Maps of Proto-Semitic

African Ethnic Groups (Public Content)


Ethnic Groups of Africa

Map Creator:   United States Central Intelligence Agency
Source:   Africa Ethnic Groups
Data Source:   Murdock, G. P. 1959. Africa, Its Peoples and Their Culture History. McGraw Hill.
Usage Notes/Copyright Status:   This work is in the public domain in the United States under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
Date Created:   1996

Map Description:
This map displays the ethnic groups of Africa as researched by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 1996. Areas with large populations of two or more major ethnic groups have been represented with one feature being superimposed over the other as represented by the Shared Areas layer.

Please note that the classification presented does not reflect current scholarly consensus.




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).

Later Dispersal of Afroasiatic (Blench)



The Later Dispersal of Afroasiatic

Map Creator:   Roger Blench
Source:   Archeology, Language, and the African Past. 2006. Lanham: AltaMira Press. p. 160.
Date Created:   2006 (Blench)

Map Description:
This map illustrates the later locations and migrations of several African language groups, including the Semitic, Bantu, Nilotic, Berber, Afroasiatic and Chadic speakers, as discussed by Roger Blench. Combined with his map entitled "The Early Dispersal of Afroasiatic", it presents a model which explains the distribution of Afroasiatic languages prior to the Arabic expansion beginning in the seventh century. Two of the languages indicated, Guanche and Elamitic, are extinct; Blench notes that the arrow marking the latter's progress is very uncertain.

Other resources related to this project:
Early 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).