The coast by
1000AD was inhabited by three groups of people, namely, the Bushmen, Bantu, and
the cushites.
Politically
each settlement was independent and had its own chief,eg bantu had chiefs.
Chiefdoms
were therefore the basic political settlements for these early people and each
chief was the head of a given chiefdom.
Each group
had its own unique political features for example those of the Bantu were
different from those of the cushites.
They had
small armies armed with axes and spears for defence purposes
The Bantu
had a centralized mode of administration while the cushites were led by only
clan leaders and had no centralization.
Economically
the Bantu carried out agriculture and the planted mostly bananas, millet, beans
and coconuts.
They also
carried out fishing most especially those who lived near lakes and rivers. They
were mostly using hooks and fish bones.
The also
used to hunt wild games in order to get meat from the killed animals. This was
mostly done by the Bushmen.
They also
traded in foodstuffs, beads, glass materials, wine,slaves,gold,ivory and iron
tools like hoes with their neighbours and foreigners
They carried
out iron smelting and they used to make instruments like hoes, spears and
arrows which were used for agriculture and defence
Cattle
keeping were carried out especially by the cushites who were nomads
They also
carried out mining and they used to mine minerals like gold which the exchanged
with their neigbours for other goods.
The Bantu
stayed in small settled communities and built small wattle house tha t were
grass thatched.
Primitive
societies like the Bushmen had no permanent settlement and they lived in caves
and tree branches.
Unlike the
Bantu who had permanent settlement, the bushmen were wanderers and they were
moving from one place to another.
There was
traditional worship whereby they worshipped small gods and believed in life
after death.
Some of the
early inhabitants like the wazimba were cannibals who had sharpened teeth and
were very fierce
No comments:
Post a Comment