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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Cattle Herds and Banana Gardens: The Historical Geography of the Western Great Lakes Region, ca AD 800-1500
Author:Schoenbrun, David L.ISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:African Archaeological Review
Volume:11
Pages:39-72
Language:English
Geographic terms:Rwanda
Uganda
Tanzania
Subjects:Iron Age
agricultural history
bananas
animal husbandry
history
prehistory
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
History and Exploration
Anthropology and Archaeology
External link:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01118142
Abstract:This paper discusses the importance of economic specializations in banana farming and cattle pastoralism in eastern Africa's Great Lakes region between AD 800 and 1500. The author presents comparative linguistic evidence for the careers of these two socially and economically important food sources. The focus is on southern Uganda, eastern Rwanda and northwestern Tanzania. The centuries between AD 800 and 1200 witnessed the growth of two important communities out of their West Nyanza territories, who were ancestral to the kingdoms of Kitara and Buganda. They spoke Rutaran and North Nyanzan Bantu languages respectively. From their Early Iron Age mixed farming roots, a different system of food production arose within each community that underpinned the later growth of social classes. The differences lay in the relative weight given to banana farming and fishing versus pastoral pursuits. These developments may be correlated broadly with the advent of the roulette style in pottery making and the shift from the Early to the Later Iron Age. It may well be that both of these communities undertook these revolutionary changes in their food systems as responses to social and environmental pressures. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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