The Bantu Migration from their origins in southern West Africa saw a gradual population movement sweep through the central, eastern, and southern parts of the continent starting in the mid-2nd millennium BCE and finally ending before 1500 CE. With them, the Bantu brought new technologies and skills such as cultivating high-yield crops and iron-working which produced more efficient tools and weapons.

? ? ? ? ? 班圖人從西非南部的起源地遷徙，從公元前 2000 年中期開始，人口逐漸遷移到非洲大陸的中部、東部和南部，最終在公元 1500 年前結(jié)束。班圖人帶來了新技術(shù)和技能，如種植高產(chǎn)作物和鐵器加工，從而制造出更有效的工具和武器。

Eventually, the Bantu dominated, with the exception of South Africa and the Namibian desert, all of the African continent south of a line crossing from southern Nigeria to Kenya. In all, some 500 languages spoken today in that vast area are derived from the Proto-Bantu language. Although most historians would agree on the general occurrence of the Bantu migrations across Africa, the precise timings, motivations, routes, and consequences are all still being debated.

? ? ? ? ? 隨著時間的推移，班圖人開始在除南非和納米比亞沙漠之外的尼日利亞南部至肯尼亞一線以南的整個非洲大陸上占據(jù)主導地位。今天在這片廣闊的地區(qū)所使用的語言總共約有 500 種源自原始班圖語。盡管大多數(shù)歷史學家都同意班圖人在整個非洲遷徙的普遍現(xiàn)象，但其確切時間、原因、路線和后果至今仍存在爭議。

班圖人簡介

The Bantu were agriculturalists who spoke various dialects of the Bantu language. Their heartland was the savannah and rain forest regions around the Niger River of southern West Africa (modern Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon). Using both stone and iron tools, they successfully grew crops such as millet, sorghum, dry rice, beans, oil palms, and melons, although they did so at a subsistence level, that is they grew only sufficient crops to meet their own needs. They had the technology to create iron from iron ore, but where this came from is not known except that the three most likely possibles are: the knowledge was introduced by the Phoenicians in the north, the Egyptians or Kushites in the east, or it was acquired locally and independently.

? ? ? ? ? 班圖人以農(nóng)業(yè)為生，講各種方言的班圖語。他們的家園是西非南部尼日爾河（今尼日利亞、喀麥隆和加蓬）周圍的大草原和熱帶森林地區(qū)。他們使用石器和鐵器，種植小米、高粱、旱稻、豆類、油棕和瓜類等作物，但他們的種植水平僅能維持生計，也就是說，他們種植的作物僅能滿足自己的需要。他們擁有從鐵礦石中煉鐵的技術(shù)，但這項技術(shù)從何而來卻不得而知，最有可能的三種情況是：他們從北方的腓尼基人、東方的埃及人或庫施人那里獲得了知識，或者是自己獨立創(chuàng)造的。

The Bantu people's iron tools improved agricultural yields and their iron weapons made them formidable military opponents. They were also hunters, animal herders (goats, sheep, and cattle), potters, weavers and traders, exchanging such goods as salt, copper, and iron ore for those things they needed.

? ? ? ? ? 班圖人的鐵制農(nóng)具提高了農(nóng)業(yè)產(chǎn)量，鐵制武器使他們成為強大的軍事群體。他們還是獵人、畜牧者（山羊、綿羊和牛）、陶工、紡織工和商人，用鹽、銅和鐵礦石等物品交換他們需要的東西。

東部和南部移民

During the 2nd millennium BCE, small population groups of Bantu began to migrate into Central Africa and then across to the Great Lakes region of East Africa. This movement can be traced by the study of linguistics - a technique known as lexicostatistics - and observation of the relative closeness of local languages to each other and the language originally spoken by the Bantu people of the Niger River delta: Proto-Bantu. At the same time, one should be cautious with such studies as the passage of a language may not necessarily reflect the migration of its speakers. The same might be said of cultural practices and technologies.

? ? ? ? ? 公元前兩千年，班圖人的小群體開始遷徙到中非，然后跨越東非大湖地區(qū)。通過語言學研究（使用一種稱為詞匯統(tǒng)計的技術(shù)）并注意到當?shù)卣Z言與尼日爾河三角洲班圖人最初使用的語言：原始班圖語之間的相對親和力，可以進一步推動這一運動。同時，對此類研究應(yīng)持謹慎態(tài)度，因為一種語言的傳播并不一定反映其使用者的遷移。文化習俗和技術(shù)也是如此。

班圖人遷徙的原因

Historians suggest the reason for the Bantu migration may be any one or more of the following:

exhaustion of local resources - agricultural land, grazing lands, and forests

overpopulation

famine

epidemics

increased competition for local resources

warfare between rival tribes or as a consequence of succession disputes

climate change affecting crops

a spirit of adventure

? ? ? ? ? 歷史學家認為，班圖人遷徙的原因可能是以下一種或多種：

1.?當?shù)刭Y源（農(nóng)田、牧場和森林）枯竭

2.?人口過剩

3.?饑荒

4.?流行病

5.?對當?shù)刭Y源的競爭加劇

6.?敵對部落之間的戰(zhàn)爭或繼承爭端的后果

7.?氣候變化影響農(nóng)作物

8.?冒險精神

It was the Bantu people who founded the coastal settlements of East Africa, what would become, with the addition of Muslim traders from Arabia and Persia from the 7th century CE, the Swahili Coast. From southern West Africa (the West Bantu) and the Great Rift Valley of East Africa (the East Bantu) two streams of Bantu peoples then moved further south in a second wave of migration which occurred during the 1st millennium BCE. A third wave of migration, in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, then took place as the East Bantu peoples moved even further south into what is today Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, and eastern South Africa.

? ? ? ? ? 班圖人建立了東非沿海定居點，從公元 7 世紀起，隨著來自阿拉伯和波斯的穆斯林商人的加入，這里逐漸形成了斯瓦希里海岸。從西非南部（西班圖）和東非大裂谷（東班圖）出發(fā)，班圖人的兩個分支在公元前一千年的第二次移民潮中進一步南遷。公元前一千年上半葉，東班圖人進一步南遷，進入了今天的津巴布韋、博茨瓦納、莫桑比克和南非東部地區(qū)，這是第三次移民潮。

The process of the Bantu migration has traditionally been seen by scholars as a gradual one of filtering down from village to village (and sometimes back again) through a rather sparsely populated Africa. However, the UNESCO General History of Africa puts a rather different slant on the process, at least in regards to the first wave:

The main expansion of the Bantu was vast and fast, not a series of gradual stages as some have argued. But it was a matter neither of purposeless nomadic wandering, nor of organized military conquest. It was a remarkable process of colonization - in the true sense of the word - the opening up of essentially empty lands. (Mokhtar, 320)

? ? ? ? ? 傳統(tǒng)上，學者們認為班圖人的遷徙過程是在人煙稀少的非洲從一個村莊到另一個村莊（有時又回到另一個村莊）的漸進過程。然而，聯(lián)合國教科文組織的《非洲通史》對這一過程卻有不同的看法，至少對第一波移民來說是如此：

? ? ? ? ? 班圖人的主要擴張是大規(guī)模的、快速的，而不是像有些人所說的那樣是一系列漸進的階段。但這既不是無目的的游牧流浪，也不是有組織的軍事征服。這是一個特殊的殖民化過程（真正意義上的殖民化），開辟了基本的空曠的土地。(莫赫塔爾，320 頁）

The Bantu shared their knowledge of iron-smelting, pottery-making, and their farming skills with indigenous forager and nomadic tribes they met, many of whom eventually then settled into stable village communities. Bantu dialects and aspects of Bantu culture were adopted, although the migrants, it is important to note, also learnt from the indigenous peoples, especially in areas like the cultivation of some grain crops or fishing techniques which had been perfected over centuries to get the best from the specific local environmental conditions. In addition, many cultural practices - the use of stone and obsidian tools, to give but one example - often continued to be used in parallel with the Bantu people's superior technologies.

? ? ? ? ? 班圖人與他們遇到的土著狩獵者和游牧部落分享他們的冶鐵知識、制陶技術(shù)和耕作技能，其中許多人最終定居在穩(wěn)定的村落社區(qū)。他們采用了班圖方言及其文化的某些方面，但重要的是要記住，移民也向土著人民學習，特別是在幾個世紀以來不斷完善的耕種和捕魚技術(shù)領(lǐng)域，以達到最佳效果。此外，許多文化習俗，例如使用石器和黑曜石工具，往往與班圖人的高超技術(shù)并行不悖。

班圖人遷徙的影響

The principal consequences of the Bantu migration, then, may be summarised as:

the spread of the Bantu and Bantu-related languages.

the spread of iron-smelting and smithing technology.

the spread of pottery techniques.

the spread of agricultural tools and techniques.

deforestation as charcoal was needed to smelt iron and metal tools made forest clearing easier.

the spread of certain foods into new areas such as plantain bananas and yams.

an increase in people living in villages which in turn created more distinct regional societies, kingships formed and there were further developments in technology.

the retreat of some indigenous peoples to more remote areas.

? ? ? ? ? 因此，班圖人遷徙的主要影響可概括為

1.?班圖語及其相關(guān)語言的傳播。

2.?鑄鐵和鍛造技術(shù)的傳播。

3.?制陶技藝的傳播

4.?農(nóng)業(yè)工具和技術(shù)的傳播。

5.?由于需要木炭來冶煉鐵而導致森林砍伐，而金屬工具使砍伐森林變得更加容易。

6.?某些食物傳播到新的地區(qū)，如香蕉或山藥。

7.?居住在城鎮(zhèn)的人口增加，這反過來又創(chuàng)造了更加分化的區(qū)域社會，形成王權(quán)，技術(shù)進一步發(fā)展。

8.?一些原住民遷徙到更偏遠的地區(qū)。

As the peoples the Bantu came across were still in the Stone Age in terms of weapons and technology, the iron-weaponed migrants with their specialised warrior caste had little trouble imposing themselves wherever they went. Their superior technology also encouraged local peoples to accept Bantu leadership. Some groups did resist this wave of Bantu culture, such as the 'pygmies' who retreated to the depths of the central Africa rainforests or the groups of savannah hunter-gatherers, the San, who likewise retreated to the inhospitable and less accessible environment of the Kalahari Desert.

? ? ? ? ? 由于班圖人所接觸的民族在武器和技術(shù)方面仍處于石器時代，因此擁有鐵器技術(shù)的移民及其職業(yè)戰(zhàn)士階層無論走到哪里，都很容易將自己的意志強加于人。他們高超的技術(shù)也鼓勵當?shù)厝私邮馨鄨D人的領(lǐng)導。有些族群確實抵制了班圖文化的浪潮，如“俾格米人”退縮到非洲中部雨林深處；草原狩獵采集者桑人族群，他們同樣退縮到喀拉哈里沙漠荒涼且交通不便的環(huán)境中。

參考書目：

Curtin, P. African History. Pearson, 1995.

de Fillipo, C. et al. "Bringing Together Linguistic and Genetic Evidence to Test the Bantu Expansion." Proceedings: Biological Sciences, Vol. 279, No. 1741 (22 August 2012), pp. 3256-63.

Desmond Clark, J. (ed). The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Fage, J.D. (ed). The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Felix, A. "A Response to Christopher Ehret's "Bantu Expansions"." The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 34, No. 3 (2001, pp. 647-51.

Garlake, P. Early Art and Architecture of Africa. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Hrbek, I. (ed). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. III, Abridged Edition. University of California Press, 1992.

Ki-Zerbo, J. (ed). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition. University of California Press, 1998.

McEvedy, C. The Penguin Atlas of African History. Penguin Books, 1996.

Mokhtar, G. (ed). UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition. University of California Press, 1990.

Oliver, R. (ed). The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Oliver, R.A. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa. Cambridge University Press, 1981.

原文作者：Mark Cartwright

??????? ??駐意大利的歷史作家。他的主要興趣包括陶瓷、建筑、世界神話和發(fā)現(xiàn)所有文明的共同思想。他擁有政治哲學碩士學位，是《世界歷史百科全書》的出版總監(jiān)。

原文網(wǎng)址: https://www.worldhistory.org/Bantu_Migration/