Final answer:
The early Bantu peoples distinguished themselves through the establishment of permanent villages, focused on agriculture and ironworking, which allowed them to stay in one place and eventually led to the formation of powerful kingdoms.
Step-by-step explanation:
The early Bantu's agricultural practices distinguished them from other cultural groups of the era in that they established villages and stayed in one place. This settling allowed them to select the best sites for their farms, leading to productive agriculture centered around crops like sorghum and millet, with supplementary animal husbandry of cattle, pigs, and chickens. Without the need to constantly migrate, they could focus on self-sufficiency and small-scale trading of commodities such as copper and salt. As they mastered ironworking, acquired from the Nok culture, they could also create better tools and weapons which facilitated the clearing of land and farming. The Bantu migrations played a significant role in shaping the economic and cultural landscape of sub-Saharan Africa, with their Iron Age economy and kinship-based societal structure ultimately contributing to the rise of powerful kingdoms in the regions where they settled.