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Along the Indian Ocean coast: genomic variation in Mozambique provides new insights into the Bantu expansion

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Fehn,  Anne-Maria
Department of Linguistics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Semo, A., Gayà-Vidal, M., Fortes-Lima, C., Alard, B., Oliveira, S., Almeida, J., et al. (2020). Along the Indian Ocean coast: genomic variation in Mozambique provides new insights into the Bantu expansion. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37(2): msz224, pp. 406-416. doi:10.1093/molbev/msz224.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0004-DB24-D
Abstract
The Bantu expansion, which started in West Central Africa around 5,000 BP, constitutes a major migratory movement involving the joint spread of peoples and languages across sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the rich linguistic and archaeological evidence available, the genetic relationships between different Bantu-speaking populations and the migratory routes they followed during various phases of the expansion remain poorly understood. Here, we analyze the genetic profiles of southwestern and southeastern Bantu-speaking peoples located at the edges of the Bantu expansion by generating genome-wide data for 200 individuals from 12 Mozambican and 3 Angolan populations using ∼1.9 million autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms. Incorporating a wide range of available genetic data, our analyses confirm previous results favoring a “late split” between West and East Bantu speakers, following a joint passage through the rainforest. In addition, we find that Bantu speakers from eastern Africa display genetic substructure, with Mozambican populations forming a gradient of relatedness along a North-South cline stretching from the coastal border between Kenya and Tanzania to South Africa. This gradient is further associated with a southward increase in genetic homogeneity, and involved minimum admixture with resident populations. Together, our results provide the first genetic evidence in support of a rapid North-South dispersal of Bantu peoples along the Indian Ocean Coast, as inferred from the distribution and antiquity of Early Iron Age assemblages associated with the Kwale archaeological tradition.