The Palaung people of Myanmar are divided into three groups, each of which has its own language. These three languages are all thriving; they are spoken in the home and markets by speakers of all ages. The Palaung live in the mountainous northern region where census taking is difficult and results uncertain. The Rumai Palaung number around 157,000; they have no Scriptures. The Shwe Palaung number […]
The Moor (world-wide population 4,235,100) are originally from North Africa. They are proud of their Arabic ancestry and retain its Islamic influence which varies between the terrorist Quidari and the more peaceful Jajani. Their language is Hassaniya Arabic. They have no Scripture or known missionaries.
In 711 AD, the Moor invaded and conquered Spain. They contributed so much knowledge during their several hundred year reign that Europe made […]
An estimated four to five million Luri people live in the Zagros Mountains in the southwestern provinces of Iran. Making up about 7% of Iran’s population, these ancient nomads are believed to be indigenous to the area, descended from ancient Persians. History reports that Luri ancestors were the Elamites and Kassites, dating back to 3000 B.C. It was the Kassite dynasty that defeated ancient Babylonia and […]
The Amazon Basin contains the largest tropical rainforest in the world, covering an area almost the size of the continental United States. Most of the basin lies within Brazil, but it also encompasses parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. It is home to an estimated twenty-six million people, including isolated and even uncontacted tribes. Some have denied the existence of as yet uncontacted tribes, […]
The 4,127,124 Banjar, Indonesia’s tenth largest ethnic group, makes up 1.7% of the nation’s total population. They live mainly in Southern Kalimantan. There are also over a million Banjar in Malaysia.
The Banjarese language reflects the influence of the Dayaks, the Javanese, and the Malay peoples from whom the Banjar descended. This is a very active language; many of its speakers lack fluency in Indonesian. The script […]
The official languages of the Republic of Cameroon are French and English. There are also 286 indigenous languages, one of which is Eton with an estimated 127,000 speakers. The Eton people live in the tropical rain forest of the Centre Region. They are subsistence farmers, using the slash and burn method to plant root crops (such as cassava, yam, and macabo), plantain, and groundnuts. Fishing and hunting […]
Many people assume that all people living in the Middle East are Arabic. However, this is not the case. The Azeri Turk people group, located mainly in northern Iran and eastern and western Azerbaijan, are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group. The population of this people group in these two countries is 15.5 million.
They are primarily descendants of the Caucasian Albanian and Iranian people (Persians), who lived in the […]
Every country in the world has a Deaf population, and they are largely unreached. Many of them have their own culture and a sign language distinct for that country. Some deaf people live in isolation and loneliness, while others move to cities and form deaf communities.
There are actually two Englands— two English languages and two English cultures that co-exist side by side—the hearing and the Deaf. Similarly, […]
Photo by Paul Hathaway
The Panxian Nasu (pronounced Pan-sheeun Na-soo) live in southwestern China in the Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guangxi Provinces. Different sources number them anywhere from 290,000 to 383,000. They speak one of six distinct languages of the Yi people group, and there are two separate dialects of that one language. Their origin and culture are also distinct from other Yi.
Over the centuries, the Panxian Nasu […]
Isolated and sheltered from the rest of the world by the high peaks of the Caucasus Mountains, the Svan people have preserved and carried on their ancient culture for centuries. Eastern Orthodoxy arrived around the sixth century, yet, it quickly meshed together with primal customs such as sun worship, blood feuds, and animal sacrifices. This syncretized culture still runs deep among the people.
Because life became increasingly easier beyond […]