Description:
Specialised African type, native to the swamps and savannahs of the Upper Nile region in South Sudan and adjacent countries. With their black skin they belong to the darkest people on Earth. Their thin bodies are the tallest of all indigenous human groups worldwide who are still alive, their legs longer than in any other known group. Only poverty and malnutrition keep individuals below their genetic height-potential. Heads long, facial features coarse with a rather wide nose, full lips, and kinky hair. Prognathy weak. Nilotids seem to be a relatively old group that might have extended further East into Ethiopia during prehistoric periods. The most typical variety is the Dinkaid, native to swamp regions. A similar savannah counterpart is the Shillukids. South Nilotids show less pronounced features, possibly due to admixture. In Chad, the admixed West Nilotid Shari type is found. An very ancient variety still exists between Sudan and Ethiopia: the Pre Nilotid.Names:
Nilotid (Eickstedt, 1934, 1952; Vogel, 1974; Knussmann, 1996), Nilid (Lundman, 1967, 1988); Nilotic (Debets, 1974), Nilotique (Vallois, 1968), Nilotica (Biasutti, 1967), Nilotes (Cole, 1965), Nilotic Negro (Hooton, 1946), Nilocharienne (Montandon, 1933).
