Dravidian peoples

The Dravidian peoples are an ethnolinguistic group who speak the Dravidian languages.Borders, Everett C., Coon. (3 September 2010). Apart Type Screenplay - Everett C. Borders - Google Books. ISBN 9781453559406. Retrieved 25 June 2013.

 Ancient Dravidians and origin 
According to scientists and historians, the Dravidian people are descendants of Neolithic West Asian farmers from Iran which conquered and largely displaced the outnumbered native hunter gatherers of India. Dravidians are linked to the neolithic Zagros Mountain farmers, and this West Asian population forms the main ancestor of modern South Asians.

A genetic and biogeographical study (Das et al. 2016) concluded that Dravidian peoples belong to the Caucasoid race. According to the study, these proto-Dravidians migrated into India around 8,000 years ago from a region later known as Elam in modern day Iran. The authors suggest that this results support the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis.

The Indus Valley civilization is suggested to be of Dravidian origin.Parpola, Asko (2015), The Roots of Hinduism. The Early Arians and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press Genetic tests show that the ancient Indus Valley Civilization was predominantly of neolithic Zagros mountain farmers ancestry (98%) and this ancestry component is linked to early Dravidians.Lazaridis, Iosif (2016), "The genetic structure of the world's first farmers"

 Today 
Today there are around 220 million Dravidian speakers worldwide. Most live in South India. Others live in parts of Central India, Eastern India, Bangladesh, Southern Pakistan, Sri Lanka the Maldives and Nepal. The biggest groups of Dravidians are the Tamil people, Telugu people, Kannada people, and the Malayali people. Smaller Dravidian communities with 1–5 million speakers are the Tulu people, Gondi people and Brahui people in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

List of Dravidian people
 Name Country Population Notes Brahuis  ,   4,873,000  Brahuis belong to the north-Dravidian subgroup.The majority are found in Baluchistan, Pakistan, with smaller amounts in Southwestern Afghanistan. Kannadigas , 36.9 million  Kannadigas belong to the south-Dravidian subgroup. Kannadigas are native to Karnataka, parts of northern Kerala,parts of southern Maharashtra, and northwest region of Tamil Nadu, India. Malayalis ,, 38 millionMikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin.  Asterisks mark the 2010 estimates  for the top dozen languages.  Malayalis belong to south-Dravidian linguistic subgroup. Native to Kerala, southwestern Tamil Nadu, and Southern Karnataka. Tamils  ,   75 millionWorld Tamil Population . tamilo.com. (August 2008)  They belong to south-Dravidian linguistic subgroup. Tamils are native to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, parts of Kerala, southern Andhra Pradesh, southern Karnataka and Sri Lanka. Telugus , ,, 74 millionAbstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2000, Census of India, 2001  They belong to the central/north Dravidian subgroup. Telugus are native to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana. Tuluvas   2,000,000 (approx)  They belong to the south Dravidian subgroup, and are found in coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala (alternatively named Tulu Nadh).

 References 

Category:Ethnic groups in India