List of ethnic groups of Africa
Lists -- Ethnic groups by region
Table:
Name

Family

Language

Region

Country

Population (million)

Notes

Baggara
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Sudanese Arabic
Chad Basin
Sudan, Chad
6

Berbers
Afro-Asiatic, Berber
Berber
Maghreb
Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Egypt
27
Berber speakers

Copts
Afro-Asiatic, Egyptian
Coptic
Nile Valley
Egypt, Sudan
10

Egyptians
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Egyptian Arabic
Nile Valley
Egypt
85
excl. Copts

Fur[14]
Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic
Fur
Nile Valley
Sudan
1.0

Haratin
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Hassaniya Arabic
Maghreb
Mauritania, Morocco
2

Maghrebis
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Maghrebi Arabic
Maghreb
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya
72
Arabic speakers only

Moors
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Hassaniya Arabic
Maghreb
Mauritania, Morocco
2

Nubians
Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic
Nobiin
Nile Valley
Sudan, Egypt
1.0[14]

Sudanese Arabs
Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Sudanese Arabic
Nile Valley
Sudan
28

Toubou
Nilo-Saharan
Tebu
Tibesti
Libya, Chad, Niger, Sudan
0.35

Tuareg
Afro-Asiatic, Berber
Tuareg
Maghreb/Sahara
Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso
1.2

Zaghawa
Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Saharan
Zaghawa
Chad Basin
Chad, Sudan
0.2

Using the provided table together with the article excerpts below.

Provide an answer to this question: Which writing systems have been used to write the language spoken by the Nubians ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

The Baggāra are a grouping of Arab ethnic groups inhabiting the portion of Africa 's Sahel mainly between Lake Chad and southern Kordofan , numbering over six million . They are known as Baggara in Sudan , and as Shuwa/Diffa Arabs in Chad and Nigeria . Their name derives from the Arabic word ( Arabic : بقارة ) literally meaning cattle herder . They have a common language , Shuwa Arabic , which is one of the regional varieties of Arabic . They also have a common traditional mode of subsistence , nomadic cattle herding , although nowadays many lead a settled existence . Nevertheless , collectively they do not all necessarily consider themselves one people , i.e. , a single ethnic group . The term baggara culture was introduced in 1994 by Braukämper . The political use of the term baggara in Sudan denoting a particular set of tribes is limited to Sudan . It often means a coalition of majority Arabs and a few indigenous African tribes ( mainly Fur , Nuba and Fallata ) with other Arab tribes of western Sudan ( mainly Guhayna ) , as opposed to Bedouin Abbala Arab tribes . The bulk of baggara Arabs live in Chad , the rest live , or seasonally migrate to , southwest Sudan ( specifically the southern portions of Darfur and Kordofan ) , and slivers of the Central African Republic , South Sudan , and Niger . Those who are still nomads migrate seasonally between grazing lands in the wet season and river areas in the dry season . Their common language is known to academics by various names , such as Chadian Arabic , taken from the regions where the language is spoken .
Sudanese Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken throughout Sudan and in parts of Eritrea . Some of the tribes in Sudan still have similar accents to the ones in Saudi Arabia .
Berbers , or Amazighs , ( Berber languages : ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵏ , ⵎⵣⵗⵏ , romanized : Imaziɣen ; singular : Amaziɣ , ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖ ⵎⵣⵗ ) , are an ethnic group of several nations mostly indigenous to North Africa and some northern parts of West Africa . Berbers mostly live in Morocco , Algeria , Tunisia , Libya , Mauritania , northern Mali , northern Niger , and a small part of western Egypt . Berber nations are distributed over an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Siwa Oasis in Egypt and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Niger River in West Africa . Historically , Berber nations spoke the Berber language , which is a branch of the Afroasiatic language family . The Berbers of Algeria were independent of outside control during the period of Ottoman Empire rule in North Africa . They lived primarily in three different Nations : the Kingdom of Ait Abbas , Kingdom of Kuku , and the principality of Aït Jubar . The Kingdom of Ait Abbas is a Berber nation of North Africa , controlling Lesser Kabylie and its surroundings from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century . It is referred to in the Spanish historiography as reino de Labes ; [ full citation needed ] sometimes more commonly referred to by its ruling family , the Mokrani , in Berber At Muqran , in Arabic أولاد مقران ( Ouled Moqrane ) . Its capital was the Kalâa of Ait Abbas , an impregnable citadel in the Biban mountain range .
The Berber languages , also known as Berber or the Amazigh languages ( Berber name : Tamaziɣt , Tamazight ; Neo-Tifinagh : ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ , Tuareg Tifinagh : ⵜⵎⵣⵗⵜ , pronounced [ tæmæˈzɪɣt ] , [ θæmæˈzɪɣθ ] ) , are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family . They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by the Berbers , who are indigenous to North Africa . The languages were traditionally written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script , which now exists in the form of Tifinagh . Berber is spoken by large populations of Morocco , Algeria and Libya , by smaller populations of Tunisia , northern Mali , western and northern Niger , northern Burkina Faso and Mauritania and in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt . Large Berber-speaking migrant communities , today numbering about 4 million , have been living in Western Europe , spanning over three generations , since the 1950s . The number of Berber people is much higher than the number of Berber speakers . Around 90% of the Berber-speaking population speak one of seven major varieties of Berber , each with at least 2 million speakers . They are , in order of number of speakers : Shilha ( Tacelḥiyt ) , Kabyle ( Taqbaylit ) , Central Atlas Tamazight ( Tamaziɣt ) , Riffian ( internal : Tmaziɣt , external : Tarifiyt ) , Shawiya ( Tacawit ) and Tuareg ( Tamaceq/Tamajeq/Tamaheq ) . The now extinct Guanche language spoken on the Canary Islands by the Guanches , as well as possibly the languages of the ancient C-Group culture in today 's southern Egypt and northern Sudan , are believed to have belonged to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family . The Berber languages and dialects have had a written tradition , on and off , for about 2,500 years , although the tradition has been frequently disrupted by cultural shifts and invasions . They were first written in the Libyco-Berber abjad , which is still used today by the Tuareg in the form of Tifinagh . The oldest dated inscription is from 3rd century BCE .
The Copts ( Coptic : ⲚⲓⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ̀ⲛ̀Ⲭⲣⲏⲥⲧⲓ̀ⲁⲛⲟⲥ , romanized : NiRemenkīmi enKhristianos ; Arabic : الْقِبْط , al-Qibṭ ) are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who primarily inhabit the area of modern Egypt , where they are the largest Christian denomination in the country . Copts are also the largest Christian denomination in Sudan and Libya . Historically , they spoke the Coptic language , a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity . Copts in Egypt constitute the largest Christian population in the Middle East and North Africa , as well as the largest religious minority in the region , accounting for roughly 5-20% of the Egyptian population , although the exact percentage is unknown as researchers are forbidden by authorities from asking about religion . Copts in Sudan constitute the largest Christian community in Sudan , and Copts in Libya constitute the largest Christian community in Libya , accounting for an estimated 1% of their respective populations . [ citation needed ] Most Copts adhere to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria , an Oriental Orthodox church . The smaller Coptic Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church in communion with the Roman Catholic Church . Copts of Egyptian ancestry maintain a distinct ethnic identity from Muslim Egyptians , with some of them rejecting an Arab identity . Genetically , Copts are a distinct population , albeit more closely related to the Muslims of Egypt than to any other population . There is considerable diversity within the Coptic ethno-religious group , with cultural , linguistic , and genetic differences existing between Copts from southern and northern Egypt .
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( Bohairic : ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ , ti.met.rem.ən.kʰēmi and Sahidic : ⲧⲙⲛ̄ⲧⲣⲙ̄ⲛ̄ⲕⲏⲙⲉ , t.mənt.rəm.ən.kēme ) , is the latest stage of the Egyptian language , a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 19th century as an official language . In the 2nd century BCE , Egyptian began to be written in the Coptic alphabet , which is an adaptation of the Greek alphabet with the addition of six or seven signs from the Demotic Egyptian to compensate the absence of the Afro-Asiatic sounds that the Greek language did not have . Several distinct Coptic dialects are identified , the most prominent of which are Sahidic , originating in parts of Upper Egypt and Bohairic , originally from the western Nile Delta in Lower Egypt . Coptic and Demotic are grammatically closely related to Late Egyptian , which was written with Egyptian hieroglyphs . Coptic flourished as a literary language from the 2nd to 13th centuries and its Bohairic dialect continues to be the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria . It was supplanted by Egyptian Arabic as a spoken language toward the early modern period , but language revitalization efforts have been underway since the 19th century .
Egyptians ( Arabic : مِصريّون [ Misriyun ] ; Coptic : ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ [ Niræmenkāmi ] ) are the people inhabiting the country of Egypt . Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography . The population is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley , a small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean and enclosed by desert both to the east and to the west . This unique geography has been the basis of the development of Egyptian society since antiquity . The daily language of the Egyptians is a continuum of the local varieties of Arabic , the most famous dialect is known as Egyptian Arabic or Masri . Additionally , a sizable minority of Egyptians living in Upper Egypt speak Sa'idi Arabic . Egyptians are predominantly adherents of Sunni Islam with a Shia minority and a significant proportion who follow native Sufi orders . A considerable percentage of Egyptians are Coptic Christians who belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church , whose liturgical language , Coptic , is the most recent stage of the ancient Egyptian language and is still used in prayers along with Arabic .
Egyptian Arabic , locally known as the Egyptian colloquial dialect , Masri , is the most prestigious and most spoken dialect in Egypt . Egyptian is a North African dialect of the Arabic language which is a Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family . It originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt around the capital Cairo . Egyptian Arabic evolved from the Quranic Arabic which was brought to Egypt during the seventh-century AD Muslim conquest that aimed to spread the Islamic faith among the Egyptians . Egyptian Arabic is mainly influenced by the Egyptian Coptic language and its grammar structure which was the native language of the vast majority of Nile Valley Egyptians prior to the Islamic conquest , and later it had small influences by European and foreign languages such as French , Italian , Greek , Turkish , and English . The 94 million Egyptians speak a continuum of dialects , among which Cairene is the most prominent . It is also understood across most of the Arabic-speaking countries due to the predominance of Egyptian influence on the region as well as Egyptian media including Egyptian cinema which has had a big influence in the MENA region for more than a century along with the Egyptian music industry , making it the most widely spoken and by far the most widely studied variety . While it is essentially a spoken language , it is encountered in written form in novels , plays , and poems ( vernacular literature ) , as well as in comics , advertising , some newspapers , and transcriptions of popular songs . In most other written media and in television news reporting , Literary Arabic is used . Literary Arabic is a standardized language based on the language of the Quran , that is , Classical Arabic . The Egyptian vernacular is almost universally written in the Arabic alphabet for local consumption , although it is commonly transcribed into Latin letters or in the International Phonetic Alphabet in linguistics text and textbooks aimed at teaching non-native learners . Also , it is written in ASCII Latin alphabet mainly online and in SMSs .
The Fur ( Fur : fòòrà , Arabic : فور Fūr ) are an ethnic group predominantly inhabiting western Sudan . They are concentrated in the Darfur region , where they are the largest ethnic group . They speak the Fur language , which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family .
The Fur language ( or For ; Fur : bèle fòòr or fòòraŋ bèle ; Arabic : فوراوي , Fûrâwî ; sometimes called Konjara by linguists , after a former ruling clan ) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Fur of Darfur in Western Sudan . It is part of a broader family of languages known as the Fur languages .
Haratin , also referred to as Haratine , Harratin or Hartani , are a group of closely related North African peoples who are native to northwestern regions of Sahara , especially in the Maghreb . They are particularly found in modern Mauritania ( where they form a plurality ) , Morocco , Western Sahara , and Algeria . In Tunisia and Libya they are referred to as Chouachin , Chouachine , or Chouchan . The Haratin are primarily of Sub-Saharan African heritage and speak Maghrebi Arabic dialects as well as various Berber languages . They form the single largest defined ethnolinguistic group in Mauritania where they account for 40% of the population ( ~1.5 million ) . They have been called a socially distinct class of workers , or a caste that emerged from a legacy of slavery in Africa under the Arabs , the Berbers , and the Moors . As a consequence of their ethnogenesis and history , the Haratin have been , and still commonly , are socially isolated throughout Maghreb , living in segregated , Haratin-only ghettos . They are commonly perceived as an endogamous group of former slaves or descendants of slaves . Most originated from Sahel and sub-Saharan region of West Africa . They adopted Islam under the Moors and were forcibly recruited into the Moroccan army by Ismail Ibn Sharif to consolidate power . Traditionally , many members of the community have held occupations in agriculture - as serfs , herdsmen , and indentured workers .
Hassānīya ( Arabic : حسانية Ḥassānīya ; also known as Hassaniyya , Klem El Bithan , Hasanya , Hassani , Hassaniya ) is a variety of Maghrebi Arabic spoken by Mauritanian Arab-Berbers and the Sahrawi . It was spoken by the Beni Ḥassān Bedouin tribes , who extended their authority over most of Mauritania and Morocco 's southeastern and Western Sahara between the 15th and 17th centuries . Hassaniya Arabic was the language spoken in the pre-modern region around Chinguetti . The language has now almost completely replaced the Berber languages that were originally spoken in this region . Although clearly a western dialect , Hassānīya is relatively distant from other Maghrebi variants of Arabic . Its geographical location exposed it to influence from Zenaga-Berber and Wolof . There are several dialects of Hassānīya which differ primarily phonetically . Today , Hassānīya is spoken in Algeria , Libya , Morocco , Mauritania , Mali , Niger , Senegal and the Western Sahara .
Maghrebis or Maghrebians ( Arabic : مغاربيون ; a modern Arabic term meaning Westerners , mainly referring to the western part of the Arab world ) are the inhabitants of Maghreb region , the westernmost part of North Africa and the Arab world . Maghrebis were known in medieval times as Roman Africans or Moors . The term Moor is derived from Mauri , the Roman name for the Berbers of Mauretania , land of the Moors , the Roman name for the western part of the Maghreb . The vast majority of Maghrebis are Arab-Berbers , Arabs , Arabized Berbers and Berbers , who are native to the region and synonymous with the term in older and historiographical literature .
Maghrebi Arabic ( Western Arabic ; as opposed to Eastern Arabic or Mashriqi Arabic ) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region , in Morocco , Algeria , Tunisia , Libya , Western Sahara , and Mauritania . It includes Moroccan , Algerian , Tunisian , Libyan , and Hassaniya Arabic . Speakers of Maghrebi Arabic are primarily Arab-Berbers who call their language Derdja , Derja , Derija or Darija ( Arabic : الدارجة ; meaning to rise or advance step by step ) . This serves to differentiate the spoken vernacular from Standard Arabic . The Maltese language is believed to be derived from Siculo-Arabic and ultimately from Tunisian Arabic , as it contains some typical Maghrebi Arabic areal characteristics .
The term Moors refers primarily to the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb , the Iberian Peninsula , Sicily , and Malta during the Middle Ages . The Moors initially were the indigenous Maghrebine Berbers . The name was later also applied to Arabs . Moors are not a distinct or self-defined people , and the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica observed that The term 'Moors ' has no real ethnological value . Europeans of the Middle Ages and the early modern period variously applied the name to Arabs , North African Berbers , and Muslim Europeans . The term has also been used in Europe in a broader , somewhat derogatory sense to refer to Muslims in general , especially those of Arab or Berber descent , whether living in Spain or North Africa . During the colonial era , the Portuguese introduced the names Ceylon Moors and Indian Moors in South Asia and Sri Lanka , and the Bengali Muslims were also called Moors . In the Philippines , the longstanding Muslim community , which predates the arrival of the Spanish , now self-identifies as the Moro people , an exonym introduced by Spanish colonizers due to their Muslim faith . In 711 , troops mostly formed by Moors from northern Africa led the Umayyad conquest of Hispania . The Iberian peninsula then came to be known in Classical Arabic as al-Andalus , which at its peak included most of Septimania and modern-day Spain and Portugal . In 827 , the Moors occupied Mazara on Sicily , developing it as a port . They eventually went on to consolidate the rest of the island .
Nubians ( /ˈnuːbiənz , ˈnjuː-/ ) are an ethnolinguistic group of Africans indigenous to present-day Sudan and southern Egypt who originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley , believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization . They speak Nubian languages , part of the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages . Early Neolithic settlements from prehistoric Egypt have been found in the central Nubian region dating back to 7000 BC , with Wadi Halfa believed to be the oldest settlement in the central Nile valley . Parts of Nubia , such as Ta-Seti ( the first nome or administrative region of ancient Egypt ) , were continuously a part of ancient Egypt throughout the dynastic era . Other parts of Nubia , particularly Lower or Upper Nubia , were at times a part of ancient Pharaonic Egypt and at other times a rival state representing parts of Meroë or the Kingdom of Kush . However , by the Twenty-fifth Dynasty , all of Nubia was united with Egypt , extending down to what is now Khartoum . Towards the end of the dynastic era , Upper Nubia broke off from Egypt proper . During that time , the Nubians founded a dynasty that ruled Upper and Lower Egypt in the eighth century BC . As warriors , the ancient Nubians were famous for their skill and precision with the bow and arrow . In the medieval period the Nubians converted to Christianity and established three kingdoms : Nobatia in the north , Makuria in the center and Alodia in the south . Today , Africans of Nubian descent primarily live in southern Egypt , especially in the Luxor and Aswan area , and in northern Sudan , particularly in the region between the city of Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian-Sudanese border and al Dabbah . Additionally , several groups known as the Hill Nubians live in the northern Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state , Sudan .
Nobiin , or Mahas , is a Northern Nubian language of the Nilo-Saharan language family . Nobiin is the genitive form of Nòòbíí ( Nubian ) and literally means ( language ) of the Nubians . Another term used is Noban tamen , meaning the Nubian language . At least 2500 years ago , the first Nubian speakers migrated into the Nile valley from the southwest . Old Nubian is thought to be ancestral to Nobiin . Nobiin is a tonal language with contrastive vowel and consonant length . The basic word order is subject-object-verb . Nobiin is currently spoken along the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt and northern Sudan by approximately 610,000 Nubians . Present-day Nobiin speakers are almost universally multilingual in local varieties of Arabic , generally speaking Modern Standard Arabic ( for official purposes ) as well as Saʽidi Arabic or Sudanese Arabic . Many Nobiin-speaking Nubians were forced to relocate in 1963-1964 to make room for the construction of the Aswan Dam at Aswan , Egypt and for the upstream Lake Nasser . [ citation needed ] There is no standardised orthography for Nobiin . It has been written in both Latin and Arabic scripts ; also , recently there have been efforts to revive the Old Nubian alphabet .
Sudanese Arabs are the majority population of Sudan . They are predominantly Sunni Muslims and most of them speak the Sudanese Arabic dialect . They have been described as essentially Arabized Nubian Cushites , although Sudan also houses ethnic Arabs like the Rashaida . The great majority of the Sudanese Arabs are split into four larger tribal groups : the Ja'alin , who primarily live along the Nile River , the Juhaynah who include the Rufaa and Shukriya , who live east and west of it , the Fazara who live in Northern Kordofan , and the Kawahala . Additionally , other smaller Sudanese groups who have also been Arabized , or partially Arabized , but retain a separate , non-Arab identity , include the Nubians , Copts , and Beja .
The Toubou , or Tubu ( from Old Tebu , meaning rock people ) , are an ethnic group inhabiting northern Chad , southern Libya , northeastern Niger and northwestern Sudan . They live either as herders and nomads or as farmers near oases . Their society is clan-based , with each clan having certain oases , pastures and wells . The Toubou are generally divided into two closely related groups : the Teda ( or Téda , Toda ) and the Dazagra ( or Dazaga , Dazagara , Daza ) . They are believed to share a common origin and speak two closely related languages called Tedaga ( Téda Toubou ) and Dazaga ( Dazaga Gouran ) , both Nilo-Saharan languages . The Toubou people speak the Tebu languages , which are from the Saharan branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family . The Teda of the Toubou live in the far north of Chad , around the borders of Libya and Niger and the Tibesti Mountains . The Dazagra people are found in northern Chad and part of eastern Niger and northwestern Sudan . Of the two groups , the Dazagra , found to the south of the Teda , are more numerous with a population of 1,500,000 , while the Teda number only 750,000 . The Toubou people are also referred to as the Tabu , Tebu , Tebou , Tibu , Tibbu , Toda , Todga , Todaga , Tubu , Tuda , Tudaga , and Umbararo people . The Dazaga are sometimes referred to as Gouran ( or Gorane , Goran , Gourane ) , an Arabian exonym . Many of Chad 's leaders have been Toubou ( Gouran ) , including president Goukouni Oueddei and president Hissène Habré .
Tebu is a small family of two Saharan languages , consisting of Daza and Teda . It is spoken by the two groups of Toubou people , the Daza and Teda . Tebu is predominantly spoken in Chad and in southern Libya by around 580,000 people . Daza and Teda have an estimated 537,000 and 42,500 speakers , respectively .
The Tuareg people ( /ˈtwɑːrɛɡ/ ; also spelt Twareg or Touareg ; endonym : Kel Tamasheq , Kel Tagelmust ) are a large Berber ethnic confederation . They principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria , Niger , Mali and Burkina Faso . Traditionally nomadic pastoralists , small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria . The Tuareg speak the Tuareg languages ( also known as Tamasheq ) , which belong to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family . The Tuaregs have been called the blue people for the indigo dye coloured clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin . A semi-nomadic Muslim people , they are believed to be descendants of the Berber natives of North Africa . The Tuareg have been one of the ethnic groups that have been historically influential in the spread of Islam and its legacy in North Africa and the adjacent Sahel region . Tuareg society has traditionally featured clan membership , social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation . The Tuareg have controlled several trans-Saharan trade routes and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the colonial and post-colonial era .
Tuareg ( English : /ˈtwɑːrɛɡ/ ) , also known as Tamasheq ( English : /ˈtæməʃɛk/ ) , Tamajaq or Tamahaq ( Tifinagh : ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵌⴰⵆ ) , is a language or family of very closely related Berber languages and dialects . It is spoken by the Tuareg Berbers in large parts of Mali , Niger , Algeria , Libya and Burkina Faso , with a few speakers , the Kinnin , in Chad .
The Zaghawa people , also called Beri or Zakhawa , are a Central African Muslim ethnic group of eastern Chad and western Sudan , including Darfur . Zaghawas speak the Zaghawa language , which is an eastern Saharan language . They are pastoralists , and a breed of sheep that they herd is called Zaghawa by the Arabs . They are nomadic and obtain much of their livelihood through herding cattle , camels and sheep and harvesting wild grains . It has been estimated that there are between 2000,000 and 2000,500 Zaghawa .
Zaghawa is a Saharan language spoken by the Zaghawa people of east-central Chad ( in the Sahel ) and northwestern Sudan ( Darfur ) . The people who speak this language call it Beria , from Beri , the endonym of the Zaghawa people , and a , Zaghawa for mouth . It has been estimated that there are between 750,000 and 1,350,000 Zaghawa speakers , who primarily live in Chad and the Darfur region of Sudan .