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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Bantu in the Crystal Ball: I
Author:Vansina, JanISNI
Year:1979
Periodical:History in Africa
Volume:6
Pages:287-333
Language:English
Geographic terms:Subsaharan Africa
Africa
Subjects:Bantu-speaking peoples
history
ethnic groups
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171750
Abstract:More than one-third of Africa is occupied by people who speak related languages belonging to a single family called Bantu. How could one language or a group of closely related dialects diffuse over such a vast area? The fact of Bantu expansion remains a major puzzle in the history of Africa. The present author's main goal is to recount the salient features of the century-long inquiry into this puzzle and in doing so to lead to an assessment of the present situation. Much of the proposed reconstruction of Bantu expansion has been conjectural, and the available data are disparate and drawn from different disciplines. Moreover, different considerations of the question have to a great extent been moulded by the major themes in European and American intellectual history of the last century and scholarly tradition, once established, has greatly directed and limited the solutions proposed. Notes.
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