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Bantu farmers near Kismayo. Various terms differentiating the Somali Bantu from ethnic Somalis have been in usage for a long time. However, the term "Somali Bantu" in specific is an ethnonym that was created by humanitarian agencies shortly after the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in 1991.
All in all, the number of Bantu inhabitants in Somalia before the civil war is thought to have been about 80,000 (1970 estimate), with most concentrated between the Juba and Shabelle rivers in the south. [16] Recent estimates place the figure as high as 900,000 people, however, lower estimates place the figure between 500,000 and 600,000. [17] [13]
The Bantu peoples are an indigenous ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native African ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The languages are native to countries spread over a vast area from West Africa, to Central Africa, Southeast Africa and into Southern Africa. Bantu people also inhabit southern areas of Northeast ...
However, some Somali clans notably the Biimal clan opposed this idea. The Bimaals fought Italians to keep their slaves. Although the Italians freed some Bantus from the Biimaal, some Bantu groups, remained enslaved well until the 1930s, and continued to be despised and discriminated against by large parts of Somali society. [28]
Somali is the official language of Somalia. It is the mother tongue of Somalis, the nation's most populous ethnic group. [26] The language is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. [27] In addition to Somali, Arabic, which is also an Afroasiatic tongue, [28] is another official language in Somalia.
They additionally trace their ancestry from later arrivals such as Arabs, Persians, and Somalis who have migrated there from other regions of Somalia. [4] Some also have Malay and Indonesian ancestry. [6] Bajuni clan names are of two kinds, one of Bantu origin while the others are southern Somali in origin, and one clan is even called the Garre ...
Besteman, C. (2013). Somali Bantus in a State of Refuge. Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies 12: 11-33. Besteman, C. (2012). Translating Race Across Time and Space: The Creation of Somali Bantu Ethnicity. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 19(3): 1-18. Besteman, C. (2011). Cultural / Social Anthropology and ...
A Somali Bantu woman in Lewiston.. Somali Bantus are a minority ethnic group in Somalia, a country largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis.They are the descendants of people from various Bantu ethnic groups originating from what are modern-day Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique who were brought to Somalia as slaves in the 19th century.