Maps of East Cushitic

Cushitic, Omotic: The Spread of Cushitic and Omotic (Newman)



The Spread of Cushitic and Omotic

Source:   Newman, James L. 1995. The Peopling of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press. 53.
Date Digitized:   2009

Map Description:
This map outlines the early years of Cushitic spreading and some of the resulting diversity. In his book, Newman discusses how changes in agriculture lead to the diversification of Cushitic. Central Cushitic developed among grain cultivators and herders, and when groups migrated south into Tanzania and Kenya, their language became what is now known as southern Cushitic. Northern Cushitic was located predominantly in the arid lowlands, while the eastern branch was located in the southern rift valleys. He argues that ensete cultivators, which had once been thought to speak "western Cushitic", were most likely Omotic speakers.



Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process. View original image(s) to see the unaltered map(s).

Eastern and Southern Cushites Introduce Food-Producing Economies to the Interior Mosaic (Newman)



Eastern and Southern Cushites Introduce Food-Producing Economies to the Interior Mosaic

Map Creator:   James L. Newman
Source:   1995. The Peopling of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press. 167.
Date Created:   1995

Map Description:
According to James L. Newman, the interior of East Africa is one of the most complex ethnolinguistic regions on the continent, due to the continuous movement of groups, including Khoisan, Cushitic, Nilotic and Bantu peoples. This map shows the earliest migrations through the area. They began with the Southern Cushites approximately 5,000 years ago; around 1000 BC, the Eastern Cushites made their way south. One of the Eastern Cushite groups, the Baz, gave the Southern Nilotes livestock-raising techniques adapted to semi-arid conditions along with several cultural practices, such as a prohibition against eating fish (Newman).

Other resources related to this project:
Southern Nilotic Speakers Seeking the Kenyan Highlands(Newman)
Bantu Colonization of the Interior Mosiac of Africa (Newman)
Influential Eastern Nilotic Migrations (Newman)
Ngoni, Kamba, Arab-Swahili, and Yao Movements, Migrations, and Trade Routes Within the Interior Mosiac (Newman)


Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process. View original image(s) to see the unaltered map(s).

Influential Eastern Nilotic Migrations (Newman)



Influential Eastern Nilotic Migrations

Source:   Newman, James L. 1995. The Peopling of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press. 171.
Date Digitized:   2009

Map Description:
According to James L. Newman, the interior of East Africa is one of the most complex ethnolinguistic regions on the continent, due to the continuous movement of groups, including Khoisan, Cushitic, Nilotic and Bantu peoples. As he states in his book, the most influential migrations were those of the Eastern Nilotes. Despite the characterization of their encounters with other cultures as hostile and often violent, it was more common for groups to be gradually displaced or absorbed, with some maintaining independence and coexisting. Such was the case with the Southern Cushites, who were displaced over time, and the Kalenjins, who were assimilated into Bantu society (Newman).

Other LL-MAP resources related to this project:
Eastern and Southern Cushites Introduce Food-Producing Economies to the Interior Mosaic (Newman)
Southern Nilotic Speakers Seeking the Kenyan Highlands(Newman)
Bantu Colonization of the Interior Mosiac of Africa (Newman)
Ngoni, Kamba, Arab-Swahili, and Yao Movements, Migrations, and Trade Routes Within the Interior Mosiac (Newman)


Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process. View original image(s) to see the unaltered map(s).

North Africa: Cushitic in Northern Africa



Cushitic in Northern Africa


Data Source:
Irvine, A. K. and David Appleyard. 2007. "The Middle East and North Africa". In R. E. Asher & Christopher Moseley (eds.). Atlas of the World’s Languages. Oxford: Routledge.

"Afro-Asiatic: Composite 2010". MultiTree: A Digital Library of Language Relationships

Date Digitized:   May 2011.

Map Description:
The areas pictured display locations of where Cushitic languages are spoken today. Although there are many languages within the group, only Somali has status as an official language of a country (Somalia). Most of the languages are relatively small, being spoken by anywhere between several hundred and several thousand people (Irvine and Appleyard 2007).

This original map was made by vectorizing data from the MultiTree language database and the Atlas of the World's Languages.


Other resources related to this project:
This folder (Northern African Languages) contains other maps showing linguistic subgroups. The maps may be overlaid on each other for a more complete picture.


Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process.

Peoples, Cities and States in Africa ca. 100 CE (Ehret)



Peoples, states and cities in Africa, ca. 100 CE

Map Creator:   Christopher Ehret
Source:   The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. 2002. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Date Created:   2002.

Map Description:
This map displays important groups, empires and cities in Africa circa 100 CE according to Christopher Ehret. As shown, the Roman Empire controlled a vast territory along the northern coast and the Nile river. Roman expansion and trade facilitated the transmission of new technologies throughout the continent, especially ironworking. Other major cultural changes were occurring as well; Christianity began spreading throughout Northern Africa and Aksum was one of the first major kingdoms to convert around 200 years later.


Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process. View original image(s) to see the unaltered map(s).

Peoples, Cities and States in northern Africa ca. 850-875 (Ehret)



Peoples, states and cities in the northern half of Africa, ca. 850-875

Map Creator:   Christopher Ehret
Source:   The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. 2002. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Date Created:   2002.

Map Description:
This map displays the important groups and locations in northern Africa around 850-875. To name a few of the important events of this period, Islamic settlement and continued expansion under differing Caliphates influenced much of the north of the continent, even spreading into modern-day Spain and Portugal. At the edge of the African continent, the Abbasid Caliphate was deeply involved in several wars, including those against the Byzantine and Omayyad Empires.


Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process. View original image(s) to see the unaltered map(s).

The Early Dispersal of Afroasiatic (Blench)



The Early Dispersal of Afroasiatic

Source:   Blench, Roger. 2006. Archaeology, Language, and the African Past. Lanham: AltaMira Press. 159.
Date Digitized:   2009

Map Description:
This map illustrates the early homelands (> 10000 B.C.E and > 7500 B.C.E. respectively) of Afroasiatic as well as the homelands of the Omotic and Cushitic speakers. Surrounding the speaker locations are the migration paths the Cushitic groups took as they moved, as discussed by Roger Blench. Combined with his map entitled 'The Later Dispersal of Afroasiatic', it presents a model which explains the distribution of Afroasiatic languages prior to the Arabic expansion beginning in the seventh century.

Other LL-MAP resources related to this project:
The Later Dispersal of Afroasiatic (Blench)
The Inter-Saharan Hypothesis (Blench)



Note: Scanned or downloaded images have been geo-registered for compatibility with our project interface. Slight imperfections are an inevitable result of the registration process. View original image(s) to see the unaltered map(s).