The Bantu are a group of people who speak related languages and have similar social characteristics. They occupy a large part of Zaire and southern as well as eastern Africa. The Bantu are said to have originated from somewhere in the Congo region of central Africa and spread rapidly to the Southern and eastern Africa. As the southern groups of Bantu speakers migrated southwards two main groups emerged, the Nguni (Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, and Swazi), who occupied the eastern coastal plains, and the Sotho–Tswana, who lived on the interior plateau.