No Bantu expansion, who else could fill the role?

[Mort the Reaper]

Let's say that, for whatever reason, the Bantu expansion never happens. Are there any other peoples that could do what they did?

 

[Whiteshore]

Well, IOTL, Cushitic peoples reached as far south as Tanzania, for starters.

 

[Hagre]

Perhaps the Semites and Cushites of the Horn?

 

[ramones1986]

• Ubangians (the rest of Congo River Basin)
• Ijoid peoples (sailing south to most of OTL Angola, coast-to-interior)
• Sandawe-Khoi-wank (although they assimilated southern Cushitic peoples in this scenario, particularly in OTL Tanzania and southern Kenya)
• Nilotic-wank (OTL Northern Kenya and Uganda, in addition to South Sudan)
• San-wank (Namibia and Botswana)
• Tuu-wank (OTL western South Africa, particularly Orange River Basin and Western Cape province)

PS: I've yet do decide who could be the possible (and plausible) ATL settlers of Zambezi and Limpopo basins (or even both).

 

[Mr_Fanboy]

Taking a page out of the peopling of Madagascar, perhaps Austronesians or some other group originating from Asia.

There may also be the possibility that European colonization, when and if it still occurs in such a timeline, could have a much more profound demographic impact on southern and eastern Africa in such a timeline.