Immigration into our area started centuries ago. It is thought around 700AD. The early Bantu settlers met the Khoisan (Bushman) or Twa people who were hunter-gatherers and spread throughout our region.
This first wave of Bantu, although ending up as an invasion started as a trickle as farmers came south and settled along the rivers. They had domestic animals, probably goats and chickens. They also brought with them seeds for crops.
For 800 years the population of the Bantu farmers increased until a new form of society entered our region.
Very little of their early history has been saved or written down. A few scraps are available here and there, but, basically, why they moved and when they moved has been lost. Our only way of knowing something about them is through archaeological digs around the country. These digs can tell us something about the items they had and used but they can tell us nothing of the society in which they lived.
In the meantime, the Khoisan and Twa people either intermarried with the farmers or were pushed into marginal land away from the Bantu.
Zambia's Traditional History 