Tribe

Tribe is a name given to a community comprised of the people of the same race, sharing the same customs, religion, language, or land, considered not to have reached an advanced level of civilization, and have, by and large, a premitive level of civilization. Anthropologists, linguists and other scholars have been trying to define this word for a long time, but they are yet to agree on any definition.

The term tribe was used by the British colonists, travellers, explorers, traders and missionaries to understand and describe the way of life of native people they found in Africa, Asia, Australia and the New World. The people residing in the forests and jungles were called by them tribals to differentiate them from other civilized people of the land. As for the anthropological studies, we find many terms for these tribes or tribal population. The common terms being in use for tribe are native, naive, savage, forest dweler, vanyajati, vanvasi, adimjati, adivasi, folk society, little community, simple society, preliterate society, girijan, etc.

The essential characteristics of these communities are:- 1. Primitive Traits 2. Geographical isolation 3. Distinct culture 4. Shy of contact with other communities at large 5. Economically backward Scheduled Tribes of India

Scheduled Tribes of India, Tribes in India, Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar, Tribes of Andhra Pradesh, Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Tribes of Assam