Kaskazi is a name used to refer to an ancient ethno-linguistic group of
Bantu peoples
The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern A ...
which took shape in the
Western Rift area in the early centuries of the last millennium BC within the
Mashariki group. The name comes from the
swahili word for "northern wind", in opposition to the
Kusi
KUSI-TV (channel 51) is an independent television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is the sole property of locally based McKinnon Broadcasting Company. KUSI-TV's studios are located on Viewridge Avenue (near I-15) in the Ke ...
subgroup ("southern wind"). The Kaskazi subgroup settled north of
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
and
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
, while the Kusi settled in the south. Both the Kaskazi and Kusi did not form as single communities with a single language, but as clusters of communities speaking a variety of slightly different languages.
[Ehret (1998), p. 33]
Footnotes
References
Christopher Ehret (1998), ''An African Classical Age'', University of Virginia Press, .
Bantu languages
{{Bantu-lang-stub