Nara people

Last updated
Nara
Total population
108,000 [1]
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea
Languages
Nara
Religion
Predominantly: Islam [2]
Minority: Christianity and Traditional faith [3]
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.

Contents

Ethnolinguistic map of Eritrea; the Nara live in the sea-blue region. Localisation des langues erythreennes.png
Ethnolinguistic map of Eritrea; the Nara live in the sea-blue region.

Overview

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. [4]

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. [5]

They area located north of the Kunama, in the western parts of Barka Plains, the Nara constitute about 1.5% of the Eritrean population. [6]

The Nara population is divided into four subtribes: the Higir, Mogareb, Koyta and Santora. [1] They traditionally adhered to animist beliefs. [7] By the 15th century the Nara were introduced to Islam and after the Egyptian occupation in the 19th century, most Nara adopted Islam. [2] [8]

The Nara ethnonym means "Sky Heaven". [7] They also used to call themselves the Barya. [9] [10]

An Eritrean Nara hunter with a Lion Eritrean Lion.jpg
An Eritrean Nara hunter with a Lion

Language

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". [7]

Social organization

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]

Genetics

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. [11] 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. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chadic languages</span> Branch of the Afroasiatic languages

The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 150 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, the Central African Republic, and northern Cameroon. The most widely spoken Chadic language is Hausa, a lingua franca of much of inland Eastern West Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Eritrea</span>

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, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-speaking peoples, Karo peoples, Luo peoples, Ateker peoples, Kalenjin peoples, Datooga, Dinka, Nuer, Atwot, Lotuko, and the Maa-speaking peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Eritrea</span> Musical tradition of Eritrea

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara people</span> Central Sudanic ethnic group native to Chad, the Central African Republic, and North Sudan

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilen people</span> Ethnic group in Africa

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 three sub-tribes; Bet Tarqe, Bet Tawqe and Bab Jengeren 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kunama people</span> Nilotic ethnic group native to Eritrea and Ethiopia

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, also known as E1b1b-M215, is a 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 lower 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Eritrea</span>

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, and formerly Italian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopians</span> People from Ethiopia and its diaspora

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedareb people</span>

The Hedareb or T'bdawe are an 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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetic history of Egypt</span>

The genetic history of Egypt reflects its geographical location at the crossroads of several major biocultural areas: North Africa, the Sahara, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan 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*.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haplogroup E-V12</span>

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nara". Ethnologue. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Mussie Tesfagiorgis G. (2010). Eritrea. ABC-CLIO. p. 177. ISBN   978-1-59884-231-9.
  3. "Ethnic and religious composition of Eritrea" (PDF). Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  4. "The people of Eritrea". Ministry of Information, Eritrea. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  5. Killion, Tom (1998). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. ISBN   978-0-8108-3437-8.
  6. Tesfagiorgis, Mussie G. (2010-10-29). Eritrea. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1-59884-232-6.
  7. 1 2 3 "Eritrea: Nara People's History". Archived from the original on 2018-05-23. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  8. Killion, Tom (1998). Historical dictionary of Eritrea. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-3437-8.
  9. Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca; Menozzi, Paolo; and Piazza Alberto The History and Geography of Human Genes Princeton, New Jersey: 1994 Princeton University Press "Ethiopians, Some of Their Neighbors, and North Africans" Page 173
  10. Woldemikael, Tekle M. "Language, education, and public policy in Eritrea." African Studies Review 46.1 (2003): 117-136.
  11. Beniamino Trombetta; Eugenia D'Atanasio; Andrea Massaia; Marco Ippoliti; Alfredo Coppa; Francesca Candilio; Valentina Coia; Gianluca Russo; Jean-Michel Dugoujon; Pedro Moral; Nejat Akar; Daniele Sellitto; Guido Valesini; Andrea Novelletto; Rosaria Scozzari; Fulvio Cruciani (2015). "Phylogeographic refinement and large scale genotyping of human Y chromosome haplogroup E provide new insights into the dispersal of early pastoralists in the African continent". Genome Biology and Evolution. 7 (7): 1940–1950. doi:10.1093/gbe/evv118. PMC   4524485 . PMID   26108492.
  12. Cruciani, Fulvio; et al. (2010). "Human Y chromosome haplogroup R-V88: a paternal genetic record of early mid Holocene trans-Saharan connections and the spread of Chadic languages". European Journal of Human Genetics. 18 (7): 800–807. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2009.231. PMC   2987365 . PMID   20051990.; Supplementary Table 3