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The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in South Sudan. They are spoken across a large area in East Africa, ranging from Equatoria to the highlands of Tanzania. Their speakers are mostly cattle herders living in semi-arid or arid plains.
The Omo River in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and it empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. The river is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin, the Turkana Basin.
The Mursi are a Surmic ethnic group in Ethiopia. They principally reside in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, close to the border with South Sudan. According to the 2007 national census, there are 11,500 Mursi, 848 of whom live in urban areas; of the total number, 92.25% live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR).
Turkana is the language of the Turkana people of Kenya and Ethiopia. It is spoken in northwestern Kenya, primarily in Turkana County, which lies west of Lake Turkana. It is one of the Eastern Nilotic languages, and is closely related to Karamojong, Jie and Teso of Uganda, to Toposa spoken in the extreme southeast of South Sudan, and to Nyangatom in the South Sudan/Ethiopia Omo valley borderland; these languages together form the cluster of Ateker Languages.
Teso is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken by the Teso people of Uganda and Kenya and some speakers are in South Sudan. It is part of the Teso–Turkana language cluster.
Ateker, or ŋaTekerin, is a common name for the closely related Jie, Karamojong, Turkana, Toposa, Nyangatom, Teso and Lango peoples and their languages. These ethnic groups inhabit an area across Uganda and Kenya. Itung'a and Teso have been used among ethnographers, while the term Teso-Turkana is sometimes used for the languages, which are of Eastern Nilotic stock. Ateker means 'clan' or 'tribe' in the Teso language. Atekere in Lango language also means 'clan'.
The Ilemi Triangle, sometimes called only Ilemi, is a disputed area in East Africa, claimed by both Kenya and South Sudan. Arbitrarily defined, it measures about 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi). The territory is claimed by South Sudan and Kenya. The territory also borders Ethiopia and, despite use and trespass into the triangle by border tribes from within Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government has not made any official claim on the area, instead agreeing that the land was Sudanese territory in the 1902, 1907, and 1972 treaties.
The Daasanach are an ethnic group inhabiting parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan. Their main homeland is in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, adjacent to Lake Turkana. According to the 2007 national census, they number 48,067 people, of whom 1,481 are urban dwellers.
The Toposa are a Nilotic ethnic group in South Sudan, living in the Greater Kapoeta region of Eastern Equatoria state. They have traditionally lived by herding cattle, sheep and goats, and in the past were involved in the ivory trade. They have a tradition of constant low-level warfare, usually cattle raids, against their neighbors.
South Omo Zone is a zone in the Ethiopian South Ethiopia Regional State. South Omo is bordered to the south by Kenya, to the west by West Omo Zone, to the northwest by Keffa Zone, to the north by Ari Zone and Gofa Zone, to the northeast by Gardula, Ale Zone and Konso and to the east by the Oromia Region. The administrative center of South Omo is Dimeka.
The Nyangatom also known as Donyiro and pejoratively as Bumé are Nilotic agro-pastoralists inhabiting the border of southwestern Ethiopia, southeastern South Sudan, and the Ilemi Triangle. They speak the Nyangatom language.
Kuraz is one of the woredas in the South Ethiopia Regional State. It is the homeland of Daasanach people. Part of the Debub Omo Zone, Kuraz is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by the Ilemi Triangle, on the north by Nyangatom, and on the east by Hamer. The Omo River is flowing through Kuraz to Lake Turkana at the border of Kenya. The administrative center of this woreda is Omorate. Nyangatom woreda was separated from Kuraz.
The Teso–Turkana languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages spoken in southeastern South Sudan, northeastern Uganda, northwestern Kenya, and southwestern Ethiopia. In effect they form a dialect cluster consisting of c.2 million people. According to Gerrit Dimmendaal, most of these languages – Karimojong, Jie, Toposa, Turkana, and Nyangatom – are mutually intelligible, and for the most part differ only in regard to tone. Teso belongs to the same broad group but is not described as being as closely related to Turkana as the others.
Daasanach is a Cushitic language spoken by the Daasanach in Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya whose homeland is along the Lower Omo River and on the shores of Lake Turkana.
The Karamojong language is a Nilotic language spoken by the Karamojong people in Northeast Uganda.
The Lopit language is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken by around 117,000 people in Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan. Lopit is part of the Lotuko-Teso subfamily and is related to Lotuko, Turkana and Maasai. Lopit is a VSO language and has a complex tonal system.
Toposa is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in South Sudan by the Toposa people. Mutually intelligible language varieties include Jiye of South Sudan, Nyangatom of Ethiopia, Karimojong, Jie and Dodos of Uganda and Turkana of Kenya. Teso is lexically more distant.
The Kwegu are an ethnic group that lives on the western banks of the Omo River in the newly formed South Ethiopia Region. Some members of the Kwegu also live on the eastern banks of the river among the Mursi. Previously they were hunter-gatherers, but today they are engaged in a mixed economy of hunting, farming, beekeeping, and fishing.
The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa determines a large endorheic basin, a drainage basin with no outflow centered around the north-southwards directed Gregory Rift system in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The deepest point of the basin is the endorheic Lake Turkana, a brackish soda lake with a very high ecological productivity in the Gregory Rift.
The Ethiopia–Kenya border was first identified by the United Kingdom in 1907 and refined in 1947 in the aftermath of the East African Campaign of World War II. When Kenya became independent, it was finally approved in 1970. The border stretches 861 kilometers bounded by Marsabit, Turkana, Wajir and Mandera Counties on the side of Kenya, and Borena and Dhawa Zones in the Ethiopian side. The border features enormous biodiversity and wildlife, most notably, several communities such as Mursi, Nyangatom, Daasanach and Turkana, which are agro-pastoralist in response to harsh climate and erratic weather patterns.