Iraqw
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The Iraqw are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the Mbulu District of Arusha Region in north-central Tanzania, above the Rift Valley wall and south of Ngorongoro Crater. In 2001 the Mbulu population was estimated to number 462,000 [1]. They speak a Cushitic languge belonging to the Afro-Asiatic family. However, their genetic profile shows that they may be descendants of an archaic African population related to Nilotes and distantly to Khoisan, who mixed with Afro-Asiatic speaking people and adopted their language. According to Knight et al. (2003), the Iraqw possessed 17% Y-haplogroup A (very probably a subclade A3b2 that is present in Nilotic tribes) and their old origin is confirmed by high presence of an archaic mtDNA haplogroup L1f. However, since the male sample was very small (6 people) and the A-lineage was thus present in only one man, further research would be necessary. Moreover, the A-lineage is also found among Cushitic and Ethio-Semitic populations (10% among Oromos and 14% among Amharas).
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