The Nyangatom people belong to the Ateker or Karamojong cluster that also contains the Turkana, Toposa, Karamojong, and Jie who speak closely related languages.

The Nyangatom people belong to the Ateker or Karamojong cluster that also contains the Turkana, Toposa, Karamojong, and Jie who speak closely related languages. They number approximately 30,000 with populations in both South Sudan and Ethiopia.




Many Nyangatom are nomadic, residing in mobile livestock villages that may migrate several times a year. A substantial number of Nyangatom also reside in semi-permanent villages. It is common for individuals to move between mobile cattle camps and semi-permanent villages.

Photo by ©Art Wolfe

Tornay, Serge (1981). "The Nyangatom: An Outline of Their Ecology and Social Organization" (PDF). In Bender, M. Lionel (ed.). Peoples and cultures of the Ethio-Sudan borderlands. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. pp. 137–178.

By: the_urbanhistorian