The Banna people, (''also referred to as Banya'') are an Omotic ethnic group in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

inhabiting the Lower Omo Valley, primarily between the Weyto and Omo rivers. They live in an area between the towns of Gazer and Dimeka with the traditional area of the Banna being divided into two ritual regions, ''Ailama'' (''which is around Gazer'') and ''Anno'' (''spanning from Benata to Dimeka''). According to the 2007 census, they number at around 47,000 individuals. They engage primarily in agriculture and supplement this by

pastoralism Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...

, hunting, and gathering. They are mainly Muslim, however, several thousand are Christian, and they have their own king.''Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia''; by David H. Shinn, Thomas P. Ofcansky, p. 69
Most Banna are speakers of the Banna variety of the Hamar-Banna language (''a member of the putative

Southern branch Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

of the

Omotic languages The Omotic languages are a group of languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, in the Omo River region. The Ge'ez script is used to write some of the Omotic languages, the Latin script for some others. They are fairly agglutinative and have com ...

'') although it is noted that some also speak the related

Aari language Aari (also rendered ''Ari'', ''Ara'', ''Aro'', ''Aarai'') is an Omotic language spoken by the Aari people in the South Omo Zone of Ethiopia. Dialects are Bako, Biyo (Biya), Laydo, Seyki, Shangama, Sido, Wubahamer, Zeddo. History The Aari pe ...

in and around Mokocha and Chali. It is noted that some Banna claim only slight difficulty when communicating with speakers of the Hamar and Bashada varieties of the same language, and despite their linguistic proximity there is a clear virtual border to the Banna between themselves and the neighboring Hamar in specific.

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