AFRICAN CRAFTS MARKET - Tribes
African Tribes and Traditions
Africa has an estimated total of 3,000 tribes, all of which incredibly vary in terms of language and culture. The continent itself might have evolved greatly in the past two millennia, but tribal influences continue to be a dominant force in most parts. And even though the split-up between tribes has lessened over the years, tribal affiliations still stand as a prevailing source of pride among the natives.
The 10 most well known African tribes are: Zulu Tribe, Masai Tribe, San Bushman Tribe, Youruba Tribe, Xhosa Tribe, Hausa Tribe, Himba Tribe, Ormomo Tribe, Kalenjin Tribe, Chaga,Tribe.
You can read up more on each tribe in the links at the top of this page.
Africa has many tribes who share the same region and language base, and generally has similar traditions and customs. Most sub-Sahara African tribes has their origins in central and west Africa. Various reasons led to their migration across the continent, and this sharing of main origin is seen clearly in their common root languages.
The northern tribes (Sahara and north-ward), had an Arabic influence in their language, cultures and traditions. The spreading of Islam, Arab slave trade and war, created pressure on many tribal groupings to move further south down the African continent.
This expansion of central African tribes, in turn pushed the southern African indigenous peoples (Khoi, San) into more isolated areas. The Khoi-san (Bushmen) do not belong to the same genetic grouping as most African tribes, and the San belong to an much older pre-historic grouping. An interesting fact is, that only by the 16th / 17th Century did the first black African tribes arrived in the far south-eastern region of southern Africa, what is now known as the Transkei region of South Africa.