| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 108,000 [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Eritrea | |
| Languages | |
| Nara | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly: Islam [2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kunama |
The Nara are an ethnic group inhabiting southwestern Eritrea. The society is divided into four subtribes, who are traditionally animist. They are mostly subsistence farmers.
According to the Eritrean government, the Nara are descendants of the first Nilo-Saharan settlers in Eritrea, who had migrated from the Upper Nile area and intermarried with local Pygmy populations. [3]
Today, the Nara number around 108,000 individuals. [1] They constitute around 1.5% of the population of Eritrea. [2] They are typically agrarian and have settled primarily along the border with Sudan. [4]
They area located north of the Kunama, in the western parts of Barka Plains, the Nara constitute about 1.5% of the Eritrean population. [5]
The Nara population is divided into four subtribes: the Higir, Mogareb, Koyta and Santora. [1] They traditionally adhered to animist beliefs. [6] By the 15th century the Nara were introduced to Islam and after the Egyptian occupation in the 19th century, most Nara adopted Islam. [2] [7]
The Nara ethnonym means "Sky Heaven". [6] They also used to call themselves the Barya. [8] [9]
The Nara people speak the Nara language considered a language isolate in typological research but which has been grouped with the hypothetical Nilo-Saharan language family. Through contact with neighboring Afroasiatic-speaking populations, many Nara are also bilingual in Tigre and/or Arabic. They traditionally had no writing system, with the few existing pieces of literature in Nara transcribed using the writing system of either Tigre or Arabic. [2]
The language is also known as Nara-Bana, meaning "Nara-Talk". [6]
Social organisation of the Nara people is based on the clan and subclan, with people living in villages and hamlets. The lineage system is patrilineal, unlike that of the Kunama people. Land belongs to the clan and shared out among the families in the clan. [2]
According to Trombetta et al. (2015), 60% of Nara are carriers of the E1b1b paternal haplogroup. Of these, around 13% bear the V32 subclade, to which belong 60% of the Tigre Semitic speakers in Eritrea. This points to substantial gene flow from neighbouring Afro-Asiatic-speaking males into the Nara's ancestral community. [10] Cruciani et al. (2010) likewise observed that the remaining Nara individuals are primarily carriers of the Afro-Asiatic-associated haplogroup J (20%), as well as the A lineage (20%), which is instead common among Nilotes. [11]
Sources disagree as to the current population of Eritrea, with some proposing numbers as low as 3.6 million and others as high as 6.7 million. Eritrea has never conducted an official government census.
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the eastern border area of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-speaking peoples, Teso people also known as Iteso or people of Teso, Karo peoples, Luo peoples, Ateker peoples, Kalenjin peoples, Karamojong people also known as the Karamojong or Karimojong, Datooga, Dinka, Nuer, Atwot, Lotuko, and the Maa-speaking peoples.
The music of Eritrea, is a diverse mix of traditional and popular styles originating from ancient to modern times. The nine major ethnic groups of Eritrea—Afar, Bilen, Hedareb, Kunama, Nara, Rashaida, Saho, Tigre and Tigrinya—celebrate autonomous music-making expressed through a rich heritage of vocalists, instrumentalists and activities within the country and throughout the international diaspora. The country's music is informed by a range of ethnolinguistic group dynamics in the region, by its shared pre-colonial history with and revolutionized independence from Ethiopia, and by its exposure to globalized American music in the mid-twentieth century.
The Sara people are a Central Sudanic ethnic group native to southern Chad, the northwestern areas of the Central African Republic, and the southern border of North Sudan. They speak the Sara languages which are a part of the Central Sudanic language family. They are also the largest ethnic group in Chad.
The Bilen are a Cushitic ethnic group in Eritrea. They are primarily concentrated in central Eritrea, in and around the city of Keren and further south toward Asmara, the nation's capital. They are split into two sub-tribes; Bet Tarqe, Bet Tawqe which are split into further clans known as Hissat. The Tawke has six whereas the Tarke has five which each are divided into smaller kinship groups.
The Kunama are an ethnic group native to Eritrea. They are one of the smallest ethnic communities in Eritrea, constituting only 4% of the population. Most of the estimated 260,000 Kunama live in the remote and isolated area between the Gash and Setit rivers near the border with Ethiopia. The Kunama people have ancient ancestry in the land of Eritrea. In the 2007 Ethiopian census, however, the number of Kunama in Tigray has dropped to 2,976 as the remaining 2,000 or so members of this ethnic group have migrated into the other regions of Ethiopia.
E-M215 or E1b1b, formerly known as E3b, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. E-M215 has two basal branches, E-M35 and E-M281. E-M35 is primarily distributed in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and occurs at moderate frequencies in the Middle East, Europe, and Southern Africa. E-M281 occurs at a low frequency in Ethiopia.
Haplogroup A is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, which includes all living human Y chromosomes. Bearers of extant sub-clades of haplogroup A are almost exclusively found in Africa, in contrast with haplogroup BT, bearers of which participated in the Out of Africa migration of early modern humans. The known branches of haplogroup A are A00, A0, A1a, and A1b1; these branches are only very distantly related, and are not more closely related to each other than they are to haplogroup BT.
Haplogroup E-M96 is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is one of the two main branches of the older and ancestral haplogroup DE, the other main branch being haplogroup D. The E-M96 clade is divided into two main subclades: the more common E-P147, and the less common E-M75.
The main languages spoken in Eritrea are Tigrinya, Tigre, Kunama, Bilen, Nara, Saho, Afar, and Beja. The country's working languages are Tigrinya, Arabic, English.
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of the Horn of Africa.
The Hedareb or T'bdawe are a Cushitic ethnic group native to northwestern Eritrea. They are a subgroup of the Beja. They are more diverse than the other Eritrean ethicities; one subgroup speaks the traditional Beja language, which belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, while another is more closely related to Sudanese Hadendoa. They are among the least-researched groups in Eritrea.
Articles related to Eritrea include:
Haplogroup BT M91, also known as Haplogroup A1b2, is a Y-chromosome haplogroup. BT is a subclade of haplogroup A1b (P108) and a sibling of the haplogroup A1b1 (L419/PF712).
Eritreans are the native inhabitants of Eritrea, as well as the global diaspora of Eritrea. Eritreans constitute several component ethnic groups, some of which are related to ethnic groups that make up the Ethiopian people in neighboring Ethiopia and people groups in other parts of the Horn of Africa. Nine of these component ethnic groups are officially recognized by the Government of Eritrea.
Haplogroup E-V68, also known as E1b1b1a, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup found in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia and Europe. It is a subclade of the larger and older haplogroup, known as E1b1b or E-M215. The E1b1b1a lineage is identified by the presence of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutation on the Y chromosome, which is known as V68. It is a subject of discussion and study in genetics as well as genetic genealogy, archaeology, and historical linguistics.
Haplogroup E-P2, also known as E1b1, is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. E-P2 has two basal branches, E-V38 and E-M215. E-P2 had an ancient presence in East Africa and the Levant; presently, it is primarily distributed in Africa where it may have originated, and occurs at lower frequencies in the Middle East and Europe.
The proportions of various human Y-DNA haplogroups vary significantly from one ethnic or language group to another in Africa.
Haplogroup A-L1085, also known as haplogroup A0-T is a human Y-DNA haplogroup. It is part of the paternal lineage of almost all humans alive today. The SNP L1085 has played two roles in population genetics: firstly, most Y-DNA haplogroups have diverged from it and; secondly, it defines the undiverged basal clade A-L1085*.
The human Y-chromosome haplogroup E-V12 is a subclade of E-M78, which in turn is part of the larger haplogroup E1b1b1. According to Cruciani et al. (2007), the E-V12 sublineage likely originated in Northern Africa. It has two main branches: E-V32 which is most common in the Horn of Africa, and E-CTS693 which is most common in Upper Egypt and to a lesser extent in Sudan. E-CTS693 is also scattered in low frequencies across the Levant, Anatolia, the Central Sahel, the African Great Lakes region, and Europe.
| Authority control databases: National |
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