Niger-Congo in the ancient world

Related civilizations: West Africa, Benue-Kwa, Adamawans, Sanaga, Nyong, Bantu.

Date: 8000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.

Locale: West Africa

Niger-Congo

The Niger-Congo (NI-jehr-KAHN-goh) language family can be traced back more than 15,000 years in West Africa. The major subdivisions of the Niger-Congo family are Kordofanian, Niger-Congo (Mande-Congo), Mande, Volta-Congo, Atlantic, Gur-Adamawan (North Volta-Congo), and Benue-Kwa.

History

The Holocene era in West Africa provided optimum rain-forest cover and woodland savanna. By 9000 b.c.e., the people of the Niger-Congo culture complex had combined the collection of edible tubers with a fishing economy. The wet era maximized rivers, and this allowed for increased fishing and navigation over a broad area. The enhanced productivity had a major social impact in that it led to the outward expansion of yam farming and fishing communities. By the sixth millennium b.c.e., the elaboration of farming techniques and climatic conditions had led to increased populations. Increased population densities led to the spread of ideas and culture as the Niger-Congo peoples began to spread southward into the rain forest and across the woodland savanna into the Atlantic coast hinterland. In the fourth millennium b.c.e., one major subgroup of Niger-Congo, speakers of Bantu languages, were spreading into the forests of the Congo Basin. By the last millennium b.c.e., the Niger-Congo heritage of planting, religion, and music was rapidly spreading beyond West Africa into eastern and southern Africa.

Agriculture and animal husbandry

From 9000 to 1000 b.c.e., the environment was influenced primarily by climatic shifts. At the beginning of this period, Niger-Congo communities inhabited the woodland savanna and the fringes of the rain forest. By 5000 b.c.e., an important shift had taken place in that communities had begun affecting their environments through the use of polished stone axes. However, only in the last millennium b.c.e. did human agency and agricultural development come to reshape the environment dramatically.

Around 8000 b.c.e., cultivated yams began to replace wild yams in the diet of Niger-Congo people in the West African woodland savanna. The alternating expansion and retreat of the forest caused by fluctuating rain levels in the Holocene caused the Niger-Congo peoples to become innovative in their techniques of food gathering and production. The encroachment of the rain forests in the Holocene negatively affected the harvesting of wild yams; therefore, people began to plant yams deliberately. In the West African planting tradition, plant cuttings taken from tubers are placed in an opening in the soil, where they are left to mature. This planting method is distinct from seed and grain cultivation. The plant cuttings had to be protected and the land prepared for them to viably develop because dense rain-forest cover blocks out vital sunlight. In addition to cutting back forest cover, forest debris was placed over the soil to protect the soil from the tropical rains that cause extreme leeching and hardening of soils. This protection and preparation evolved into cultivation. In addition to yams, Niger-Congo speakers domesticated okra, oil palms, blackeyed peas, and guinea fowl.

By 6000 b.c.e., goats were being kept and, in the drier areas, cattle also. Between 5500 and 3500 b.c.e., there was an expansion of agriculture and a wave of agricultural innovation. Late in the sixth millennium and early fifth millennium b.c.e., the Niger-Congo peoples were spreading out of southern Nigeria into parts of present-day Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The fertile volcanic soils of this region allowed for increased agricultural production. The novelty of distinct soils and different environments opened the opportunity for innovation.

By the fourth millennium b.c.e., some groups were beginning grain cultivation. In the Volta River Basin, Niger-Congo descendants who spoke Gur languages and produced the Kintampo culture complex were relying heavily on Sudanic grain crops. Some time between 4000 and 3000 b.c.e., Saharo-Sahelian crops such as gourds were being cultivated by Niger-Congo communities that had moved into the drier savanna and grassland areas.

From 3000 to 1000 b.c.e., another group of Niger-Congo descendants, speaking Mande languages, spread through the Niger River Basin, where they cultivated rice. As the wet phase tapered off between about 2600 and 2000 b.c.e., drier open woodland savanna and grasslands expanded, allowing for another phase of agricultural expansion through innovative cultivation techniques.

Economics and trade

Between the sixth and fifth millennia b.c.e., a variety of material products were being manufactured. The items produced include woven mats, baskets, and raffia cloth; pounded bark cloth; and carved-wood boats, figurines, and drums. In addition to handcrafts, fishing and hunting products supplemented the economy, which was partially dependent on the exchanging of regionally produced goods.

Between 3500 and 1000 b.c.e., intraregional trade was conducted in the Niger Delta. Groups including the Ijo traded river and sea products such as fish, salt, and shells in exchange for inland products such as sorghum, livestock, and raw leather. In the third and second millennia b.c.e., the bayous of the Niger Delta plain were dominated by the Bozo fishers and Marka rice growers. After 1000 b.c.e., manufactured goods were more commonly traded in the region.

Technology

The Niger-Congo peoples manufactured Microlithic stone tools, particularly small points. Additionally, bows, arrows, and fishhooks were produced. Stone arrows were used together with poisons for hunting. In the sixth millennium b.c.e., polished stone axes had become an important tool for clearing plots of land for growing yams.

Architecture and city planning

Niger-Congo peoples lived in compact villages of one hundred to two hundred inhabitants. The inhabitants of a village tended to belong to the same matriclan, but people outside the clan were frequently incorporated into a village community. By the seventh millennium b.c.e., villages were organized along a main route of transport. Rectangular-shaped houses with gabled roofs covered with woven palm mats lined a river or lane. The tradition of building along a main thoroughfare was continued by Niger-Congo descendants up to the first millennium b.c.e. In the second half of the last millennium b.c.e., innovations in building based on influence from Sudanic architecture become apparent. The new style was reflected in round houses with conical roofs in compact villages.

Government and social structure

Hereditary clan chiefs served as politico-religious leaders within a single village. The influence of the clan chief extended to intravillage matters pertaining to land allocation, integration of outsiders into the community, adjudicating disputes, presiding over ceremony and ritual, and negotiating intercommunal relations.

Niger-Congo society followed a system of matrilineal descent. The clan, specifically the matriclan, was the unit of social organization. The political base was built upon a matrilocal and uxorilocal system. Bride service, whereby a young male served the parents of his future wife for an average of seven to ten years, facilitated the transition of the incorporation of the man into the woman’s mother’s village. Children born to a couple belonged to this matriclan.

Women’s life

In preagricultural times, the Niger-Congo diet depended on the collection of wild yams, which was the charge of women. As the society was transformed into a more agricultural one, women became the primary cultivators of the domesticated yams.

Language

A sub-branch of Niger-Congo began to emerge between the sixth and fifth millennia b.c.e. as the Atlantic coast was settled. Far-flung communities developed different dialects. One sub-branch was the Benue-Kwa, the ancestral language of modern-day Igbo, Yoruba, and Akan. A second sub-group of Niger-Congo descendants, which developed early on, is the Adamawans. Between the fifth and fourth millennia b.c.e., the southeastern Benue-Kwa were inhabiting the more forested areas in the region of the confluence of the Sanaga and Nyong Rivers in southern Cameroon. In the early fourth millennium b.c.e., the southernmost Benue-Kwa developed into a linguistically distinct group known to scholars as the Proto-Bantu.

Religion and ritual

West African Niger-Congo beliefs in a creator had evolved by the sixth millennium b.c.e. Territorial spirits also played a prominent role in belief. The most important element in the belief system, however, was the ancestors. When respected and venerated, the ancestors would guide their descendants and bless them with good fortune. When neglected, the ancestors would cause ill fortune for the clan.

Medicine and health

Medicine and healing are closely linked to Niger-Congo concepts of good, evil, and balance. Illness and misfortune, in the worldview of the Niger-Congo peoples, were the result of malevolent and envious thoughts on the part of an individual. Hatred and evil were perpetrated by witches, who used medicines and supernatural powers. Only proper diagnosis and prescription by a doctor-diviner could alleviate a witch’s malevolent curse.

Performing arts

The Niger-Congo arts encompass the use of carved wooden masks, figurines, and drums in performance. Percussion instruments, particularly drums, were used to create music with varied pitches. Polyrhythmic music accompanied dances, which are distinct because of the multiple body movements that were more important than fancy footwork. Niger-Congo performance is remarkable because it unites economy, ritual, celebration, and entertainment.

Bibliography

Bendor, S. J. The Niger-Congo Languages. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1989.

Grimes, B. F. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1992.

Phillipson, David W. African Archaeology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Vogel, Joseph A., ed. Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History, Languages, Cultures, and Environments. Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1997.