Africa

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,

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