Asiatic' origins in addition to their 'Niger-Congo' origins?
C) Were there people living in the rainforest belt of West Africa before the migrations which occurred 2500-3000 years ago?

 

[IllmaticDelta]

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Coastal Realignments

The book goes on to argue that the arrival of Europeans shifted incentives away from building states in the interior towards building states towards the coast or on the coast to access power and wealth offered by trade with Europeans.

As a result, Mande peoples continued their expansion at the expense of 'Atlantic' peoples like the Balanta and Diola. Major exceptions were the Wolof and Serrer (probably due to population size).

After the Asante had pushed out other Akan groups or conquered them, they began their wars against the Fante who lived on the coast of what is now Ghana.

The Oyo Yoruba (bordered by both rainforest and savanna woodland) conquered nearly all of Yoruba and expanded its influence west towards Akan speaking territory (Asanteman and Oyo Empire fought in the 18th century!) and east making the Kingdom of Benin recognize its power. That all came apart due to Yoruba infighting and the Nupe/Fulani invasions of the Sokoto Caliphate.

The Fon kingdom of Dahomey was similar to Asante except it managed to conquer its coastal region and seize the port of Whydah from the Aja state of Allada.

The major outlier/curious factor is the Igbo. The Igbo slowly pushed the Igala north, the Ijaw and Ibibio south but it never had to organize into a state to do so. Yoruba, Fon, Asante and Mande utilized states to expand their power. Why not the Igbo?

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Interesting tidbit
Nutritional Impact of the chaos caused by the Atlantic Slave Trade

The slave trade distorted local economies, disrupted agricultural production and cottage industries. A consequence of this was the increasing reliance on cassava, instead of yam, as a source of calories. Cassava stores well, is easy to grow and can remain unharvested for many years (similar to potatoes but less nutritious, alas!). But it lacks amino acids which build proteins. Malnutrition became the lot of many peoples who 'lost' during the Great Migrations of Africa during the 1400s to 1800s.
An Archaeological Mystery In Ghana: Why Didn't Past Droughts Spell Famine?

 

[Samori Toure]

In regard to West Africa, a few things perplex me:
A) Where do the Hausa come from? Are they a migration out of the Sahara when it became drier thousands of years ago?
B) How did the Fulani people came to be? Do they have 'Afro-Asiatic' origins in addition to their 'Niger-Congo' origins?
C) Were there people living in the rainforest belt of West Africa before the migrations which occurred 2500-3000 years ago?

A. I think that the Hausa people are Chadic. I am not sure if that are related to the Kaba or Bulala people or if they are from Kanem-Bornu.
B. The first time that I saw anything on the Fulani they were in Mali. They migrated to Nigeria. There was a website that I read to get information on the Tikar people of Cameroon, because I wanted to know about the Bamilke and Bamoun tribes. From what I read the author seem to believed that the Fulani and Tikar people are originally from the Sudan.
C. I don't know about.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

A. I think that the Hausa people are Chadic. I am not sure if that are related to the Kaba or Bulala people or if they are from Kanem-Bornu.
B. The first time that I saw anything on the Fulani they were in Mali. They migrated to Nigeria. There was a website that I read to get information on the Tikar people of Cameroon, because I wanted to know about the Bamilke and Bamoun tribes. From what I read the author seem to believed that the Fulani and Tikar people are originally from the Sudan.
C. I don't know about.

The Hausa are Chadic. Did they migrate to Lake Chad after the Sahara tried up but were pushed west by Nilo-Saharans like the Kanuri?

I don't believe the Fulani are Sudanese. They seem to have migrated from Futa Toro and Futa Jollon. Both in West Africa. They also don't speak a Afro-Asiatic or Nilo-Saharan langauge.

C. Is a mystery. I imagine that people similar to Baka Pygmies lived there, if there were any human populations in coastal West Africa.

 

[Poitier]

sub

 

[IllmaticDelta]

In regard to West Africa, a few things perplex me:
A) Where do the Hausa come from? Are they a migration out of the Sahara when it became drier thousands of years ago?

According to a Y-DNA study by Hassan et al. (2008), about 40% of Hausa in Sudan carry the West Eurasian haplogroup R1b. The remainder and majority belong to various Sub-Saharan paternal lineages: 15.6% B, 12.5% A and 12.5% E1b1a. A small minority of around 3% are E1b1b clade bearers, a haplogroup which is most common in North Africa and the Horn of Africa.[45]

In terms of overall ancestry, an autosomal DNA study by Tishkoff et al. (2009) found the Hausa to be most closely related to Nilotic populations from Nigeria, Cameroon, central Chad and South Sudan. This suggests that the Hausa and other modern Chadic-speaking populations originally spoke Nilo-Saharan languages, before adopting languages from the Afro-Asiatic family after migration into that area thousands of years ago.[46]

"From K = 5-13, all Nilo-Saharan speaking populations from Kenya, Tanzania, southern Sudan, and Chad cluster with west-central Afroasiatic Chadic-speaking populations (Fig. S15). These results are consistent with linguistic and archeological data, suggesting a possible common ancestry of Nilo-Saharan speaking populations from an eastern Sudanese homeland within the past ~10,500 years, with subsequent bi-directional migration westward to Lake Chad and southward into modern day southern Sudan, and more recent migration eastward into Kenya and Tanzania ~3,000 ya (giving rise to Southern Nilotic speakers) and westward into Chad ~2,500 ya (giving rise to Central Sudanic speakers) (S62, S65, S67, S74). A proposed migration of proto-Chadic Afroasiatic speakers ~7,000 ya from the central Sahara into the Lake Chad Basin may have caused many western Nilo-Saharans to shift to Chadic languages (S99). Our data suggest that this shift was not accompanied by large amounts of Afroasiatic16 gene flow. Analyses of mtDNA provide evidence for divergence ~8,000 ya of a distinct mtDNA lineage present at high frequency in the Chadic populations and suggest an East African origin for most mtDNA lineages in these populations (S100)."[46]

B) How did the Fulani people came to be? Do they have 'Afro-Asiatic' origins in addition to their 'Niger-Congo' origins?

Fulani prob have some slight berber admx

 

[KOohbt]

I find it interesting how quickly the Akan transformed Ghana. They got there only in the 1300s but by the 1600s were a giant wealthy empire. Not only that but they cleared out forests to do this. Akan architecture is also interesting. They use square structures with sunken courtyards. Sunken courtyards have to be drained. Which isn't good for forest areas with more rain than the Sahel region to the north.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

I find it interesting how quickly the Akan transformed Ghana. They got there only in the 1300s but by the 1600s were a giant wealthy empire. Not only that but they cleared out forests to do this. Akan architecture is also interesting. They use square structures with sunken courtyards. Sunken courtyards have to be drained. Which isn't good for forest areas with more rain than the Sahel region to the north.

Asante are Akan, no? The Asante answers might've been there for at least 1000 years?

 

[Samori Toure]

Asante are Akan, no? The Asante answers might've been there for at least 1000 years?

Yes.
Akan people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[KOohbt]

Asante are Akan, no? The Asante answers might've been there for at least 1000 years?

Yeah the Ashante are Akan. The Akan didn't arrive in the forest region until 1100's. Then they cleared the forests out.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Bantu Origins and Dispersals

The book continues by claiming another of interesting things about the Bantu migration into Central and Southern Africa. In regard to Central Africa:

• Bantu languages probably originated in the Cross River valley near the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. 5000 years, proto-Bantu were cultivating yams, legumes, peppers and gourds. This was supplemented by fishing, hunting and gathering.
• Adamawan languages (from the Adamawa plateau in Nigeria - proto Zande, Banda, Ngabanda, Amadi etc.) pushed the Bantu out of the moist woodlands north of the equatorial rainforest.
• Bantu expansion kept travelling east until they reached what is now Uganda and formed a new population nucleus.
• Entry into the rainforest brought the Bantu into contact with pygmoid peoples but given their different subsistence requirements, not that much competition occurred compared to the Bantu versus Khoekhoe. Trade relationships may have been established. The Bantu stuck close to river valleys in the Congo river basin.
• Iron-making arrived as a diffusion from Nok-Taruga (in Central Nigeria). However, iron hoes were not immediately adopted and digging sticks remained central planting tools - though iron axes cleared forest and more land for Bantu settlers.
• Bananas and plantains reached Africa from Asia. They fast become primary staples when the environment permitted it, solidifying higher population ceilings.

Some questions:
- Did an agricultural revolution in Nigeria spur the Bantu migrations?
- What are the ancestral origins of pygmoids?
- Iron-making diffusion occurred without population displacement in Central Africa. Why?
- How did bananas/plantains get to Africa? Also, what are their nutritional value compared to yams, sorghum/millet or rice?

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

According to a Y-DNA study by Hassan et al. (2008), about 40% of Hausa in Sudan carry the West Eurasian haplogroup R1b. The remainder and majority belong to various Sub-Saharan paternal lineages: 15.6% B, 12.5% A and 12.5% E1b1a. A small minority of around 3% are E1b1b clade bearers, a haplogroup which is most common in North Africa and the Horn of Africa.[45]

In terms of overall ancestry, an autosomal DNA study by Tishkoff et al. (2009) found the Hausa to be most closely related to Nilotic populations from Nigeria, Cameroon, central Chad and South Sudan. This suggests that the Hausa and other modern Chadic-speaking populations originally spoke Nilo-Saharan languages, before adopting languages from the Afro-Asiatic family after migration into that area thousands of years ago.[46]

"From K = 5-13, all Nilo-Saharan speaking populations from Kenya, Tanzania, southern Sudan, and Chad cluster with west-central Afroasiatic Chadic-speaking populations (Fig. S15). These results are consistent with linguistic and archeological data, suggesting a possible common ancestry of Nilo-Saharan speaking populations from an eastern Sudanese homeland within the past ~10,500 years, with subsequent bi-directional migration westward to Lake Chad and southward into modern day southern Sudan, and more recent migration eastward into Kenya and Tanzania ~3,000 ya (giving rise to Southern Nilotic speakers) and westward into Chad ~2,500 ya (giving rise to Central Sudanic speakers) (S62, S65, S67, S74). A proposed migration of proto-Chadic Afroasiatic speakers ~7,000 ya from the central Sahara into the Lake Chad Basin may have caused many western Nilo-Saharans to shift to Chadic languages (S99). Our data suggest that this shift was not accompanied by large amounts of Afroasiatic16 gene flow. Analyses of mtDNA provide evidence for divergence ~8,000 ya of a distinct mtDNA lineage present at high frequency in the Chadic populations and suggest an East African origin for most mtDNA lineages in these populations (S100)."[46]




Fulani prob have some slight berber admx

A few questions after this great post:
- What ancestral peoples conquered the Hausa and pushed their Afro-Asiatic culture on them? My guess is that it's peoples who were similar to Saharan cultures (those who painted caves in the Sahara) who moved south and subjugated the Hausa.

Saharan cave art/Hausa ancestors?

- What is the Central-West Africa genetic heritage mean?
- What does the West Africa genetic heritage mean? I think it means West African ancestries which did not emerge from the savanna range north of eastern West Africa but around western West Africa at the confluence of the Niger and Gambia rivers.
- Igbo, Yoruba and others have pygmoid ancestry going on. Perhaps adding further evidence to the existence of West African pygmoids before the migration from the savanna to the rainforests?

These findings are important. Essentially, Nigeria's three main ethnic groups (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo) have greater affinity than previously thought. Too bad Nigerian study of history has fallen down the wayside.