The term
African people refers to people who live in
Africa, or people who trace their ancestry to
indigenous inhabitants of
Africa. This includes members of the "
African diaspora" resulting from the
Atlantic Slave Trade such as
Black British,
Afro-Latin Americans,
African Americans,
Afro-Caribbeans, and
Black Canadians. The term
Black people is often used as a synonym for people of African ancestry (in particular
Sub-Saharan Africa), particularly in the Americas and Europe, although the two terms are not always considered synonymous.
The peoples of Africa
The African continent is home to people of wide-ranging phenotypical traits, both indigenous and foreign to the continent, of diverse origins, and with several different cultural, communal, and artistic traits. Distinctions within Africa's geography, such as the varying climates across the continent, have nurtured diverse lifestyles among its population. The continent's inhabitants live amidst deserts and jungles, as well as in modern cities across the continent.
Prehistoric populations
Study of the Y-Chromosome show that three waves of migration from Africa populated the world with Homo sapiens sapiens.
Study of Mitochondrial DNA show that the original
Homo sapiens sapiens population in Africa has diverged into three main lines of descent, identified as L1, L2, and L3. See the world map
here.Perhaps it is a function of the number of excavations actually performed in given areas, but it is at least suggestive that the five very earliest out of the twelve of earliest archaeological discoveries of
Homo sapiens sapiens have been in Africa and the adjacent Arabian peninsula.
As early as 1964, A. W. F. Edwards and others had discovered that three populations in Africa were related but distinguishable on the basis of a relatively small set of genetic information (20
alleles). Those populations were called
Tigre (Ethiopians),
Bantu (in southern Africa), and
Ghanaian (West Africa).
When general
anthropometrics were taken as the criteria for grouping, the African population was split into a different three groups: the more closely related Pygmy (such as the
Mbuti) and
Bushmen (such as the
Khoisan) and the Bantu.
By 1988 more genetic detail were known, more groups could be distinguished on the basis of genetic information, but the relationships among these groups were accounted as different depending on which was the data was construed. The groups analyzed at this time were Bantu,
Berber and
North African,
Ethiopian, Mbuti Pygmy,
Nilotic, San (Bushman),
West African.
A representation of genetic distances by one analysis
In his recent book, Spencer Wells traces the migration of the early Africans beyond their own continent by noting the appearance of new genetic markers on the
Y-chromosome as the migrations progressed.
Studies of mitochondrial DNA conducted within the continent of Africa have shown that the indigenous population has diverged into three divergent main lines of descent.
A number of scholars such as Alan Templeton hold that support is found for traditional racial categories because many studies use the pre-defined categories to begin with, and subsequently insert data into those categories rather than let data speak for itself. Tempeton uses modern DNA analysis to argue that human "races" were never "pure", and that human evolution is based on "many locally differentiated populations coexisting at any given time" - a single lineage with many locally gradated variants, all sharing a common fate.
Researchers such as
Richard Lewontin maintain that most of the variation within human population is found
within local geographic groups and differences attributable to traditional "race" groups are a minor part of human genetic variability. Several other researchers (Barbajuni, Latter, Dean, et al.) have replicated Lewontin's results. According to a study by researcher L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza:
It is often taken for granted that the human species is divided in rather homogeneous groups or races, among which biological differences are large. Studies of allele frequencies do not support this view, but they have not been sufficient to rule it out either. We analyzed human molecular diversity at 109 DNA markers, namely 30 microsatellite loci and 79 polymorphic restriction sites (restriction fragment length polymorphism loci) in 16 populations of the world. By partitioning genetic variances at three hierarchical levels of population subdivision, we found that differences between members of the same population account for 84.4% of the total, which is in excellent agreement with estimates based on allele frequencies of classic, protein polymorphisms. Genetic variation remains high even within small population groups. On the average, microsatellite and restriction fragment length polymorphism loci yield identical estimates. Differences among continents represent roughly 1/10 of human molecular diversity, which does not suggest that the racial subdivision of our species reflects any major discontinuity in our genome.
In the wake of this research, a number of writers question the classification of African peoples like Ethiopians into "Caucasian" groups, holding that given the minor proportion of human genetic diversity attributable to "race", grouping of such African peoples is arbitrary and flawed, and that DNA analysis points to a range or gradation of types rather than distinct racial categories. Rather than arbitrarily allocating such African groups to a European "race", the range of physical characteristics like skin colour, hair or facial features are more than adequately covered by the differentiation
within local geographic groupings.
Indigenous peoples and ancient settlers
Speakers of
Bantu languages (part of the
Niger-Congo language family) are the majority in southern, central and east Africa proper. However, there are several
Nilotic groups in East Africa, and a few remaining
indigenous Khoisan ('
San' or '
Bushmen') and
Pygmy peoples in southern and central Africa, respectively. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon and southern Somalia. In the
Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "
Hottentots") have long been present. The San are physically distinct from other Africans and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of central Africa.
The people of
North Africa comprise two main groups;
Berber and
Arabic-speaking peoples in the west, and
Egyptians in the east. The
Arabs who arrived in the seventh century introduced the
Arabic language and
Islam to North Africa. The Semitic
Phoenicians and
Jews, the Iranian
Alans, and the European
Greeks,
Romans and
Vandals settled in North Africa as well. Berbers still make up the majority in
Morocco, while they are a significant minority within
Algeria. They are also present in
Tunisia and
Libya. The
Tuareg and other often-nomadic peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.
Nubians are a
Nilo-Saharan-speaking group (though many also speak Arabic), who developed an ancient civilization in northeast Africa.
Some
Ethiopian and
Eritrean groups (like the
Amhara and
Tigrayans, collectively known as "
Habesha") speak
Semitic languages. The
Oromo and
Somali peoples speak
Cushitic languages, but some Somali clans trace their founding to legendary Arab founders.
Sudan and
Mauritania are divided between a mostly Arabized north and a native African south (although the "Arabs" of Sudan clearly have a predominantly native African ancestry themselves). Some areas of East Africa, particularly the island of
Zanzibar and the Kenyan
island of Lamu, received
Arab Muslim and
Southwest Asian settlers and merchants throughout the
Middle Ages and in antiquity.
Colonisation
European
Despite having presence in Africa since Greek and Roman times,in the sixteenth century, Europeans such as the
Portuguese and
Dutch began to establish
trading posts and
forts along the coasts of western and southern Africa. Eventually, a large number of Dutch augmented by French
Huguenots and
Germans settled in what is today
South Africa. Their descendants, the
Afrikaners and the
Coloureds, are the largest European-descended groups in Africa today. In the nineteenth century, a second phase of colonisation brought a large number of
French and
British settlers to Africa. The Portuguese settled mainly in Angola, but also in Mozambique.The
Italians settled in
Libya,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia, and
Somalia. The French settled in large numbers in
Algeria where they became known collectively as
pieds-noirs, and on a smaller scale in other areas of North and West Africa as well as in Madagascar. The British settled chiefly in South Africa as well as the colony of
Rhodesia, and in the highlands of what is now
Kenya. Germans settled in what is now
Tanzania and
Namibia, and there is still a population of
German-speaking white Namibians. Smaller numbers of European soldiers, businessmen, and officials also established themselves in administrative centers such as
Nairobi and
Dakar. Decolonisation during the 1960s often resulted in the mass emigration of
European-descended settlers out of Africa — especially from Algeria, Angola, Kenya and Rhodesia. However, in South Africa and Namibia, the white minority remained politically dominant after independence from Europe, and a significant population of
Europeans remained in these two countries even after
democracy was finally instituted at the end of the
Cold War. South Africa has also become the preferred destination of white
Anglo-Zimbabweans, and of migrants from all over southern Africa.
Indian
European colonisation also brought sizable groups of
Asians, particularly people from the
Indian subcontinent, to British colonies. Large
Indian communities are found in South Africa, and smaller ones are present in Kenya, Tanzania, and some other southern and east African countries. The large Indian community in
Uganda was expelled by the dictator
Idi Amin in 1972, though many have since returned. The islands in the
Indian Ocean are also populated primarily by people of South Asian origin, often mixed with Africans and Europeans.
The
Malagasy people of
Madagascar are an
Austronesian people, but those along the coast are generally mixed with Bantu, Arab, Indian and European origins. Malay and Indian ancestries are also important components in the group of people known in South Africa as
Cape Coloureds (people with origins in two or more races and continents).
Other
During the past century or so, small but economically important colonies of
Lebanese and
Chinese have also developed in the larger coastal cities of
West and
East Africa, respectively.
Decolonisation
Decolonisation has left some nations in power and marginalized others.
Conflicts with ethnic aspects taking place in Africa since Decolonisation include
Contemporary demographics
Total population of Africa is estimated at 888 million as of 2006, projected to reach 1 billion by 2015.
The demographics of Africa is characterized by high
population growth, high
infant mortality, low
life expectancy (partly due to
malnutrition and
HIV) and
poverty (low
Human development index).
These characteristics mostly apply to Central and sub-Saharan Africa, with the Mediterranean (
Arabic) North and
South Africa showing different patterns.
African-descended people outside Africa
Recently, the idea of an
African diaspora, encompassing all people of African identity regardless of where they live, has emerged. There are substantial newcomer populations of people descended from indigenous Africans outside Africa, most notably in
Brazil, the
United States,
Canada, the
U.K., and the
Caribbean, as a result of the forcible removal of their ancestors from Africa through
slavery and the historical
Atlantic slave trade. There are also large populations of people of African descent in many South and Central American countries such as:
Suriname,
Guyana,
Panama,
Honduras, and
Belize. Brazil received more African slaves than any other country in the Americas and today has the largest population of people of African descent in any country outside of Africa.
There are also substantial minority populations in
Europe of African-descended people who
emigrated to Europe, and Europe is a popular destination for recent migrants from Africa.
African identity
The term "African" (or just "Afro-") has been used to describe people in a wide variety of contexts.
African Americans
In particular, people who identify themselves as African American acknowledge the fact that they are of African descent, though in most cases they and their ancestors have lived outside Africa for hundreds of years and may have significant non-African ancestry.
African Australian
Afro-Brazilian
Afro-Europeans
Afro-Latin American
African Indians
There are also a significant number of African-descended people in present-day
Pakistan, as well as
India, known as the
Sheedi. These people are the descendants of the African slaves who were brought over to
South Asia three-hundred years ago as indentured labourers. Today, the Sheedis reside mostly in the
Sindh and
Balochistan provinces of Pakistan and a minority is also found in the
Gujarat region of India. Some prominent Sheedi personalities from Pakistan include
Hoshu Sheedi and
Noon Meem Danish.
Afro-Turks
Afro-Caribbean
Afro-Caribbean is a general term for African descended people living in the Caribbean, whose ancestors were forcibly taken through the Atlantic Slave Trade. Afro-Caribbeans may or may not have ancestry to other places such as Europe, India, China, and/or Arabia.
Pan Africanism
The
Pan Africanist Marcus Garvey was an important proponent of the
Pan Africanism, which encouraged those of African descent to look favorably upon their ancestral
homelands. This movement would eventually inspire other movements ranging from the
Nation of Islam to the
Rastafari movement (which proclaimed him a prophet). Garvey said he wanted those of
African ancestry to "
redeem"
Africa and for the
European colonial powers to leave it.
See also
