Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

List of contemporary ethnic groups

List of ethnic groups in the world From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Remove ads

The following is a list of contemporary ethnic groups. There has been constant debate over the classification of ethnic groups. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be associated with shared ancestry, history, homeland, language or dialect and cultural heritage; where the term "culture" specifically includes aspects such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing (clothing) style and other factors.

By the nature of the concept, ethnic groups tend to be divided into subgroups, which may themselves be identified as independent ethnic groups depending on the source consulted.

Remove ads

Ethnic groups

Summarize
Perspective
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.
See also: List of language names

The following groups are commonly identified as "ethnic groups", as opposed to ethno-linguistic phyla, national groups, racial groups or similar.[1][2]

More information Ethnicity, Language(s) ...
    Remove ads

    Lists of ethnic groups

    By status:
    Regional lists:
    Remove ads

    See also

    Notes

    1. [1]
      Language family; with some exceptions, all speakers of the various languages within this family are typically seen as one singular ethnicity.
    2. [2]
      Non-contiguous homeland. Throughout most of its history (if not its entire history), this ethnic group has lived in separate, isolated communities scattered throughout the countries/subdivisions listed.
    3. [3]
      Although Akan is the principal language of the Akan people, the Akan language has only recently been standardized. The majority of Akan people still speak their local dialects, which are usually considered by linguists to be separate languages altogether.
    4. [4]
      Due to historical migrations, about half of the Akan population reside in Ivory Coast.
    5. [5]
      Due to the a long history of forced assimilation by the American government, the vast majority only speak English.
    6. [6]
      Following the passage of the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, and the Muscogee were all forced to relocate their entire population to Oklahoma.
    7. [7]
      With the exception of Navajo, all Apachean speakers are seen as one ethnicity. However, due to a history of forced assimilation by the American government, the majority can only speak English.
    8. [8]
      The Argobba have typically been a merchant community and usually trades with other ethnic groups; recently, these factors have resulted in the majority only speaking Amharic or Oromo.
    9. [9]
      The Beti and the Fang form the Beti-Pahuin peoples. While the term Beti is sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the Beti-Pahuin people, the Beti ethnicity is specifically limited to Ewondo and Eton speakers.
    10. [10]
      Otherwise known as Cayapas.
    11. [11]
      Due to the Expulsion of the Chagossians, there are no Chagossians living on the Chagos Archipelago. The majority of Chagossians now live in the United Kingdom, Mauritius, and Seychelles.
    12. [12]
      The last of the Chumashan languages went extinct in 1965 but revival efforts have been ongoing since 2010.
    13. [13]
      The original Egyptian language, which morphed into the Coptic language around the 1st century AD, died out as a spoken language around the 17th century and is now only used for religious ceremonies. Today, the Egyptians, including the Copts, speak Egyptian Arabic.
    14. [14]
      Due to the a long history of forced assimilation by the Canadian government, the vast majority can only either speak English.
    15. [15]
      Endonymically known as iTaukei.
    16. [16]
      This ethnic group is largely a nomadic or semi-nomadic one and do not have a particular area to claim as a primary homeland; these countries are listed here due to having a significant population.
    17. [17]
      The Gabrieleno language went extinct around 1900, but revival efforts have been ongoing since the 2000s. Most are fluent in English and/or Spanish
    18. [18]
      Like its speakers, the Garifuna language is the only remnant of the Island Carib language.
    19. [19]
      Following the Second Carib War, the majority of the Garifuna were deported to Honduras, where they later spread to Guatemala, Belize, and Nicaragua. Since then, Honduras has seen high murder rates, causing many to flee to United States.
    20. [20]
      Since Hawaii's annexation into the United States, English has almost completely supplanted Hawaiian.
    21. [21]
      Refers specifically to the Kinyarwanda and Kirundi dialects. The other speakers of the dialects within the Rwanda-Rundi continuum are considered to be separate from the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa peoples.
    22. [22]
      Despite the successful revival of the Hebrew language, many Jews continue to speak the various languages that have developed by the diaspora populations, including Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. In addition, English serves as the lingua franca of Israel.
    23. [23]
      Though many Jewish languages are not genetically related to each other, they are all known to be ethnolects developed by the Jewish diaspora.
    24. [24]
      The Wapan language have largely replaced Jukun Takum as the main language.
    25. [25]
      The indigenous Kalinago language became extinct in the 1920s. However, an offshoot of it known as Garifuna is still spoken today.
    26. [26]
      The Kaurna language went extinct in 1929 but revival efforts have been ongoing since the 1980s. Most Kaurna people now mainly speak English.
    27. [27]
      Although the Māori have been able to halt the extinction of their language, the majority still only speak English fluently.
    28. [28]
      Due to gradual Hispanicization following the Occupation of Araucania, the majority of Mapuche can only speak Spanish.
    29. [29]
      Tutelo went extinct in 1982, leading most Monacans, Saponi, and Occaneechi to speak English. There has been some interest in reviving Tutelo in the 21st century.[18]
    30. [30]
      The Moriori language went extinct in 1898 but revival efforts have been ongoing since 2001.
    31. [31]
      Due to a long history of forced assimilation by both American and Canadian governments, the vast majority can only speak English.
    32. [32]
      Though many Tasmanian languages are not genetically related to each other, they are all known to be ethnolects developed by the Palawa.
    33. [33]
      Due to a history of forced assimilation by the American government, the majority can only speak English.
    34. [34]
      Due to the Sirenik language going extinct, Sirenik people have begun using the related Siberian Yupik language in its place.
    35. [35]
      Due to France's long history of promoting the French language at the expense of others, the vast majority only speak French.
    36. [36]
      Due to a history of forced assimilation by the American government, the majority can only speak English.
    37. [37]
      Otherwise known as Azande.
    Remove ads

    References

    Loading related searches...

    Wikiwand - on

    Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

    Remove ads
    Remove ads