Bantu Africa: 300-900 BCE

     Among the many societies outside of the wave of second civilizations was the Bantu speaking people of Africa. The Bantu was a movement of people that spread culture, traditions, language, and technology across Africa. With little formal political system, the Bantu speaking people operated differently than the major second wave civilizations. One example of this was in gender systems. Far less patriarchal than other societies at the time, the Luba people had male rulers who formed alliances with females who were thought to contain the spirit of the king and revered as powerful. Women were thought of as strong and roles were seen as "separate but equal." Across south-central Africa gender roles were similar to those in the paleolithic era, women associated with domestic work and men with hunting. Today, Bantu speaking people are still spread across Africa.

Painting of a Bantu society