Nilots - a group of related peoples ( Dinka , Calendin , Luo , Shilluk , Nuer , Bari , Masai , Samburu , Datoga , Karamojong , etc.) that inhabit the Upper and Middle Nile basin along the Blue Nile and Sobat rivers in South Sudan , on the territory between the lakes Victoria and Turkana in Uganda and Kenya , in Tanzania , as well as in the border areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Ethiopia and Egypt .
The total number of about 10 million people. They belong to a pronounced Negroid race , are distinguished by high growth, elongated head, athletic physique ( Nilotic anthropological type ).
Nilots speak the languages of one language group ( Nilotic languages ), belonging to the Nilo-Sahara language macro-family , and have many similar features of material and spiritual culture.
The Nilots and Mountain Nubians are also sometimes referred to as Nilots. Most Nilots adhere to local traditional cults and beliefs; some of them (for example, Luo ) were converted to Islam . Some Nilots converted to Christianity as a result of the activities of missionaries.
Until the 20th century, the territory of the Nilots suffered very much from the raids of slave traders . At the end of the XIX century, it was divided between various colonial possessions.
Nilots still adhere to a great deal of tribal relations. The main occupations are cattle breeding, agriculture, fishing and hunting.
Literature
- Nilots // Nikko - Otoliths. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1974. - (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [30 vol.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 18).