Hadza people

The Hadza, or Hadzabe (Wahadzabe, in Swahili), are a protected Hunter-gatherer Tanzanian indigenous ethnic group from Baray ward in southwest Karatu District of Arusha Region. They live around Lake Eyasi basin in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Plateau. There are, as of 2015, between 1,200 and 1,300 Hadza people living in Tanzania, however only around 400 Hadza still survive exclusively based on the traditional means of foraging. Additionally, the increasing impact of tourism and encroaching pastoralists pose serious threats to the continuation of their traditional way of life. Genetically, the Hadza are not closely related to any other people. Once classified among the Khoisan languages, primarily because it has clicks, the Hadza language (Hadzane) is actually thought to be an isolate, unrelated to any other. Hadzane is an entirely oral language, but it is not predicted to be in danger of extinction. UNESCO states that the language is not endangered but vulnerable because most children learn it but the use is restricted to certain areas of life, for example to the home. Hadzane is also considered the most important factor of distinguishing who is and is not actually a part of the Hadza people. In more recent years, many of the Hadza have learned Swahili, the national language of Tanzania, as a second language. As descendants of Tanzania's aboriginal, pre-Bantu expansion hunter-gatherer population, they have probably occupied their current territory for thousands of years, with relatively little modification to their basic way of life until the past hundred years. Since the 18th century, the Hadza have come into increasing contact with farming and herding people entering Hadzaland and its vicinity; the interactions were often hostile and caused a population decline in the late 19th century. The first European contact and written accounts of the Hadza are from the late 19th century. Since then, there have been many attempts by successive colonial administrations, the independent Tanzanian government, and foreign missionaries to settle the Hadza, by introducing farming and Christianity.