eHRAF World Cultures

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The Gros Ventre are an Algonquian-speaking Native American group closely related to the Arapaho.  Originally nomadic hunter-gatherers, subsistence was largely based on the hunting of buffalo (bison) and the gathering of wild food plants. Historically believed to have originated in the Great Lakes region, the Gros Ventre eventually spread to large areas of the Great Plains, but under intense pressure from neighboring tribal groups throughout the eighteenth century, and with the decline of the buffalo herds in the late nineteenth, economic  help was sought from the U.S. government.  Under the terms of the Fort Belknap agreement of 1888, the Gros Ventre gave up there land claims in the region and were subsequently placed on a reservation in northern Montana (the Fort Belknap Reservation), where they were soon joined by the Assiniboine.

The Ovambo are matrilineal people living in north-central Namibia and south-central Angola. They speak a variety of languages, collectively known as Oshiwambo, part the Southern Bantu group. Traditionally, Oshiwambo-speakers resided in scattered, palisaded homesteads within independent polities led either by a monarch or popularly-chosen community heads, but shared religious practices and an agro-pastoral subsistence pattern.

The Gusii are a Bantu-speaking people located in southwestern Kenya. The Gusii live in dispersed homesteads of nuclear or polygynous families, and support themselves by a combination of farming, trade, and wage labor. Exogamy, patrilocality, and patriliny are major features of the society.

The majority of Nupe are located in west-central Nigeria, northwest of the Niger River in the lowlands centered on its tributary, the Kaduna. A centralized Nupe kingdom emerged in the fifteenth century. Although subject to the conquering Fulani starting in 1820, and subsequently to the British colonial authority and to an independent Nigerian state, the king remains an important symbol of unity. The Nupe typically live in large villages or towns. Most Nupe practice shifting cultivation and fishing is important along rivers. Craftsmen organized by guilds are renowned for their metallurgy, textiles, glass beads and woodworking.

Most Abkhazians live in Abkhazia, an autonomous republic within the Republic of Georgia; since 1993 Abkhazia has been a disputed breakaway state. The Abhkazian economy is based on animal husbandry, household craftwork, and the growing of maize, millet, tobacco, tea, and citrus fruits. Abkhazian culture is centered on the family and family relations, marked by patrilocal residence, patrilineal descent, and strong patriarchal authority. Abkhazians are renowned for extreme longevity.

The Shluh belong to the Masmuda branch of sedentary Berbers inhabiting the Grand-Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains and the Sous River Valley in southern Morocco. They are primarily agricultural, utilizing plow cultivation, irrigation, and the terracing of fields. Animal husbandry is second in importance. Kin groups of 10 to 50 families are headed by the eldest male member and form clan-barrios occupying either a small hamlet or a specific quarter in a larger village. A larger social unit called a MUDA is the basic land-owning and political unit and is governed by a democratic assembly.

The Creek were a confederacy of tribes that emerged in the early eighteenth century in the southeastern United States, primarily in central Georgia and from the Atlantic coastal regions to central Alabama. The Creeks spoke 
several related languages of the Muskogean language family. Traditional Creek villages contained as many as twenty-five different matriclans living in four to eight houses. Subsistence was based on maize, beans, and squash, supplemented by hunting and fishing. During the period of 1836-1840 a major portion of the Creek confederacy was removed from its homeland in the southeast and resettled in Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

The Abipón were a nomadic people occupying the Gran Chaco region of Paraguay and Argentina. Traditionally subsistence was based on hunting, fishing, and gathering, with some very limited farming. After the acquisition of the horse from Spanish or other ethnic groups, they abandoned farming entirely for a life of raiding, and were much feared by their neighbors as well as the Spanish. By the 1770s or early 1800s the Abipón ceased to exist as a viable tribal group as the result of warfare, disease or by assimilation into surrounding ethnic populations.

The Bemba are the largest ethnic group in the Northern Province of Zambia. Along with the Bemba, seventeen or eighteen Bemba-speaking ethnic groups are included in the general group. The Bemba-speaking peoples have a matrilineal-matrilocal emphasis, and are predominantly agricultural. They practice shifting cultivation, with finger millet as the staple crop, supplemented by hunting and fishing. There is a general absence of cattle, since this area is within the tsetse fly belt.

The Crow are a Siouan-speaking people of the northern Great Plains whose descendants are a federally recognized nation with a reservation in south-central Montana. Originally sedentary farmers along the Missouri River, the Crow became nomadic hunters with their acquisition of the horse in the early 1730s. This changed during the latter half of the nineteenth century with the intrusion of non-Indian settlers, the near extinction of the buffalo, and confinement to a reservation, transitioning once more into a sedentary pattern based on farming and ranching, with participation in the wider cash economy. The Crow retain thirteen matrilineal clans, organized into six phratries, and into three regional groups or bands composed of all the clans. Egalitarian and non-stratified, the Crow recognized “chiefs” who performed coups—exceptional feats of war. Asserting their sovereignty after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Crow adopted their own constitution in 1948, establishing a council of all adult tribe members, with four elected officers and various governing committees; tribal police and courts are under the jurisdiction of the council.

The Hausa, the largest ethnic group in West Africa, are concentrated in northern Nigeria and adjacent Niger. The Hausa have evolved from many years of incorporation of different peoples. They share a common religion, Islam, and a common language. The Hausa are organized into centralized kingdoms, known as emirates and they live in hamlets, towns, and cities. Agriculture is the main economic activity. Grain is the staple diet, including Guinea corn, millet, maize, and rice.

The Mi'kmaq are an Algonquian-speaking people of Eastern Woodland culture, and the dominant First Nations group of the Canadian Maritime provinces. At the time of first European contact they occupied what is now eastern New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. Traditionally the Mi'kmaq subsisted by hunting, fishing, and gathering, with the fur trade being of great importance in the early contact period. In the twentieth century the Mi'kmaq live on government reserves; thirteen in Nova Scotia, nine in New Brunswick, four in Quebec, two in Prince Edward Island, and one in Newfoundland. Welfare and work projects are the major sources of income on most reserves. Men travel to cities to work in construction or factories from some reserves.

The Cajuns are an ethnic minority of the United States who have lived mainly in south-central and southwestern Louisiana since the late eighteenth century. They are descendants of the Acadian Diaspora, resulting from the forced exile of the French settlers in Acadia by the British in 1755. In Louisiana, contact with other cultures including Black Creoles, American Indians, Germans, Spaniards, and Italians, eventually shaped a distinct Cajun culture and a distinct form of French. Their language and religion, Roman Catholicism, remain two main identity markers.

The Kachin are a collection of groups, all speaking Tibeto-Burman languages, who developed more commonality as they lived under the Jinghpaw political system and associated religious ideology in northern Burma (Myanmar). The Kachin live primarily in the mountainous Kachin State of Myanmar, and parts of the northern Shan State, southwestern Yunnan in China, and the northeastern India (Assam and Arunachal Pradesh). Traditionally, all Kachins were farmers, cultivating rice, together with some other cereals, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. The traditional political system varied from a highly stratified system with strictly ranked aristocratic lineages in some regions to a more egalitarian and democratic system ruled by an elected chief and a council of elders in others.

The Yi, formerly known as the Lolo, are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in China. They live in China's mountainous southwest region and have had a long history of cultural, economic and political interaction with Han Chinese. The Yi were primarily horticulturalists, practicing animal husbandry where possible; their diet was supplemented by gathering, hunting, and fishing. Patrilineal kin groups were territorial entities and feuding between lineages and sometimes between minor branches were common. Yi society was stratified into a land-owning nobility, land-renting commoners, and slaves.  Their religion was polytheistic mixing elements of animist, Daoist and Buddhist beliefs; more recently incorporating elements of Christianity.

The Garo live in the East and West Garo Hills District of the state of Meghalaya in India. The Garo are a major aboriginal group in the region and are divided into nine subtribes. The Garos practice a slash-and-burn cultivation. Land for shifting cultivation is owned by the clan. The household is the primary production and consumption unit. The Garos reckon their kinship through the mother and inherit property in the female line. The Garos follow either Christianity or a traditional faith known as Songsarek.

The Bororo are Gê speakers living in central Mato Grosso, Brazil, in three clusters of nine villages. The traditional economy was based on hunting, fishing, gathering, and horticulture. One hundred and fifty years of warfare, disease, and dislocation have decimated the Bororo population.  Although some Bororo seek to maintain as much as possible of their traditional culture, regular contact with Brazilians has meant assimilation for many of them. The Bororo have become farmers, wage laborers, producers of items for the tourist trade, and consumers of commercial goods.

The Rhade are one of the Chamic-speaking ethnic minority peoples living in the Darlac plateau of Vietnam. Their traditional economy relied on the cultivation of rice on rain-fed upland swidden plots. The basic building block of society was the longhouse group, consisting of matrilineally-related women and their in-marrying spouses, as well as children born of the marriage. A cluster of longhouses formed largely self-governing villages. Following Vietnam’s independence from French colonial rule, villages were increasingly absorbed into the national political and administrative system.

The Fon are one of the largest groups in southern Benin, associated with the origin and expansion of the seventeenth to nineteenth century kingdom of Dahomey. Though fundamentally a patrilineal society, matrilineal kin ties are strong. The Fon are primarily agriculturalists, though increasingly involved in commerce and government, and rural settlement in family compounds is, for wealthy elites, shifting to separate urban housing. Traditional and tourist arts include sculpted figurines and appliqued cloth.

The Tuareg are agro-pastoralist people living in the northern and western African countries of Niger, Mali, Algeria and Libya. They speak several dialects of Temacheg, a branch of the Berber language family, reinforcing the belief that they all descended from the Berbers who lived in the Fezzan region of Libya. Traditional social organization included clans and clan sections internally divided into broad social classes consisting of nobles, religious practitioners, artisans, tribute paying cultivators, and laborers (former slaves). Relationships among clans were facilitated through loose clan confederations under the leadership of a sultan elected by the chiefs of noble clans. The Tuareg are Muslims, but their religious belief system also includes non-Islamic elements.

The Pashtun inhabit southern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Their language is Pushto (Pashto), in the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Except for a small minority, they are Sunni Muslims. Until recently, Pashtun dynasties controlled the tribal kingdom of Afghanistan. Agriculture, primarily grain farming, and animal husbandry are the most important activities in the Pashtun economy. The most important crop is wheat. In addition to raising stock, nomads as well as some farmers engage in trade and moneylending. The presence of the border dividing Pashtun territory into two countries also makes smuggling a lucrative pursuit.

The Igbo are located on both sides of the River Niger and occupy most of southeastern Nigeria.  Igbo languages are part of the Kwa Subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family. Igbo-speaking peoples can be divided into five geographically based subcultures: Northern Igbo, Southern Igbo, Western Igbo, Eastern Igbo, and Northeastern Igbo. Each of these five can be further divided into subgroups based on specific locations and names. The Igbo are mostly subsistence farmers. Palm products are the main cash crops. Trading, local crafts, and wage labor are also important in the Igbo economy. Women dominate rural retail-market trade. High literacy rates among the Igbo have helped them obtain jobs as civil servants and business entrepreneurs since Nigeria gained independence in 1960.

Most African Americans today descend from people forcibly brought to what is now the United States as slaves. Slaves were largely obtained from western and central Africa and came from diverse cultural backgrounds and spoke different languages. A creole language known as Ebonics emerged which allowed communication across different linguistic backgrounds. African Americans largely lived in the rural south until after World War II. Afterwards, large numbers migrated north to major cities. Beginning in the 1970s, the majority of African Americans were city-dwellers. African Americans share a common origin in Africa as well as common struggle against “racial” discrimination and prejudice, even for those in the highest social strata.

Cultures

A'ani
use — Gros Ventre

Aawambo
use — Ovambo

Abagusii
use — Gusii

Abawa
use — Nupe

Abazinians
use — Abkhazians

Abda
use — Shluh

Abehka (Upper Creeks)
use — Creek

Abipón

Abipon
use — Abipón

Abisa
use — Bemba

Abkhazians

Absahrokee
use — Crow

Abuja
use — Hausa

Acadians
use — Mi'kmaq

Acadians of Louisiana
use — Cajuns

Achang
use — Kachin

Acheh
use — Yi

Achik
use — Garo

Acione
use — Bororo

Adham
use — Rhade

Adja
use — Fon

Adjeur
use — Tuareg

Afghan
use — Pashtun

Afikpo village group
use — Igbo

African Americans

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Cultures

A'aniuse — Gros Ventre

Aawambouse — Ovambo

Abagusiiuse — Gusii

Abawause — Nupe

Abaziniansuse — Abkhazians

Abdause — Shluh

Abehka (Upper Creeks)use — Creek

Abipón

Abiponuse — Abipón

Abisause — Bemba

Abkhazians

Absahrokeeuse — Crow

Abujause — Hausa

Acadiansuse — Mi'kmaq

Acadians of Louisianause — Cajuns

Achanguse — Kachin

Achehuse — Yi

Achikuse — Garo

Acioneuse — Bororo

Adhamuse — Rhade

Adjause — Fon

Adjeuruse — Tuareg

Afghanuse — Pashtun

Afikpo village groupuse — Igbo