Africa, a continent of immense diversity, is often referred to as a tribal continent. While tribal identity may not always be the defining factor in a nation's life, it remains a significant aspect of African cultures. Colonial powers often disregarded tribal boundaries when drawing national borders, resulting in the overlapping of tribes across multiple modern-day countries.
The subject of tribes and ethnicity in Africa is captivating, with adventure films frequently portraying tribes as living as their ancestors did. While this holds true in many instances, it is crucial to understand the nuances of tribal and ethnic identities.
It is important to understand the difference between ethnicity and tribe. A Tribe is an organization of people who share the same culture and language.
Ethnicity is a broader term. It was the colonial powers who introduced the idea of nationalism into Africa, but it is not something that everyone has embraced; tribal differences have created conflict even within recent decades although the conflict has been between tribes with the same nationality.
Africa is now widely recognized as the birthplace of the Hominidae, the taxonomic family to which modern humans belong. Archaeological evidence indicates that the continent has been inhabited by humans and their forebears for some 4,000,000 years or more. Anatomically modern humans are believed to have appeared as early as 200,000 years ago in the eastern region of sub-Saharan Africa.
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Africa has the most physically varied populations in the world, from the tallest peoples to the shortest; body form and facial and other morphological features also vary widely. It is the continent with the greatest human genetic variation, reflecting its evolutionary role as the source of all human DNA.
The greatest movement of peoples out of the continent was a result of the Atlantic slave trade that lasted from the 16th to the 19th century and involved the transport of an estimated 10,000,000 people to the New World.
Whereas the majority of Africa’s peoples are indigenous, European colonial settlers constitute the largest majority of new peoples, with substantial numbers in Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Mozambique.
Much earlier, in several waves of migrations beginning in the 7th century, Arabs spread across northern Africa and, to a lesser extent, into western Africa, bringing a new religion (Islam) and a new language (Arabic), along with some new cultural and political institutions.
Although the precise number is unknown, there are several thousand different societies or ethnic groups in Africa. They are identified by their recognition of a common culture, language, religion, and history. But in some areas the boundaries among ethnic groups and communities (villages, towns, farm areas) may not always be clear to the outsider.
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Most Africans speak more than one language, and frequent migrations and interactions, including intermarriage, with other peoples have often blurred ethnic distinctions. There are an estimated 900 to 1,500 different languages, but many distinct political units share a common or similar language (as among the Yoruba, Hausa, and Swahili-speaking peoples).
Ethnic (cultural) identities in modern times have often been heightened, exacerbated, or muted for political reasons. In their attempts to comprehend such a huge heterogeneous continent, scholars have often tried to divide it into culture areas that represent important geographical and ecological circumstances.
The colonial era began to disintegrate in the 1950s.
For the purposes of this discussion, the principal regions are northern, western, west-central, eastern, and Central and Southern Africa; Madagascar is also included.
Africa is a vast continent which can be broadly divided into regions although climate and vegetation are both factors in deciding which countries and hence their people belong in which region.
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Africa is the most tropical of all the continents; some four-fifths of its territory rests between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. As a consequence, the cultures and the physical variations of the peoples reflect adaptation to both hot, dry climates and hot, wet climates.
Dark skin is the dominant characteristic of indigenous African peoples, but skin colour is not uniform. Skin colour shows a clinal variation from a light or tan colour in the northern fringe of the continent, which has a Mediterranean climate, to very dark skin in certain Sudanic regions in western and East Africa, where radiation from the Sun has been most intense.
The history of the indigenous African peoples spans thousands of years and includes a complex variety of cultures, languages, and political systems. Indigenous African cultures have existed since ancient times, with some of the earliest evidence of human life on the continent coming from stone tools and rock art dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
Arab colonization of Northern Africa displaced and dispossessed indigenous African peoples. In the late 15th century, European colonization began, leading to the further displacement of many indigenous cultures.
In the post-colonial period, the concept of specific indigenous peoples within the African continent has gained wider acceptance, although not without controversy.
The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) was founded in 1997.
... recognises that all Africans should enjoy equal rights and respect. All of Africa's diversity is to be valued. Particular communities, due to historical and environmental circumstances, have found themselves outside the state-system and underrepresented in governance...
Here are some examples of African tribes, showcasing their diverse characteristics:
North Africa
North Africa from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Nile River delta has been the site of conquests and movements of peoples for thousands of years.
Africa north of the Sahara is differentiated from the rest of the continent by its Mediterranean climate and by its long history of political and cultural contacts with peoples outside of Africa.
The Tuareg are a large tribe of Berber ethnicity occupying huge areas of the Sahara Desert. As nomadic pastoralists, they travel to seek food and water.
The Bedouin are also nomads of Arabic origin who live in the North East of Africa but have also spread across Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. The name comes from the Arabic word ‘’ badawi’’ meaning desert dweller.
West Africa
Accepting that definition of the North, it means that West Africa comprises the Atlantic Coastal Countries heading south from Mauritania and turning west through Nigeria and the Cameroons into the Equatorial Forest region.
The Yoruba living almost exclusively in Nigeria’s South West number over 40 million so are comfortably the largest tribe in the whole of West Africa. The huge conurbation of Lagos is primarily Yoruba with the people still recognizable as from a specific tribe simply on language.
Numbering around 9 million, the Ashanti of Ghana have their own language although the colonial language, English, is understood in cities. Their religion involves the supernatural and spiritual with ancestors very important in family life.
The Dogon are a branch of the Niger-Congo language group, a tribe of anything between 400,000 and 800,000. They live in villages in good defensive locations on the Central Plateau of Mali and into Burkina Faso. It is thought that they originally headed from the north to avoid Islamisation and their lives revolve around their traditional religion though some are now Muslims and others, Christians. Famous for their art and their astronomical knowledge.
For example, in West Africa, the Dogon people of Mali and Burkina Faso, the Jola people of Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Senegal, and the Serer people of Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania, and formally North Africa, have faced religious and ethnic persecution for centuries, and disenfranchisement or prejudice in modern times
Central Africa
The best known of the Pygmy Ethnic Group are the Mbenga who are found in the West Congo Basin. There are a dozen different pygmy groups with the Mbenga one that speaks Bantu and Ubangian. They are hunter-gatherers largely dependent on what the forests can provide. They trade with neighbors for other things they need.
East Africa
The beginnings of the Rift Valley start in Ethiopia heading south through Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are landlocked but very much part of the East. The East is rich in wildlife. The vast plains are home to huge herds and the predators who follow wherever they go.
The Omo Valley of Ethiopia is a fascinating place. The Hamer is a tribe living in this fertile valley where their main activity is tending to their cattle and also known for the controversial bull-jumping ceremony.
Perhaps the most famous in East Africa is the Maasai tribe. The tribe still tend to their cattle with a mix of milk and cows’ blood central to their diet. The majority live in Kenya and their homes close to many of the famous East African game parks have meant they have had significant contact with overseas tourists.
The Hadzabe of Tanzania are the last true nomads, hunter-gatherers of East Africa. They hunt with bow and arrow while the womenfolk search out edible berries and fruits. Tourists with a spirit of adventure can actually travel with them although there are not many ‘’creature comforts’’ for those who do. As a cultural experience, it has few equals in this part of Africa.
The Hadza are an indigenous hunter-gatherer African tribe residing in Tanzania, around Lake Eyasi in the Arusha region. Hadzaland lies only 50 km from Olduvai Gorge, known as the Cradle of Mankind, and 40 km from the prehistoric site of Laetoli. The Hadza are one of the last remaining groups of traditional hunter-gatherers in Africa.
Men specialize in hunting and honey gathering, developing a special relationship with the honeyguide bird. The Hadza language, Hadzane, is a language isolate spoken nowhere else in Africa.
There are fewer than 1,000 in the tribe who are related genetically to Pygmies rather than the Khoisan as was traditionally believed.
The Samburu people speak a dialect of the Maa language, which they share with the Maasai. Pastoralists: the Samburu raise primarily cattle but also keep other livestock, such as goats, sheep, and even camels.
What sets the Samburu apart from other African tribes is its gerontocracy-a social structure governed strictly by elders.
Southern Africa
Angola on the Atlantic Coast and Mozambique on the Indian Ocean were both Portuguese Colonies. The British were dominant in what are now Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe while Namibia and South Africa have always been regarded as more developed than any of their neighbors.
Commonly known as the Bushmen of the Kalahari, the San have developed skills to hunt and survive in a seemingly completely barren desert land. Their tracking skills are renowned and their success with bow and poisoned arrows is very impressive. They find water in undergrounds tubers and gather whatever fruit and berries are in season. They are found across Southern Africa in countries like Botswana, Angola, and Zimbabwe.
Traditionally, hunter-gatherers, the San people, lived off the land, roaming vast tracts of bushveld across southern Africa. The San were southern Africa's great artists, creating rock art that dates back thousands of years.
The Zulus number around 10 million today and they have been a powerful warrior tribe with Shaka’s Kingdom in the early 19th Century a mighty force.
The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group in South Africa.
The Xhosa recognize uThixo or uQamata as their Supreme Being, though daily spiritual practices focus on ancestral intermediaries.
