The Iraqw People (; are the
Cushitic
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...
-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the northern
Tanzanian
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
regions. They are a significant group in originating in southwestern
Arusha
Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census).
Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern bran ...
and
Manyara
Manyara Region (''Mkoa wa Manyara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the town of Babati. According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 1,425,131, which was lower than the ...
regions of
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
, near the
Rift Valley
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear d ...
. The Iraqw people settled in the southeast of
Ngorongoro Crater in northern
Karatu District
Karatu is one of the seven districts in the Arusha Region of Tanzania. The District covers an area of . and has an max elevation of ..It is bordered by the Ngorongoro District to the north, the Meatu District to the west in Simiyu Region. Th ...
, Arusha Region, where they remain the majority ethnic group. In Manyara region, the Iraqw are a major ethnic group in
Mbulu District
Mbulu District is one of the six districts of the Manyara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Arusha Region and Lake Eyasi, to the east by the Babati Rural District, to the south by the Hanang District, and to the west by the S ...
,
Babati District and
Hanang District.
History
Kerio Valley, Kenya
The Iraqw have traditionally been viewed as remnants of
Afro-Asiatic
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic s ...
peoples who practiced
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
and
animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...
in the
Great Lakes region
The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...
— a succession of societies collectively known as the
''Stone Bowl'' cultural complex.
Most of these early northern migrants are believed to have been absorbed by later movements of
Nilotic and
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
* Black Association for Nationa ...
peoples. In the
Kerio Valley
Kerio Valley lies between the Tugen Hills and the Elgeyo Escarpment in Kenya. It sits at an elevation of 1,000 meters in the Great Rift Valley.
Geography
The isolated Kerio Valley is situated in a narrow, long strip that is approximately 80 ...
of
Kenya
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, among other neighboring areas, there are vestiges of the Neolithic tillers' civilization in the form of elaborate irrigation systems. Although these particular structures are today maintained by the
Marakwet subgroup of the
Nandi
Nandi may refer to:
People
* Nandy (surname), Indian surname
* Nandi (mother of Shaka) (1760–1827), daughter of Bhebe of the Langeni tribe
* Onandi Lowe (born 1974), Jamaican footballer nicknamed Nandi
* Nandi Bushell (born 2010), South Afric ...
Kalenjin Nilotes
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the ...
, the latter aver that they were the work of a northern people of peculiar language called the
Sirikwa, who were later decimated by pestilence. According to the Marakwet, the Sirikwa "built the furrows, but they did not teach us how to build them; we only know how to keep them as they are."
Engaruka, Monduli District
Additionally, the Iraqw's ancestors are often credited with having constructed the sprawling
Engaruka complex in
Monduli District
Monduli is one of the seven districts of the Arusha Region of Tanzania. The District covers an area of . It is bordered to the north by Longido District, to the east by Arusha Rural District, to the south by the Manyara Region and to the west b ...
, Arusha Region, Tanzania. The modern Iraqw practice an intensive form of self-contained agriculture that bears a remarkable similarity to the ruins of
stone-walled canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...
s,
dams and furrows that are found at Engaruka. Iraqw historical traditions likewise relate that their last significant migration to their present area of inhabitation occurred about two or three centuries ago after conflicts with the
Barbaig sub-group of the
Datog Nilotes, herders who are known to have occupied the
Crater Highlands
The Crater Highlands (Ngorongoro Highlands) are a geological region along the East African Rift in the Arusha Region and parts of northern Manyara Region in north Tanzania.
Geology
The highlands are located in a spreading zone at the inters ...
above Engaruka prior to the arrival of the
Maasai. This population movement is reportedly consistent with the date of the Engaruka site's desertion, which is estimated at somewhere between 1700 and 1750. It also roughly coincides with the start of the diminishment of the Engaruka River's flow as well as those of other streams descending from the
Ngorongoro highlands; water sources around which Engaruka's irrigation practices were centered.
According to the
Maasai Nilotes, who are the present-day occupants of Engaruka, the Iraqw also already inhabited the site when their own ancestors first entered the region during the 18th century.
Distribution
In 2001, the Iraqw population was estimated to number around 462,000 individuals. Current estimates suggest the population of Iraqw people to the region of 1,000,000.
Their core area of inhabitation is Iraqw’ar Da/aw (or Mama Issara) in the
Mbulu Highlands in northern Manyara Region. It has long been known for its intensive cultivation, and referred to as an "island" within a matrix of less intensive cultivation.
The areas surrounding
Karatu
Karatu is one of the seven districts in the Arusha Region of Tanzania. The District covers an area of . and has an max elevation of ..It is bordered by the Ngorongoro District to the north, the Meatu District to the west in Simiyu Region. The ...
town in the
Arusha region
Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census).
Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern ...
are also predominantly settled by the Iraqw.
Culture
Several PhD studies and books have been written about Iraqw culture. A large number of scientific articles on Iraqw culture can be found in a bibliography that has been compiled on the Mbulu area of Tanzania and some of their traditions are similar to those of jews.
Comprehensive anthropological analyses of the ethnic Iraqw by Ikeda et al. (1982) suggests that they share significant affinities with other Cushitic-speaking populations generally. However, due to intermarriage with the surrounding Tanzanian populations, the Iraqw also have some
morphological ties with local Bantu groups.
Language
The Iraqw speak the
Iraqw language as
mother tongue
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tong ...
, which belongs to the
South Cushitic branch of the
Afro-Asiatic
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic s ...
family. Iraqw speakers also speak
Swahili, the national language of
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
.
Genetics
Recent advances in genetic analyses have helped shed some light on the
ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis (; ) is "the formation and development of an ethnic group".
This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th century neologism that was later introd ...
of the Iraqw people.
Genetic genealogy
Genetic genealogy is the use of genealogical DNA tests, i.e., DNA profiling and DNA testing, in combination with traditional genealogical methods, to infer genetic relationships between individuals. This application of genetics came to be used ...
, although a novel tool that uses the genes of modern populations to trace their ethnic and geographic origins, has also helped clarify the possible background of the modern Iraqw.
Y DNA
A
Y-chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes ( allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or ...
study by Wood et al. (2005) tested various populations in Africa for paternal lineages, including 9 Iraqw males from Tanzania. The authors observed the
E1b1b haplogroup in 56% of the studied Iraqw, which is typical of Afro-Asiatic males from North and Northeast Africa, who possess the haplogroup at high frequencies.
[Elizabeth T Wood, Daryn A Stover, Christopher Ehret ''et al.'',]
Contrasting patterns of Y chromosome and mtDNA variation in Africa: evidence for sex-biased demographic processes
", ''European Journal of Human Genetics'' (2005) 13, 867–876. (cf
Appendix A: Y Chromosome Haplotype Frequencies
The second most frequent paternal lineage among the Iraqw was
Haplogroup B, which is commonly found in Nilotic populations;
it was observed in 22% of Iraqw males. The third most frequently observed paternal DNA marker in the Iraqw was the
E1b1a haplogroup (E-P1), which is now very common among Bantus; it was found in 11% of the Iraqw samples.
IN a larger sample haplogroup T y-dna was found in 11% of Iraqw.
irbo et al.
Autosomal DNA
The Iraqw's
autosomal
An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosom ...
DNA has been examined in a comprehensive study by Tishkoff et al. (2009) on the genetic affiliations of various populations in Africa. According to Bayesian clustering analysis, the Iraqw generally grouped with other Afroasiatic-speaking populations inhabiting the Great Lakes region, with these lacustrine groups forming a cluster distinct from that of the Afroasiatic-speaking populations in the Horn of Africa, North Africa and the Sahara. This difference was attributed to marked genetic exchanges between the Iraqw and neighboring
Nilo-Saharan
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. ...
and
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
* Black Association for Nationa ...
communities over the past 5,000 or so years.
[ Also se]
Supplementary Data
Notes
References
*Mous, Maarten. 1993. ''A Grammar of Iraqw''. Hamburg: Buske.
{{authority control
Ethnic groups in Tanzania
Indigenous peoples of East Africa
Indigenous peoples of Arusha Region
.
Cushitic-speaking peoples