Nilot, any member of several east-central African peoples living in South Sudan, northern Uganda, and western Kenya. The name refers to the area in which they live, mostly the region of the upper Nile and its tributaries, and to a linguistic unity that distinguishes them from their neighbours who have similar physical characteristics and culture. (See Nilotic languages.) The Nilotes numbered about seven million in the late 20th century.
Most Nilotes occupy savanna country that is alternately subject to flooding and drought. They pursue a mixed economy of pastoralism and hoe cultivation, supplemented by fishing, hunting, and a little food gathering. Although Nilotes may cultivate out of necessity, all except the Anywa of South Sudan are pastoralists with a great love of cattle. Milk, milk products, and grain are staple foods. Cattle are not slaughtered indiscriminately for meat; they are paid in compensation and bridewealth, and their ownership determines status and wealth. Nilotic peoples have a rich cattle vocabulary; they spend much time caring for the herds and erecting large stables, or kraals, for their protection. A man commonly trains his favourite ox and decorates its horns, and in many cases he is addressed by the animal’s name. Cattle assume ritual importance, being dedicated and sacrificed to ancestors or spirits.
Nomadic or transhumant movements are especially pronounced among the Nuer and Dinka peoples. In the wet season they live in permanent village settlements above flood level and cultivate crops and herd cattle in the vicinity of their well-built, circular houses. In the dry season they occupy temporary cattle camps near permanent water supplies and pastures, where they live in windbreaks and engage in herding and fishing. Other Nilotic tribes are more sedentary.
The Shilluk are the most highly organized, having a divine king who symbolizes the whole realm. Organized chieftainships, associated with rainmaking, court ceremonial, and royal emblems, are found also among the Anywa, Acholi, and others. In contrast, the Nuer, Dinka, and Luo of Kenya are without rulers, their egalitarian society being based on a relationship between lineage segments coordinated with territorial segments. A dominant clan is associated with a tribal territory; dominant lineages of this clan are found in subdivisions of the society. The principal opposition between segments and their fusion in relation to larger segments is marked; descent is patrilineal.
Ritual experts are often rainmakers; among the Dinka and Nuer they act also as mediators and peacemakers in feuds between lineages and between territorial subdivisions. There are strong ancestor cults and belief in a supreme being. Totemism exists in some societies but is important only among the Dinka.