Member of a Cushitic people inhabiting southern Ethiopia and northwestern Kenya. Galla is a Hamito-Semitic (Afro-Asiatic) language, and is spoken by about 12 million people. Most are sedentary agriculturalists, except for some in the south who are nomadic pastoralists. They originally spread south from the Ethiopian plateau and Ethiopian empire. The southern Galla adhere to traditional beliefs, whereas those in the north are Muslims or Christians.
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