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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Origins of the Hunting Peoples of the Northern East African Coast |
Author: | Stiles, Daniel |
Year: | 1980 |
Periodical: | Transafrican Journal of History |
Volume: | 9 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 52-69 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Somalia Kenya |
Subjects: | ethnic groups hunter-gatherers Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/24328550 |
Abstract: | Outlining a history of coastal hunting peoples requires: a) acceptable criteria for their description and differentiation; b) both a theoretical and factual basis for their origins; c) some explanation as to why hunters and gatherers have persisted in time to the present as compared to other peoples with different, more 'advanced' economies. This paper puts forth propositions and ideas in an initial attempt to deal with these three themes for the coastal area which lies mainly between the Juba river in the north and Kilifi in the south. Based on linguistic criteria and cultural features the author thinks that one can define three basic population groups existing today along the coast that until relatively recently practised a primarily hunting-gathering subsistence economy: 1) Wata, speaking a dialect of the Eastern Cushitic language group Oromo; 2) Boni, speaking a distinct Eastern Cushitic language called Aweera; 3) Dahalo, speaking a Southern Cushitic language called by themselves numma guhooni. Notes, ref. |