Tribes of Africa

Nuba, inhabitants of the Nuba Hills in the Kordofan region of central-southern Sudan. This region is studded with rugged granite hills that rise sharply from a wide clay plain and vary considerably in size and content. The Nuba peoples live on or near the hills (the plains being mainly occupied by Baqqārah Arabs); the many groups differ in physical type and culture. They all speak Nubian languages...

Unlike other Zambian tribes which claim to have descended from the Luba-Lunda Kingdom in present day Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, the exact origin of the Tonga tribe is still unknown. Iron Age settlements from as early as the 7th century have been found in various parts of the Southern Province, with the most popular being Ingombe Ilede which is translated as ‘the sleeping cow’ due to...

The Annang people are a peculiar cultural group within the Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. This tribe occupies some part of southwestern Cameroon, which used to be part of the present-day Akwa Ibom State and Cross River State.

Etsakọ people are the majority ethnic group in the northern region of Edo State, Nigeria. They are historically linked to the ancient Benin kingdom. Administratively, they presently occupy three local government areas of Edo State; these are Etsako East, Etsako West and Etsako Central, with Agenebode, Auchi, and Fugar, as their administrative headquarters, respectively

The social world of Zezuru, the Shona-speaking peoples who live in the Harare region of Zimbabwe, is divided into various categories. Mwari, or God, heads the whole world, which is then divided up into two elements: Shona, consisting of the various clans which are linked to the hero spirits and are further divided into lineages, linked to the ancestors; and non-Shona, made up of the observable wor...

The Hutu, also called Bahutu or Wahutu, Bantu-speaking people of Rwanda and Burundi. Numbering about 9,500,000 in the late 20th century, the Hutu comprise the vast majority in both countries but were traditionally subject to the Tutsi , warrior-pastoralists of Nilotic stock. When the Hutu first entered the area, they found it inhabited by the Twa, Pygmy hunters whom they forced to retreat. Hutu li...

Hambukushu or the ‘rainmakers of Okavango’ (believed to perform rituals that make rainfall), whose language is called sembukushu, are a tribe found in the Okavango, which is in north-western parts of Botswana. Their origins are rooted in Angola and Namibia where there are some traces to date, but are also traced to the tribe of Barotse in Zambia, a language that bears similarities with sembukushu

The Kalanga or Bakalanga are a southern Bantu ethnic group mainly inhabiting Matebeleland in Zimbabwe, northeastern Botswana and Limpopo Province in South Africa. They are historically related to the Nambya, Karanga and Venda.

Basarwa are the first and oldest inhabitants of southern Africa who have lived in Botswana for over 30 000 years. The name Basarwa has been used extensively by the Tswana to refer to the Bushmen. However, they are also called the Khoisan. They were initially hunter gatherers and have gradually transitioned because of their interactions with other tribes where they settled.

The Luhya tribe, also known as Abaluhya, Baluhya, or Abaluyia, are a bantu tribe living in the agriculturally fertile Western region of Kenya. They are neighbors to some of the nilotic tribes including Luo, Kalenjin, Maasai and Teso (Iteso).

The Aembu, are a Bantu tribe closely related to the Kikuyu and Meru. They majorly inhabit Kenya’s Embu district, which is a fertile agricultural region located at the foothills of Mount Kenya. They speak the Embu language.

The Kamba or Akamba people are a Bantu ethnic tribe or group who live in the semi-arid formerly Eastern Province of Kenya which stretches east from Nairobi to Tsavo and north up to Embu, Kenya. This land is called Ukambani which constitutes of Machakos County Makueni County and Kitui County.

The largest of Kenya’s tribes, the Kikuyu tribe live in area around Mount Kenya where, at the dawn the colonial era, they came into violent conflict with the European settlers, to whom large tracts of Kikuyu people homeland had been apportioned by the colonial government. They number more than three million

Mandinka, also called Maninka,Malinke, Mandingo, or Mandingo, a West African people occupying parts of Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. The make up the largest ethnic group in The Gambia and They speak a Mandekan language of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo family.

Tumbuka, also spelled Tumboka, also called Kamanga, orHenga, a people who live on the lightly wooded plateau between the northwestern shore of Lake Nyasa (Lake Malaŵi) and the Luangwa River valley of eastern Zambia. They speak a Bantu language closely related to those of their immediate neighbours, the lakeside Tonga, the Chewa, and the Senga.

The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango or haKavango, are a Bantu ethnic group that resides in the Kavango region of Northern Namibia on the Angolan border along the Kavango River, which is named after them. They are mainly riverine living people, but about 20% reside in the dry inland. The river is pivotal to their survival and they grow crops on the narrow strip of fertile soil alongside...

The Ovambo people, also called Aawambo, are a Southern African tribal ethnic group. They are found in Namibia’s northern regions and more often called Ovambo. The Ovambo people are synonymous with Namibia and are the largest cultural sector found in this country, representing over a third of Namibia’s total population. Concentrated mostly in the north, the Ovambo consist of eight tribes, namely th...

Twa, also called Batwa, one of the best-known of the many Pygmy groups scattered across equatorial Africa. Like all other African Pygmies, the Twa, averaging about 5 feet (1.5 m) in height, are a people of mixed ancestry, probably descendants of the original inhabitants of the equatorial rainforest.

Chewa, Bantu-speaking people living in the extreme eastern zone of Zambia, northwestern Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique. They share many cultural features with their Bemba kinsmen to the west. Their language, Chewa, is also called Chichewa, Nyanja, or Chinyanja and is important in Malawi

Mongo, any of several peoples living in the African equatorial forest, south of the main Congo River bend and north of the Kasai and Sankuru rivers in Congo (Kinshasa). They include such ethnic groups as the Bokote, Ekonda, Bolia, Sengele, Ntomba, Ndengese, Songomeno, Mbole, Bongandu, Boyela, Nkutu, and Tetela-Kusu. They speak dialects of a common language, Mongo or Nkundo, a member of the Benue-C...

The Mursi are an agro-pastoralist ethnic tribe living in southwestern Ethiopia, Africa. They inhabit the lower valley of the Omo River near the border of Ethiopia with South Sudan. Around 7,500 Mursi people live in the country according to the 2007 census in Ethiopia, with 92.25% of the population residing in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR). The Mursi dwelling in t...

The Kuri's are known as stevedores and fishermen throughout the west coast of Africa and have established colonies in most ports from Dakar, Senegal to Douala, Cameroon. They occupy nearly one third of Liberia. They are about 24 sub groups with dialectal and culturally differences.

Ethiopia is a land of many cultures that have been preserved despite western civilization. Along the Lower Omo valley river in Southern Ethiopia resides one of these kinds: the Bodi Tribe. The Bodi people are neighbors to the Mursi Tribe. The Bodi people are agriculturalists who still engage in trade by barter system. These pastoral people revere their cows. Their cows are so special to them that...

The Baka people, known in the Congo as Bayaka (Bebayaka, Bebayaga, Bibaya),[1] are an ethnic group inhabiting the southeastern rain forests of Cameroon, northern Republic of the Congo, northern Gabon, and southwestern Central African Republic. They are sometimes called a subgroup of the Twa, but the two peoples are not closely related. Baka people are all hunter-gatherers, formerly called Pygmies,...

Nubians are an ethno-linguistic group of people who are indigenous to the region which is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization. They speak Nubian languages, part of the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages. Today, Nubians in Egypt primarily live in southern Egypt, especi...