Somali people
The Somali people (Somali: Soomaalida, Osmanya: ππππππππ, Wadaad: Ψ³ΩΩΩ Ψ§ΩΩΨ―Ψ§Ωβ) are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa[42][43] who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, and they are predominantly Sunni Muslim.[44][45] Forming one of the largest ethnic groups on the continent, they cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa.[46]
This article is about the Somali ethnic group. For the general population of the Federal Republic of Somalia, see Demographics of Somalia. For other uses, see Somali (disambiguation).
Soomaalida
ππππππππ
Ψ³ΩΩΩ
Ψ§ΩΩΨ―Ψ§Ω
ππππππππ
Ψ³ΩΩΩ Ψ§ΩΩΨ―Ψ§Ω
17,597,511 (2022)[2]
4,581,793 (2007)[3]
2,780,502 (2019)[4]
534,000 (2017)[5]
500,000 (2014)[6]
164,723 (2022)[7]
112,000 (2020)[8]
109,000 (2018)[9]
101,000[10]
80,000[11]
62,550[14]
60,000[15]
43,196[16]
41,515[17]
27,000β40,000[18]
39,737[19]
38,675[20]
24,647[23]
22,709[24]
21,210[25]
18,401[26]
8,228[27]
7,101[28]
7,025[29]
5,518[30]
2,627[33]
2,604[34]
2,000β3,000[35]
2,500[36]
1,617[39]
1,495[40]
According to most scholars, the ancient Land of Punt and its native inhabitants formed part of the ethnogenesis of the Somali people. This ancient historical kingdom is where a great portion of their cultural traditions and ancestry are said to derive from.[47][48][49][50] Somalis share many historical and cultural traits with other Cushitic peoples, especially with Lowland East Cushitic people, specifically the Afar and the Saho.[51]
Ethnic Somalis are principally concentrated in Somalia (around 17.6 million),[52] Somaliland (5.7 million),[53] Ethiopia (4.6 million),[3] Kenya (2.8 million),[4] and Djibouti (534,000).[54] Somali diasporas are also found in parts of the Middle East, North America, Western Europe, African Great Lakes region, Southern Africa and Oceania.
Genetics
Uniparental lineages
According to Y chromosome studies by Sanchez et al. (2005), Cruciani et al. (2004, 2007), the Somalis are paternally closely related to other Afro-Asiatic-speaking groups in Northeast Africa.[150][247][151] Besides comprising the majority of the Y-DNA in Somalis, the E1b1b (formerly E3b) haplogroup also makes up a significant proportion of the paternal DNA of Ethiopians, Sudanese, Egyptians, Berbers, North African Arabs, as well as many Mediterranean populations.[247][248] Sanchez et al. (2005) observed the E-M78 subclade of E1b1b1a in about 70.6% of their Somali male samples.[150] According to Cruciani et al. (2007), the presence of this subhaplogroup in the Horn region may represent the traces of an ancient migration from Egypt/Libya.[Note 1][151]
After haplogroup E1b1b, the second most frequently occurring Y-DNA haplogroup among Somalis is the West Asian haplogroup T (M184).[249] The clade is observed in more than 10% of Somali males generally,[150] with a peak frequency amongst the Somali Dir clan members in Djibouti (100%)[250] and Somalis in Dire Dawa (82.4%), a city with a majority Dir population.[251] Haplogroup T, like haplogroup E1b1b, is also typically found among other populations of Northeast Africa, the Maghreb, the Near East and the Mediterranean.[252]
In Somalis, the Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) was estimated to be 4000β5000 years (2,500 BCE) for the haplogroup E-M78 cluster Ξ³ and 2100β2200 years (150 BCE) for Somali T-M184 bearers.[150]
Deep subclade E-Y18629 is commonly found in Somalis and has a formation date of 3,700 YBP (years before present) and a TMRCA of 3,300 YBP.[253]