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. 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). Complicating this situation in the 20th century was the creation of new “tribes” (such as the Zande [Azande] and Luo) that had not been distinct polities before the colonial era. Ethnic (cultural) identities in modern times have often been heightened, exacerbated, or muted for political reasons. Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and second most populous after Asia. ... Look up Culture on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikinews has news related to this article: Culture and entertainment Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cultural Development in Antiquity Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Culture and Civilization in Modern Times Classificatory system for cultures and civilizations, by Dr. Sam Vaknin... ... The Yorùbá are the largest ethnic group in Nigeria, comprising approximately 26 percent of that countrys total population, and numbering about close to 100 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa. ... The Hausa are a people of northern Nigeria and south-eastern Niger. ... Swahili (also called Kiswahili; see Kiswahili for a discussion of the nomenclature) is an agglutinative Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa. ... Note: Zande is also a variant spelling of Azande, the name of a people of north central Africa, and of their language. ...

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. These reflect differences in the cultural adaptation of traditional societies to varying natural habitats. For the purposes of this discussion, the principal regions are northern, western, west-central, eastern, and central and southern Africa; Madagascar is also included.

Northern Africa

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. It is physically separated from the rest of the continent by the Atlas Mountains and is inhabited primarily by peoples who speak languages that belong to the Afro-Asiatic group. These peoples include, for example, Berbers of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The Berbers are most numerous in Morocco and least in Tunisia, where, as a result of culture contact and intermarriage, they have become largely assimilated with Arabs, who speak a Semitic language. The Arabs migrated into North Africa from Arabia in a number of waves; the first of these waves occurred in the 7th century AD. The distinctive nature of Maghrebian, or western Arab, culture resulted from this admixture. In the Sahara such Arab peoples as the Shuwa live side by side with such Berber peoples as the Tuareg. See also Islamic world. Western Africa The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ...

Western Africa contains a remarkable diversity of ethnic groups. It can be divided into two zones, the Sudanic savanna and the Guinea Coast. The savanna area stretches over 3,000 miles (4,800 km) east to west along the southern Saharan borderland. Its vegetation consists of extensive grasslands and few forests, and little rain falls there. The savanna supports pastoralism and horticultural economies dependent on grain. In contrast, the Guinea Coast experiences heavy rainfall and is characterized by hardwood tropical forests and dense foliage. It produces primarily root crops (various yams).

Among the more important of the savanna peoples are the three main clusters known as Mande in Senegal and Mali and including the Bambara, Malinke, and Soninke; the Gur-speaking (or Voltaic) group in the savanna zone to the east that includes the Senufo, Lobi, Dogon, and Moore; and in northern Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon the many small, mainly non-Muslim tribes of the plateau and highland areas. Throughout this region live the many groups of the Fulani, a cattle-keeping Muslim people who either have conquered indigenous peoples (such as the numerous Hausa) or live in a symbiotic relationship with agricultural peoples. In the Sahara fringe are the many Berber-speaking groups (collectively known as the Tuareg), the Kanuri of Lake Chad, and the Bedouin Arab peoples. Many of the kingdoms are successor states to those of Ghana and Mali. Mande refers to: the Mandé people of western Africa the Mande or Mandinka people of western Africa any of the Mande languages the Mande or Mandinka language This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Bambara (sometimes Banmana) are a group of people living in west Africa, primarily in Mali but also in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. ... The Malinké are an African ethnic group. ... Also called Sarakole, Seraculeh, or Serahuli, the Soninke are a Mandé people who descend from the Bafour, and are closely related to the Imraguen of Mauritania. ... The Senufo languages comprise ca. ... The Lobi are an ethnic group that originated in what is today Ghana. ... The Dogon village of Banani. ... People People with the surname Moore include Alan Moore — creator of comic books Albert Joseph Moore — English decorative painter Alfred Moore — former associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Archie Moore — U.S. boxer, world boxing champion Arnold Moore — U.S. blues singer Arthur Cotton Moore — U... The Kanuri are an African ethnic group living in northeastern Nigeria in the state of Bornu. ...

The larger societies in the coastal zone are also mostly kingdoms. In Nigeria are the Igbo and Ibibio, organized into many autonomous polities; the Tiv; the Edo; and the several powerful kingdoms of the Yoruba. Westward are the Fon of Benin; the various peoples of the Akan confederacy, mostly in Ghana, the largest group being the Asante; the Ewe, Ga, Fante, and Anyi of the coast; the Mende and Temne of Sierra Leone; the Kru of Liberia; the Wolof, Serer, Dyula, and others of Senegal; and the Creoles of Sierra Leone and Liberia, descendants of freed slaves from the New World or of those who were on their way there. The Ibo are a group of people living in what is now Nigeria. ... The Ibibio people are a tribe in the south-south-east of Nigeria. ... The Tiv language is spoken by around 2 million people in Nigeria, with a few speakers in Cameroon. ... Edo (Japanese: 江戸, literally: bay-door, estuary), once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo. ... The Yorùbá are the largest ethnic group in Nigeria, comprising approximately 26 percent of that countrys total population, and numbering about close to 100 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa. ... The Ashanti (cf Asante) are a major ethnic group from Africa. ...

West-central Africa

West-central Africa may be considered as an eastern extension of western Africa: in the north are the savannas of Chad, the Central African Republic, and The Sudan, stretching to the Nile River, and in the south is the largely forested area of the Congo River basin. The Congo area, in the centre of the continent, is an extension of the wet forestlands of the Guinea Coast; it extends to the lacustrine area of eastern Africa. This region is the largest area of secondary tropical forest in the world; only South America has more primary (i.e., undisturbed by humans) tropical forests. The vast majority of peoples speak related languages of the Bantu family. The Luba, Lunda, Fang, Mongo, Kuba, Songe, and Chokwe are among the larger ethnic groups of west-central Africa. The Bambuti (Pygmy) peoples live in the eastern forests, and smaller groups of Pygmy peoples live in the western forests of Gabon. Luba may refer to: Luba, Equatorial Guinea Luba, a tribe in western Africa Tshiluba language Luba, a comic book character This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Lunda, also known as Chilunda, is a Bantu language (of the larger Niger-Congo family) that is spoken in Zambia, Angola and, to a lesser extent, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Fang may mean: One of the Beti-Pahuin ethnic groups of Central Africa; A pointed tooth; A transliteration of Chinese Family Names æ–¹,防,房 etc. ... Mongo may refer to: The act of riding a skateboard using ones leading foot to push. ... Quba (also known as Guba and Kuba) is a city and a rayon in northeastern Azerbaijan. ... External links Chokwe people African Art : Chokwe Chokwe, Bantu art Categories: Ethnic group stubs | Chokwe | Ethnic groups of Africa | Ethnic groups of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Eastern Africa

Eastern Africa can also be divided into several regions. The northern mountainous area, known as the Horn of Africa, comprises Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. In the east is the arid Somali desert. The coastal area extends from Kenya to southern Africa, where numerous trading cities arose beginning in the 10th century. The East African Rift System intersects eastern Africa, running from north to south. This region, particularly the areas of the East African lakes—Victoria, Albert, Tanganyika, and Nyasa (Malaŵi)—contains some of the most fertile land in Africa, and during the colonial period it attracted settlers from Europe and Asia. Vast areas of savanna support pastoralists and peoples with mixed economies.

Ethnically complex, eastern Africa includes the Eastern Sudanic-speaking pastoralists of the Nile valley (Shilluk, Dinka, Luo, Lango, and others), those of the central plains (Masai, Nandi, and others), and the Somali and Oromo of the Horn of Africa, who speak Cushitic languages. In Ethiopia also are the Amhara, Tigre, and others who speak Semitic languages. Most of the remaining peoples of the region are Bantu speakers who, although they vary widely in other ways, are all subsistence farmers. Near the East African lakes are several formerly powerful Bantu kingdoms (Ganda, Nyoro, Rwanda, Rundi, and others). In the highlands of Kenya are the Kikuyu, Luhya, and others. On the coast are the various Swahili-speaking tribes, while in Tanzania are the Bantu-speaking Chaga (Chagga), Nyamwezi, Sukuma, and many more. There are also remnants of other groups: the hunting Okiek (Dorobo), Hadza, and some Pygmies. And on the coast are the remnants of the once politically powerful Arabs, formerly based on Zanzibar. Central and southern Africa

Central and Southern Africa

Central and southern Africa may be considered as a single large culture area. Most of it consists of open and dry savanna grasslands: the northwest contains the edges of the Congo forests; the southwest is very arid; and the coastline of South Africa and Mozambique is fertile, most of it with a subtropical or Mediterranean climate.

The region was once populated by Khoisan-speaking peoples. The San are today restricted to the arid areas of southwestern Africa and Botswana, and most of the Khoekhoe are found in the Cape region of South Africa. The other indigenous groups are all Bantu-speaking peoples, originally from the area of Cameroon, who dispersed across this region some 2,000 years ago. The vanguard, known linguistically as the Southern Bantu, drove the Khoekhoe and San before them and adopted some of the typically Khoisan click sounds into their own languages. Over the past several hundred years, Bantu-speaking people who had mixed economies with large numbers of cattle began massive movements, mostly northward. A major cause of this displacement of peoples (which together with a series of related wars is known as the Mfecane) was the search for new grazing lands. A number of conquests resulted in the establishment of the states of the Zulu, Swazi, Tswana, Ndebele, Sotho, and others. The Afrikaners are a white grouping in South Africa. Khoisan is the name for several ethnic groups of southern Africa, where they seem to have appeared many tens of thousands of years ago, and that share some specific physical and linguistic characteristics. ... The Zulu are an African ethnic group of about 11 million people who live mainly in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. ... TSWANA (singular moTswana or Motswana, plural baTswana or Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people, and of its Bantu language. ... There are two versions of Ndebele in South Africa, they both belong to the Nguni group of Bantu Languages. ... The Sotho-speaking people have lived in southern Africa since around 15th century. ...

Madagascar

The island of Madagascar forms a distinct culture area. The various Malagasy ethnic groups, of which the politically most important is the Merina, are mainly of Indonesian origin, following migrations across the Indian Ocean probably during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. The Malagasy language, spoken by 98 percent of the island's population, is classified as Austronesian.