Bantu, a linguistically related group of about 60 million people living in equatorial and southern Africa. The Bantu probably originated in what is now Cameroon and eastern Nigeria, migrating downward into southern Africa. Beginning in about 2000 bc and ending about 1000 ad, the Bantu migration was one of the largest in human history. The cause of this movement is uncertain, but many anthropologists believe it was caused by an increase in population, a result of the introduction of new crops, such as the banana (native to south Asia), which allowed for more efficient food production. Early in their history, the Bantu split into two major linguistic branches—the Eastern and Western Bantu. The Eastern Bantu migrated through present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique, down to South Africa. The Western Bantu moved into what is now Angola, Namibia, and northwestern Botswana.

Today the Bantu are recognized more as a language group rather than a cultural group. The most widely spoken Bantu-derived language is Swahili, which is used as a lingua franca (a language used in common by different peoples to facilitate commerce and trade) by up to 50 million speakers on the eastern coast of Africa. Tribal groups descended from the Bantu include the Shona, the Xhosa, the Kikuyu, and the Zulu, of the Eastern Bantu language branch; and the Herero and Tonga peoples, of the Western Bantu language branch.

See also African Languages; Migration.