Iron smelting spreads across sub-Saharan Africa

1000

From Great Zimbabwe's precursors to Bantu farming communities pushing south of the Congo, bloomery furnaces were turning laterite into tools and spearheads. The spread of iron was transforming agriculture, warfare, and the ability of centralized chiefdoms to command labor across the southern half of the continent. In some regions, smelters held ritual authority rivaling that of chiefs, their craft wrapped in secrecy and spiritual power.