How many tribes are there in Africa?

Answer 1

There are an estimated 3,000 people groups in Africa, depending on how you define a people group. The link below is not a cut and dry answer, as there is overlap in neighboring countries (e.g. the Batwa tribe live in Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, and perhaps other countries).

http://www.joshuaproject.net/continents.php

The previous answer (about there being 26 tribes in Africa, based on one incomplete Google search) was nonsense , so I deleted it.

If we are looking for the most well known tribes, it would probably be the Maasai (in East Africa) and the Zulu (in South Africa). The pygmy people in central Africa (who have historically been socially excluded and even killed because of their cultural differences) are probably quite well known, but not by their tribal names:

from: http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/pygmies.htm

There are many different 'Pygmy' peoples - for example, the Bambuti, the Batwa, the Bayaka and the Bagyeli ('Ba -' means 'people') - who live scattered over a huge area in central and western Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. In many places they are recognised as being the first inhabitants of the region. The different Pygmy groups speak different languages, mostly related to those of neighbouring non-Pygmy peoples. However there are a few words which are shared between even widely separated Pygmy tribes, suggesting they may have shared a language in the past.

Here are some of the tribe names from the country of Kenya (in East Africa):

From: http://www.Kenya-advisor.com/tribes-in-Kenya.HTML

Language, however, is the main criteria for a tribe. There are three main language groups in which the tribes in Kenya can be divided:

Bantu-speaking tribes:

Central Bantu: Kikuyu, Akamba, Meru, Embu, Tharaka, Mbere

Western Bantu: Gussi, Kuria, Luhya

Coastal Bantu: Mikikenda, Swahili, Pokomo, Segeju, Taveta, Taita

Nilotic-speaking tribes:

Plains Nilotic: Maasai, Samburu, Teso, Turkana, Elmolo, Njemps

Highland Nilotic: Kalenjin, Marakwet, Tugen, Pokot, Elkony, Kipsigis

Lake River Nilotic: Luo

Cushitic-speaking tribes:

Eastern Cushitic: Rendille, Somali, Boran, Gabbra, Orma

Southern Cushitic: Boni

However, most Kenyans speak at least three languages: their tribal language, Swahili (which has become a 'lingua franca' among a large part of East Africa) and English. Swahili (or Kiswahili) and English are the official languages of Kenya.

Answer 2

There are over 750 known tribes in America. Around the world there are thousands. Unfortunately there is no possible way to know how many tribes are in the world due to the fact that many tribes are still undiscovered.

Answer 3

there are more than 1,000 tribes in the whole world.