ABSTRACT
Largest language group of Benue-Congo languages with over 500 closely related languages forming a dialect continuum; the most significant languages are Congo, Zulu (approx. 6 million speakers), Rwanda, Xhosa, Luba, Shona (approx. 5 million speakers), and Swahili, which is widely used in East Africa as a trade language. Internal divisions: Rain Forest Bantu in the west, Savannah Bantu in the east and south. The high degree of similarity between these languages points to a relatively recent immigration of the Bantuspeaking peoples from the Benue area (Nigeria).
