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Europe over more than two millenia of over devestating conflict has organized itself along ethnic and linguistic lines. This has not occurred in Africa. Most modern African states reflect the boundareies drawn by European colonial powers in the 19th century during the scramble for Africa. The Europeans commonly ignored tribal and linguistic afinities among African peoples. This mean that tribal groups were often fracrtured and separated by the European imposed boundaries. Thus modern African states commonly are composed of multiple tribal groups. And many tribal groups populate multiple countries. We have begun to collect information on some of these tribal groups. This is not a subject we know much about, but as with much of HBC, wecare interested in leaning more and encourage readers to add their insights.
The term Bedouin evolved from the Arabic term "badawi" meaning "desert-dweller". It is a term that has been generally applied first the Arabian nomadic pastoralists, but has come to be used to describe the nomadic peoples living in the desert belt extending from the Arabian Peninsula, Negev, and Sinai through the North African Sahara to the Atlantic Ocean. The Bedouin are divided into two main groups which is reflected in their Arabic dialects. There are eastern and western Bedouin, divided roughly along the Egyptian-Libyan border. The Bedouin are more of a people defined by life style than ethnicity. The Bedouin of Arabia are of Semetic origins. Other Bedouins have more varied origins. The Bedouin are known for a nomadic life style, but their movement is primarily seasonal, and based on the availability of water and grazing conditins. When there is some precipitation they may move deeper into the desert, but during more arid periods move back to areas where water is more available. Given the desert environment, the Bedouin are particularly known for herding camels, but also heard other livestock like sheep, goats and cattle. There are also known for their Handicraft work.
The Musli outburst allowed the Arabian Bedouins to move out of the Arabian Peninsula, brining Islam and the Arabic language with them. First they moved to Syria and Egypt (7th century). Gradually the Bedouin moved west, but primarily into North Africa rather than sub-Saharan Africa. The Bedouin population is declining. The nomadic life style was limited by modern national boundaries and the desire of people for a more affluent, sedentary life style.
The Dinka people live in the southern Sudan along both sides of the White Nile. The Dinka are one of the branches of the Nilotes. They are known for centuries as Dinka, but they actually call themselves Moinjaang, "People of the people." The Dinka are the largest ethnic group in southern Sudan. The Dinka groups retain the traditional pastoral life of the Nilotes, but have added agriculture in some areas, growing grains, peanuts, beans, corn (maize) and other crops. Women do most of the agriculture, but men clear forest for the gardening sites. There are because of the climate usually two plantings per year. Some are fishers. The boys tend goats and sheep while the men are responsible for the cattle. The cattle are central to the Dinka culture Before the coming of the British the Dinka did not live in villages, but travelled in family groups living in temporary homesteads with their cattle.
Ethiopia's tribal groups are centered in different geographic regions and play a major role in the country's cultural and political life. The Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia is an especially interesting area of Ethiopia ethnicallyAbout 50 percent of Ethiopia's ethnic groups live there. One of the small tribes in the valley is the Mursi. The Mursi are one of the many small tribal groups in Ethiopia. Despite their small size, the Mursi are one of the most recognizable African tribes. The Mursi are noted for their their clay lip plates and primitive life style. The women deform the bottom lip with a wooden disk. The Mursi boy here was photographed in 1995. Mursi children and men until recently always went naked. Still now most children and men wear no clothing when they are in their villages. They do, however, commonly paint their bodies. The boy in the photograph here wears nothing but has destinctive body painting. In many primitive cultures these paintings were a substitute for clothing.
The San people of the southern African Kalahari are better known as the Bushmen. The Kalahari is a vast desert that extends over South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The San are a hunter gattering people that eke out a living by hunting wild game and gathering roots and tubers. They are noted for their "click " language. The San may be the oldest culture in the world with a history dating back over a 1000,000 years. There is no written record, but San rock art can be seen throughout southern Africa.
There range has become more limited in the past two millenia as first the more advanced Bantu-speaking tribes pushed them from the more fertile areas into the Kalahari. White farmers more recently intensified this process. [Thomas]
Another destinctive tribe is the Tuareg of the southern Sahara, a people who for milenia dominated the Saharan cammel caravans. The Tuaregs are a nomadic Berber people. They inhabit the Saharan regions of North Africa (Niger, Mali, Libya, Algeria and Burkina Faso). Tuareg is an Arabic contemptuous term meaning "abandoned by God". They call themselves "Imohag" i.e. "free men". The Tuareg dominated the trans-Saharan camel caravans which were the main stay of regional commerce until the 20th century. They became Muslims, but preserved many pre-Islamic traditions and do not strictly follow many Islamic rituals. The Tuareg for years resisted European domination. Among the Tuareg the women have a great freedom and participate in family and tribal decisions. Descent and inheritance are both through the maternal line. We have only limited information on clothing at this time. The men cover the face (today only in some circumstance), the women never and the young children commonly go naked.
Perhaps the best known African tribal groups is the Zulus in South Africa.
Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. The Harmless People. This is the ground-nreajing study of the San people. Thomas has updated the book with The Old Way: A Story of the First People (Picador, 2007).
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