Naga people Languages What were the languages of the Naga people? Naga people speak over 89 different languages and dialects, mostly unintelligible with each other. However, there are many similarities Do they have any language in common? Per Grierson's classification system, Naga languages can be grouped into Western, Central and Eastern Naga groups. Who makes the Western Nasa groups? The Western group includes among others Angami, Chokri, Khezha and Rengma. Who makes the central naga groups? The Central Naga group includes Ao, and Lotha ; Who makes the eastern Nasa group? Eastern group includes Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Khiamniungan, Yimchunger and Chang tribes. What was the impact of the different languages spoken? The diversity of languages and traditions of the Nagas results most likely from the multiple cultural absorptions that occurred during their successive migrations.
Where did they migrate to?
Where did the Naga people migrate to?
Nagas have more language diversity than any other ethnic group or states in India. Naga people speak over 89 different languages and dialects, mostly unintelligible with each other. However, there are many similarities in between different languages spoken by them. Per Grierson's classification system, Naga languages can be grouped into Western, Central and Eastern Naga groups. The Western group includes among others Angami, Chokri, Khezha and Rengma. The Central Naga group includes Ao, and Lotha ; while Eastern group includes Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Khiamniungan, Yimchunger and Chang tribes. The Sumi group originating in both central and western parts. In addition, there are Naga-Bodo group illustrated by Mikir language, and Kuki group of languages illustrated by Sopvama (also called Mao Naga) and Luppa languages. These mostly belong to the Tibeto-Burman language group of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shafer came up with his own classification system for languages found in and around Nagaland.  The diversity of languages and traditions of the Nagas results most likely from the multiple cultural absorptions that occurred during their successive migrations. According to legend, before settling in the region, these groups moved over vast zones, and in the process, some clans were absorbed into one or more other tribes. Therefore, until recent times, absorptions were a source of many interclan conflicts.  In 1967, the Nagaland Assembly proclaimed English as the official language of Nagaland and it is the medium for education in Nagaland. Other than English, Nagamese, a creole language form of the Assamese language, is a widely spoken language. Every tribe has its own mother tongue but communicates with other tribes in Nagamese or English. However, English is the predominant spoken and written language in Nagaland. CANNOTANSWER
According to legend, before settling in the region, these groups moved over vast zones, and in the process, some clans were absorbed into one or more other tribes.
Nagas are various ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar. The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland and Naga Self-Administered Zone of Myanmar; with significant populations in Manipur, and Assam in India; Sagaing Region and Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma).

The Nagas are divided into various Naga ethnic groups whose numbers and population are unclear. They each speak distinct Naga languages often unintelligible to the others.

Etymology
The present day Naga people have been called by many names, like 'Noga' by Assamese 'chingmi' by Manipuri and 'Chin' by Burmese.  However, over time 'Naga' became the commonly accepted nomenclature, and was also used by the British. According to the Burma Gazetteer, the term 'Naga' is of doubtful origin and is used to describe hill tribes that occupy the country between the Chin in the south and Kachin (Singpho) in the Northeast.

Languages

The Naga languages are either classified under the Kuki-Chin-Naga languages or the Sal languages.

Nagas have more language diversity than any other ethnic group or states in India. Naga people speak over 89 different languages and dialects, mostly unintelligible with each other. However, there are many similarities in between different languages spoken by them. 
The diversity of languages and traditions of the Nagas results most likely from the multiple cultural absorptions that occurred during their successive migrations. According to legend, before settling in the region, these groups moved over vast zones, and in the process, some clans were absorbed into one or more other groups. Therefore, until recent times, absorptions were a source of many interclan conflicts.

In 1967, the Nagaland Assembly proclaimed English as the official language of Nagaland and it is the medium for education in Nagaland. Other than English, Nagamese, a creole language form of the Assamese language, is a widely spoken language. Every community has its own mother tongue but communicates with other communities in either Nagamese or English. However, English is the predominant spoken and written language in Nagaland. Hindi is also taught along with English in most schools and most Nagas prefer to used Hindi to communicate with the migrant workers of the state, that primarily comes from Bihar, UP and Madhya Pradesh.

Culture

Art

The Naga people love colour as is evident in the shawls designed and woven by women, and in the headgear that both sexes design. Clothing patterns are traditional to each group, and the cloths are woven by the women. They use beads in variety, profusion and complexity in their jewelry, along with a wide range of materials including glass, shell, stone, teeth or tusk, claws, horns, metal, bone, wood, seeds, hair, and fibre.

According to Dr. Verrier Elwin, these groups made all the goods they used, as was once common in many traditional societies: "they have made their own cloth, their own hats and rain-coats; they have prepared their own medicines, their own cooking-vessels, their own substitutes for crockery.". Craftwork includes the making of baskets, weaving of cloth, wood carving, pottery, metalwork, jewellery-making and bead-work.

Weaving of colorful woolen and cotton shawls is a central activity for women of all Nagas. One of the common features of Naga shawls is that three pieces are woven separately and stitched together. Weaving is an intricate and time consuming work and each shawl takes at least a few days to complete. Designs for shawls and wraparound garments (commonly called mekhala) are different for men and women.  Among many groups the design of the shawl denotes the social status of the wearer. Some of the more known shawls include Tsungkotepsu and Rongsu of the Aos; Sutam, Ethasu, Longpensu of the Lothas; Supong of the Sangtams, Rongkhim and Tsungrem Khim of the Yimkhiungs; and the Angami Lohe shawls with thick embroidered animal motifs.

Naga jewelry is an equally important part of identity, with the entire tribe wearing similar bead jewelry.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce has filed an application seeking registration of traditional Naga shawls made in Nagaland with the Geographical Registry of India for Geographical Indication.

Cuisine

Naga cuisine is characterized by smoked and fermented foods.

Folk song and dances

Folk songs and dances are essential ingredients of the traditional Naga culture. The oral tradition is kept alive through the media of folk tales and songs. Naga folk songs are both romantic and historical, with songs narrating entire stories of famous ancestors and incidents. Seasonal songs describe activities done in a particular agricultural cycle. The early Western missionaries opposed the use of folk songs by Naga Christians as they were perceived to be associated with spirit worship, war, and immorality. As a result, translated versions of Western hymns were introduced, leading to the slow disappearance of indigenous music from the Naga hills.

Folk dances of the Nagas are mostly performed in groups in synchronized fashion, by both men and women, depending on the type of dance. Dances are usually performed at festivals and religious occasions. War dances are performed mostly by men and are athletic and martial in style. All dances are accompanied by songs and war cries by the dancers. Indigenous musical instruments made and used by the people are bamboo mouth organs, cup violins, bamboo flutes, trumpets, drums made of cattle skin, and log drums.

Festivals
The various Naga groups have their own distinct festivals. To promote inter-group interaction, the Government of Nagaland has organized the annual Hornbill Festival since 2000. Another inter-tribe festival is Lui Ngai Ni. The group-specific festivals include:

Naga identity 

The word Naga originated as an exonym. Today, it covers a number of ethnic groups that reside in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh states of India, and also in Myanmar.

Before the arrival of the British, the term "Naga" was used by Assamese to refer to certain isolated ethnic groups. The British adopted this term for a number of ethnic groups in the surrounding area, based on loose linguistic and cultural associations. The number of groups classified as "Naga" increased significantly in the 20th century: as of December 2015, 89 groups are classified as Naga by the various sources. This expansion in the "Naga" identity has been due to a number of factors including the quest for upward mobility in the society of Nagaland, and the desire to establish a common purpose of resistance against dominance by other groups.  In this way, the "Naga" identity has not always been fixed.

The Kuki people of Nagaland have been classified as "Naga" in the past, but today are generally considered a non-Naga. The Kuki have had good relations with the Naga in the past, but since the 1990s, conflicts have risen, especially in Manipur.

Nagas in India
Several Naga tribes are listed as scheduled tribes in 6 Indian States: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland

Nagas in Myanmar
Nagas in Myanmar are mostly found in Sagaing Division and Kachin state. The Naga territory in Myanmar is marked by Kabaw valley in the south bordering to the Chin state, the Kachin on the north and the Burmese on the east.

The Major Naga ethnic groups in Myanmar are:

   Konyak
   Lainong
   Makury
   Nokko (Khiamniungan) 
   Para
   Somra Tangkhul
   Tangshang
   Anāl Naga

Some other minor Naga groups are Lamkang, Moyon, Koka, Longphuri, Paung Nyuan, etc

The townships which are inhabited by the Nagas are:
 Homalin
 Lahe with Tanbakwe sub-township
 Layshi with Mowailut sub-township and Somra sub-township
 Hkamti
 Nanyun with Pangsau and Dunghi sub-township
 Tamu of Sagaing Division and
 Tanai of Kachin state

Anal and Moyon are mainly found in Tamu township on the south and a few Somra Nagas are also found in and around Tamu bordering to Layshi jurisdiction. Makury, Para and Somra tribes are mainly found in Layshi township. Makury Nagas and a few Somra Nagas are also found in Homalin township. Lahe is highly populated by Konyak, Nokko, Lainong and Makury tribes. Nanyun on the north is the home of Tangshang tribe which comprises more than 54 sub-dialect groups. Homlin township is highly populated by the considered lost tribes (Red Shans). But Kukis, Burmese, Chinese and Indians are also found there. Hkamti township is populated altogether by all the Naga tribes majority and with a number of Burmese, Shans, Chinese and Indians. Tanai in Kachin state of Myanmar is inhabited by the Tangshang Nagas among the Kachin people.

Gallery

See also
History of the Nagas
List of Naga tribes
List of Naga languages
List of Naga people

References

Further reading
Drouyer, A. Isabel, Drouyer René, " THE NAGAS: MEMORIES OF HEADHUNTERS- Indo-Burmese Borderlands vol.1"; White Lotus, 2016, .
 Wettstein, Marion. 2014. Naga Textiles: Design, Technique, Meaning and Effect of a Local Craft Tradition in Northeast India. Arnoldsche, Stuttgart 2014, .
 von Stockhausen, Alban. 2014. Imag(in)ing the Nagas: The Pictorial Ethnography of Hans-Eberhard Kauffmann and Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. Arnoldsche, Stuttgart 2014, .
Shongzan, Mayaso, "A Portrait of the Tangkhul Nagas"; Exodus, 2013, .
Stirn, Aglaja & Peter van Ham. The Hidden world of the Naga: Living Traditions in Northeast India. London: Prestel.
Oppitz, Michael, Thomas Kaiser, Alban von Stockhausen & Marion Wettstein. 2008. Naga Identities: Changing Local Cultures in the Northeast of India. Gent: Snoeck Publishers.
Kunz, Richard & Vibha Joshi. 2008. Naga – A Forgotten Mountain Region Rediscovered. Basel: Merian.

 Shimray, Atai, A.S. - "Let freedom ring?: Story of Naga nationalism".

Novels
 Ben Doherty, Nagaland, Wild Dingo Press, Melbourne, 2018, .

External links

 Official site of Nagaland state government
 Photos of Nagas in Burma by Goto Osami
 Photos of Nagas by Pablo Bartholomew
 Article "Textile & Bead Art of Nagaland"
 National Geographic Why These Headhunters Converted to Christianity
 Naga National Council's Official site

 
Sino-Tibetan-speaking people
Ethnic groups in Northeast India
Indigenous peoples of South Asia
Social groups of Assam
Headhunting
Scheduled Tribes of Nagaland
Ethnic groups in South Asia
Ethnic groups divided by international borders
Wealth Migrate is an online marketplace that allows users to directly invest in a property suggested by the website itself.

History
Scott Picken and Hennie Bezuidenhoudt founded Wealth Migrate in 2009. The company is an online real estate marketplace that allows individuals to invest in property around the world. The company allows for investors to make both residential and commercial investments, dependent on the country where the investment is taking place. The concept was a spin-off idea from Picken's university thesis, which discussed the use of technology in financial markets during the late 1990s. The company initially assisted South African's with their overseas investments, before expanding to other markets.

The CEOs of Wealth Migrate and its competitors predict that the real estate crowdfunding market will grow over the next decade.
In 2014, The Huffington Post listed Wealth Migrate as one of the top United States Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms. Later that year, it was stated that the crowdfunding market had made over $2.5 billion in a single year, with predictions that crowdfunding would continue to grow as a way of investing in real estate.

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Investments
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The concept was developed when statistics suggested that large equity companies would often invest a small percentage of their funds into real estate. Wealth Migrate summarized that by using technology and crowdfunding, investments in large developments could be made by individuals acting in groups, allowing them to receive a much higher return on investment, compared to the individual acting alone.

One of the major examples that were quoted on CNBC Africa, was the investment made in the medical market. The company CEO stated that they invested close to hospitals geographically, which allowed a steady return on the investment. Another example given was the investment and purchasing of commercial property around London, where they would then rent the property to a convenience store company once it had been purchased.

External links
 Official website

References

Internet properties established in 2009
South African real estate websites
Online marketplaces of South Africa After the death of Ertuğrul's father, the Oghuz Turkic Kayı tribe was divided when Ertuğrul's elder brothers, Gündoğdu Bey and Sungurtekin Bey, decided to migrate to Central Asia, while Ertuğrul and his younger brother Dündar wanted to migrate to Söğüt.

Sungur Tekin and Gündoğdu
The only information existing about the lives of Ertuğrul's elder brothers is about what they did before the division of the Kayı tribe.

Biographies
Sungurtekin worked as a spy for the Seljuks in Ögedai's army and passed on the information he got but was possibly killed when he was caught. However, according to the latest findings, he returned to the tribe. 

Gündoğdu Bey took part in the Battle of Yassıçemen where he fought alongside his brother, Ertuğrul, and Sultan Alaaddin Keykubad I of the Sultanate of Rum. After this, Ertuğrul clothed Gündoğdu with something called Hilat, an armour worn after victory. It is unknown whether Gündoğdu Bey's mother was actually Hayme Hatun as some historians suggest that Hayme Ana was the second wife of Suleyman Shah or Gündüz Alp

Division of the tribe
There isn't much information about the older brothers of Ertuğrul, however, one of the things that they are known for is that they migrated to Ahlat rather than Söğüt, which was where Ertuğrul migrated from Sivas. Most of the tribe wanted to migrate to Central Asia, their homeland, and therefore, 1000 people migrated to Central Asia with the older brothers, and 400 people migrated with the younger brothers. According to sources, Hayme Hatun was with Ertuğrul in this migration. The reason why Ertuğrul and Dündar decided to migrate to Söğüt was either that they wanted to escape the Mongol onslaught, what the Turkmen tribes had been doing for decades, or that they wanted to populate the area gifted to Ertuğrul by Keykubad I with Oghuz Turks.

Aftermath
Gündoğdu Bey and Sungurtekin Bey lived unremarkably quiet lives and only verbal accounts of them were told by different people through time. Hence, they were forgotten about as time passed and they were said to not be "paid attention to" as a punishment for not migrating with Ertuğrul. Not mentioned in Mongol records, it was also said that they were attacked in a great Mongol invasion where they suffered big losses. As they silently disappeared from history, not even their graves could be found till this day.

In modern days
In Turkmenistan, the Kayı tribe is one of the main divisions of the Geklen Turkmens living in the Balkan Region and consists of the following clans: adnakel, ak kel, alatelpek, bagly, barak, burkaz, ganjyk, gapan, garabalkan, garawul, garagol, garagul, garadaşly, garakel, garga, garyşmaz and others. The Kayı are also a clan among the Bayat Turkmens of the Lebap Region. The Kayıs in Turkmenistan probably migrated with Gündoğdu Bey and Sungurtekin Bey and thus it is very likely that they indeed survived after their migration to Central Asia.

In popular culture
In the Turkish TV series, Diriliş: Ertuğrul and its sequel, Kuruluş: Osman, Sungurtekin Gazi is played by the Turkish actor Sezgin Erdemir. In Diriliş: Ertuğrul, Gündoğdu Bey was portrayed by the Turkish actor Kaan Taşaner. The Kayı were also divided in the series.

Notes

References 

13th-century people of the Ottoman Empire
Oghuz Turks