History of Southern Africa

It is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara desert to the north and the Sudanian Savanna to the south.

In 15,000 BP, the West African Monsoon transformed the landscape of Africa and began the Green Sahara period; greater rainfall during the summer season resulted in the growth of humid conditions (e.g., lakes, wetlands) and the savanna (e.g., grassland, shrubland) in North Africa.

[1] By at least 170,000 BP, amid the Middle Stone Age, Southern Africans cooked and ate Hypoxis angustifolia rhizomes at Border Cave, South Africa, which may have provided carbohydrates for their migratory activities.

[2] In 92,000 BP, amid the Middle Stone Age, Malawian foragers utilized fire to influence and alter their surrounding environment.

[5] Though some may have been created later, the earlier red finger-painted rock art may have been created between 6000 BP and 1800 BP, to the south of Kei River and Orange River by Khoisan hunter-gatherer-herders, in Malawi and Zambia by considerably dark-skinned, occasionally bearded, bow-and-arrow-wielding Akafula hunter-gatherers who resided in Malawi until 19th century CE, and in Transvaal by the Vhangona people.

[6] Bantu-speaking farmers, or their Proto-Bantu progenitors, created the later white finger-painted rock art in some areas of Tanzania, Malawi, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as in the northern regions of Mozambique, Botswana, and Transvaal.

[6] The Transvaal (e.g., Soutpansberg, Waterberg) rock art was specifically created by Sotho-speakers (e.g., Birwa, Koni, Tlokwa) and Venda people.

[6] The white finger-painted rock art may have been created for reasons relating to initiation rites and puberty rituals.

[12] Mutota's son and successor, Nyanhewe Matope, extended this new kingdom into an empire encompassing most of the lands between Tavara and the Indian Ocean.

[13] By the time the Portuguese arrived on the coast of Mozambique, the Mutapa Kingdom was the premier state in the region.

[18] By 1824 CE, the Merina captured the port of Mahajanga situated on the western coast of the island marking a further expansion of power.

[19] The ability of the Merina to overcome neighboring tribes was due to British firepower and military training.

The British had an interest in establishing trade with the Merina kingdom due to its central position on the island since 1815 CE.

Notably, the rate of escaping refugees only heightened the demand for slave labor in the Merina kingdom, further fueling campaigns of military expansion.

[19] Throughout the middle of the 19th century CE, continued imperial expansion and increasing control in coastal trade solidified Merina predominance over the island.

They were noted for using the cow-horn formation years before the great Zulu leader Shaka adopted it in the 19th century CE.

The King entered into an alliance with the Tsonga to the north in the early 19th century CE and began trading Ivory[25] and other things with the Portuguese in Mozambique.

After Dingiswayo's death at the hands of Zwide, king of the Ndwandwe, around 1818 CE, Shaka assumed leadership of the entire Mthethwa alliance.

[26] Shaka initiated many military, social, cultural and political reforms, forming a well-organized and centralised Zulu state.

The most important reforms involved the transformation of the army, through the innovative tactics and weapons, and a showdown with the spiritual leadership, witchdoctors, effectively ensuring the subservience of the "Zulu church" to the state.

Within two years, Shaka had defeated Zwide at the Battle of Mhlatuze River in 1820 CE and broken up the Ndwandwe alliance, some of whom in turn began a murderous campaign against other Nguni tribes and clans, setting in motion what became known as Difaqane or Mfecane, a mass-migration of tribes fleeing the remnants of the Ndwandwe fleeing the Zulu.

[34] In 1652 CE the Dutch East India Company established a colonial outpost close to the Cape of Good Hope with the intention of supporting the sea trade-rout between Europe and South East-Asia.

This period saw the arrival of new peoples, technologies, plants and animals from around the world in the Southern Africa region and the decline of the pre-existing African kingdoms.

The most divergent (oldest) mitochondrial haplogroup, L0d, has been identified at its highest frequencies in the southern African San groups.

[54][55] Among the ancient DNA from three hunter-gatherers sharing genetic similarity with San people and four Iron Age agriculturalists, their SNPs indicated that they bore variants for resistance against sleeping sickness and Plasmodium vivax.

[57] In the Kalahari Desert region of Africa, various possible genetic adaptations (e.g., adiponectin, body mass index, metabolism) have been found among the ǂKhomani people.