They were the 60 million Africans who speak languages in the Bantu family. There are about 400 languages that are close in relative.
The original group began migrating From Northern Africa around 3,000 BCE. They had abilities like farming and working metals like iron. Their migration went on through the fourth century CE.
Over time more languages came about like: Swahili, Kirundi, Gikuyu, Tsonga, and Basaa. Many of these languages share the word Bantu, for people and except in South-East Africa where Khoi-San is spoken, they cover South Africa.
Around the 1920s whites in South Africa started to use the term 'Bantu". Over the course of time the term became offensive. As these people preferred to be called 'Africans'.