The Tallest People on Earth: The Remarkable Dinka and Nuer Tribes of Africa Read More In Comment 
In the heart of Africa, where the vast savannahs meet the winding rivers, live two of the most extraordinary human populations on Earth—the Dinka and Nuer tribes. These tribes, hailing from South Sudan, are renowned not only for their rich cultural heritage and traditional ways of life but also for their exceptional height. With an average stature exceeding two meters, the Dinka and Nuer people stand tall—literally—among the tallest people on the planet.
Because of the vast geographic area they occupy, the Dinka exhibit great diversity of dialect, although they value intra-group unity in the face of enemies. By tradition, certain of their patrilineal clans provide priest-chiefs (“masters of the fishing spear”), whose position is validated by elaborate myths
Whay are they so tall
There are multiple factors not just one. People don’t just get that tall due to 1 single reason.
- Research shows their diet is highly consist of dairy since they are pastoral cow people.
- They live in a hot climate. Allen’s rule states that people who live in cold climate have shorter limbs to help with heat easier. Likewise, the opposite can be said about Dinkas. Their hot climate would lengthen their limbs to help in the hot area.
- Their terrains are flatter and not as steep or hilly. This is actually the more important reason in my opnion. I’ll go into this more.
1St off, dairy is obvious. It helps with calcium to increase bone growth. Alot of people drink dairy around the world and they do get tall but not on Dinka standards. There’s more to it. If we look at, let’s say, south east asians or even some Mongols or some Alaska natives, they tend to have shorter limbs especially legs. This is due to a combination of cold and lifestyle. Over the past few thousand years, human have developed into using less man power and more animal/brain power. The mongols rely on horses/other animals to travel when they migrate. This requires less leg strength or feet muscle. With no reason to use those muscles the leg has no reason to grow over generations. The opposite applies for dinkas. While they do live in some tropical and mountainous region, their terrain in comparison is much flatter. They also travel by foot alot. If you think about the amount of mileage an average dinka puts in his/her foot in ancient time, it would be enough to tear achilles tendon of average person in modern society. Remember, the longer your legs are, the more distance you cover in less time. Why do you think Usain bolt is so successful? Things don’t just happen for no reason. Ducks don’t just have flipper feet for no reason then decide to start swimming with them. Repetitive activities over time developed them. Just like how generations of leg traveling leads to offspring with longer legs and tendon. It makes sense because their legs are very long in proportion to their torso, the tall dinkas have longer legs than their torso. If you look at nba player Manute Bol, his super long legs are the reason he is tall. His torso is the same as other players. The maasai people of keyna live in similar terrain and they are able to hop very high during their dances. This requires powerful and lengthy Achilles tendons. However this isn’t to say mongols are small. Mongols are actually quite bigger compare to most east asian when it comes to both mass and height. It just happens to be that their legs in proportion to torso is shorter. There are norther Chinese with long legs and balanced torso and leg length though. The case for south east asian is different. Many of them have become semi nomadic agricultural based society where they settle in 1 area with little reason to go out so their life style require even less man power. Also, it is very steep and mountainous so a normal walking posture would do no good. People with shorter legs do better in jungle, hilly, and mountainous area so that’s also another factor to their shortness. There is no way cows or other grass herdal animals can prosper in such area without plains so they lack dairy alot. A final good example is the horse. Millions of years ago, the horse evolved from a deer like creature living in jungle with short limbs. It was more agile and can go under or climb to escape from predators. With the arrival of the ice age and disappearing of some Forrest, it had to adapt to terrain. Technically horses have feet that never touch the ground they have an extreme arch support to avoid full friction contact with ground. Their legs have become very long as well for better sprinting. Like I said, this isn’t a 1 size fit all theory. Doing 1 or the other doesn’t get you tall height. It has to be a combination of many factors. We see other people living in extreme heat or consume high dairy but don’t get quite as tall. Our genes change and respond to what we do. It’s a way of accommodating for our needs. If we need longer limbs, we will get it over time, if we don’t need then, it gets filtered out.
It’s genetics, many African tribes follow the same feedings Regimen and live in a warm area and are short
The pygmy tribe in South Sudan follow the same diet and lifestyle as the Dinkas but are among the shortest people in the world
Biaka and Mbuti (Pygmies) are forest hunter-gatherers mostly. A different lifestyle than Dinka.
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I’m a Sudanese (from South). Conversant with Sudan history
· 5y
We have the genes of the ancient Kush people (Nile Valley Civilization) who were exceptionally tall with smooth skin. Read Isaiah 18:1–7.
99% of ethnicities in South Sudan are Nilotic and indigenous to the Nile Valley. They trace their roots northwards (now North Sudan).
Lived in SudanAuthor has 56.5K answers and 300.2M answer views
· 4y
Simple genetics and a comparatively stable gene pool. There are many unusually large people in Samoa, too, and many unusually small people in the Kalahari Desert, for the same reason. If they don’t mix with others for many centuries, their existing genetic qualities will be reinforced.
As for height specifically—there’s no way to know. It’s just random.
Related questions
How are Sudan people so tall if they are a third world country?
Why are South Sudan people so tall?
Why are Dinka tribe people so tall?
Are Nilotic men taller than Dutch men?
Are the Dinka people taller than the tallest Europeans?
DevOps/Relese Engineer (2017–present)Author has 3.4K answers and 4.3M answer views
· 2y
Originally Answered: What is the cause of the weird tallness of Dinka people of south Sudan?
A2A: What is the cause of the weird tallness of Dinka people of south Sudan?
It’s probably the result of Social Selection, namely, being tall for the Dinka people makes the man more desirable to prospective mates (for reasons we won’t go into here).
Thus, tall men would be able to get mates easier than average-heights men, and thus the tallness genes would propagate in the population. This argument works also for tall women.
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The notably tall stature of many individuals from South Sudan can be attributed to a combination of genetic, environmental, and nutritional factors:
- Genetics: Certain ethnic groups in South Sudan, such as the Dinka, are known for their tall average heights. Genetic predisposition plays a significant role in determining height, and these populations have traits that favor greater height.
- Nutrition: Access to a diet rich in proteins and other nutrients during childhood and adolescence can promote growth. In traditional societies, diets often include foods that are beneficial for growth, such as fi
Lived in South SudanAuthor has 4.7K answers and 3.6M answer views
Interesting question. It happened for a specific reason, not random. It would have taken tens of thousands of years to evolve that way similar to the Sherpas lungs in Nepal.
When I was there, I met a local ruler of the area we were working in. He was a giant of a man. As such he was the boss as the fist rules there. He would have breeding rights in his area because of his size and position.
This fact would create an atmosphere for Darwin’s theory of natural selection for tall people. Each area has a local ruler as there were no roads, but only foot paths between villages.
Related questions
Do people from South Sudan tend to be either short or tall? What is the reason for this?
How tall are people in South Sudan?
What is it like to be tall in South Sudan?
What is the average height of Dinka women (in South Sudan)?
Lives in SudanAuthor has 73 answers and 112.2K answer views
· 4y
The majority of South Sudanese people are African “Denka”. The “Denka”s are known for there immense hight and outstanding physical features.
It’s the GENES.
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Somali American. Loves History,Cultures, Politics and PeopleAuthor has 64 answers and 665.9K answer views
RelatedWhy are Somali people so tall?
Not every Somali is tall but vast majority of them are above average or tall. Historically Somali people majority were pastoralist, meaning their domesticated animals especially camels and goats for income and food. The rich nutritions of camel milk which is known to make people taller was big part of their diet, even today camel milk is popular in Somali cuisine. It’s believe domesticated camel origined from Horn Of Africa and spread to Middle East and the rest of the world. Also Somalia has the highest domesticated camel population in the world, about 7,000,000.
Somali pastoralist leading his
life is not what you think, it’s just a transition.Author has 1.6K answers and 3.3M answer views
· 4y
RelatedHow are Sudan people so tall if they are a third world country?
Your question remind me of fools old generation way of thinking :
Here is one :
A man married a woman who was very short in size. the people questioned, ‘’What have you done?’’ so he replied ‘’A women is evil, the less the evil, the better.’’
Anyway
Here is one tall Sudanese residing in USA first world country?
here is another one in developing country
here is another one with 80 cows and goats to look after
While genetics do have a significant role for being tall, so do environmental elements that include the environment in the womb, nutrition and health status in the first year of life, parents and
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Lived in Sudan (2015–2019)
RelatedAre the Dinka people taller than the tallest Europeans?
It is really hard to tell as height surveys are rarely accurately conducted in almost any 3rd world country, let alone the arguably world’s poorest country.
There are some online references that puts the Dinkas’ average height at around 6′3, some around 5′11 but as someone who lives in Sudan (which included south Sudan till 2011) most of the Dinka I meet are above 6′2 and it is not unusual to see 6′7+ men.
What people don’t put in consideration is that South Sudan is known to be one of the poorest countries in the world, and one out of every 3 children under the age of 5 are moderately to severe
RelatedWhile at a conference in Uganda, I met a number of very tall men. Some said they were from Kenya, some Uganda, some Southern Sudan. I do not believe they were Tutsi. Where are these giant men from?
I’m a Kenyan & to add I’m from the tribe you’re probably referring to…
Fun fact we are among the tallest peoples’ of the world with an average height of 183 centimetres or 6 feet if you only consider the men then we average at around 6,4 to 6,6 especially the “pure” nilotes
- The three countries have an east African linguistic group known as the Nilo-saharan such as the famous Nubian group & the people living there are from the eastern sudanic branch known as the nilotic community with famous groups such as the Maasai, the Tutsi also fall under this group genetically but are linguistically Bantu
- Th
Former WriterAuthor has 630 answers and 1.3M answer views
RelatedWhy are east African people lean and tall?
Because they have a higher amount of Nilotic (South Sudanese) admixture in their genes. Nilotics are the leanest and tallest people on earth. This is because they are mostly pastoralists.
Pastoralists in Africa are generally very lean and tall, in comparison to farmers (West Africans) who are more robust and muscular. Pastoralists walk for miles and miles, whilst farmers are sedentary and robust.
Pastoralists also live on a diet of meat and dairy whilst farmers live on starchy diets.
South Sudanese are the original Nilotic speakers.
People often assume that Arab admixture made east Africans more g
Lives in The NetherlandsAuthor has 28.9K answers and 4.4M answer views
· 1y
RelatedWhy does it say on Google the tallest country in the world is the Netherlands but clearly South Sudan has more taller people with an average height of 6’0 for males and 5’10 for females?
Even though Dutch people generally have two feet, their average height = 6.0 feet for men and 5.6 feet for women (decimal fractions). Some sites report male height as 184 cm and female as 170 cm). One study said that Latvian women are slightly taller than Dutch women.
I found no data for the republic of South Sudan, but Google came with the claim that the Dinka people may be the tallest of the world at 183 cm for men and 178 cm for women. That would mean Dinka women are taller than Dutchwomen. But the Dinka make up just 40 % of the population of South Sudan.
Originally Answered: Why are South Sudan people so tall?
your gene makeup will decide how tall you are from birth unless it isint properly made and you don’t grow {dwarf} or don’t stop growing {a disease I am unable to remember the name of}
so to answer your question they are tall because they had tall parents haha
Graphic DesignerAuthor has 1.9K answers and 12.1M answer views
RelatedAre the Dinka people taller than the tallest Europeans?
Nope.
I’m seeing more and more disinformation in terms of the tallest people in the world. (Mostly Youtube channels like Drew Brinsky and other uneducated news sourceswho don’t do their research)
The Dinka are the tallest people in Africa, but contrary to what people say about them, they don’t average 7 foot (2.1 meter), which is just ridiculous.
According to researches, the Dinka people average somewhere between 5′11 to 6′0 (1,75 to 1,8m), which is really tall still. But the Dinka aren’t the only people in South Sudan, so their national average is lower than the Dinka average. That’s why Netherl
RelatedAre black people the tallest people in the world?
Men from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro have the tallest average height. Data suggests that Herzegovinians have the genetic potential to be more than two inches taller than the Dutch.
In hindsight, I noticed that the question wasn’t answered.
Researchers discovered that the average height and weight of Black men were the same as White men.
Image via the media portrays Blacks as bigger, taller, more muscular, ergo, more violent than other races since a bigger person is more intimidating.
To gauge people’s perception, a study done between White and Black ath
Anonymous
RelatedWhy are Somali people so tall?
Imagine the Somali can easily access to the nutritious food in abundant. They sure will be taller even than the Dutch.
Previously in history the dutch are known as short in europe but after the country become rich and food become abundant they start growing taller.
Look at the Somali and other black country even with less nutrition they still can grow taller , if they are abundant of food they sure will be more taller.
Knows Multiple LanguagesAuthor has 638 answers and 3.7M answer views
RelatedAre the Dinka people taller than the tallest Europeans?
The tallest Europeans would have gigantism and be over 8 ft, so no.
Without gigantism in the picture, yes very easily.
Manute Bol was 7′7, no European without gigantism is that tall. Even Hafthor Bjornsson is nowhere near that height. and he’s 6′8 or 6′9 with shoes on
Or let’s say Nathan Jones for example.
Or say, Martyn Ford.
He’s 6′8 with shoes on(approx).
He makes a LOT of tall people look short.
Or say Eddie Hall.
He’s 6′3 with shoes on(approx).
Yeah no. 6′3 isn’t tall compared to 7′0+
Some members of the Dinka tribe would make Hafthor look like a child in front of them.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever se
I’ve spent all my childhood days in Uganda. Author has 385 answers and 436.9K answer views
· 6y
RelatedWhile at a conference in Uganda, I met a number of very tall men. Some said they were from Kenya, some Uganda, some Southern Sudan. I do not believe they were Tutsi. Where are these giant men from?
The Dinkas from South Sudan are without a doubt one of the tallest people in Africa & the world at large.
From Kenya, i can’t really lie to you.
When it comes to Uganda, I’ll deviate little from some answers here…, Apart from the Bahima tribe in S.W Uganda, we hardly have any other height destinction basing on tribe. You’ll meet some short Baganda & Tall Baganda still , you’ll meet some short Itesots and Tall Itesosts too…and so on and so forth.
So if it was me at the conference meeting those people, apart from the S.Sudanese that can easily be differentiated by both height, color & facia
Author has 368 answers and 687.5K answer views
RelatedWhy are Somali people so tall?
Well I was born in Netherlands, and I am Somalian I stand at 204cm or in feet exactly 6′8 barefoot I am actually above average height here in Netherlands but in other countries I am Tall since most people are not even 180 in most countries in the Western Europe they are exaggerating that dutch people are Tall but that s something for another day back to the question.I had rich Diet of Dairy Meat a
· 4y
Why would the tallest and the shortest tribes of people both be found in Africa?
Well if your statement were correct I’d say as the cradle of humanity and the second biggest continent it has the most genetic diversity.
However, while Africa’s Byaka are indeed the shortest humans, the tallest tribe of men are the Dutch. With Latvian women being the tallest females.
Layman Afrikana researcherAuthor has 743 answers and 766.4K answer views
· 3y
RelatedWhy are all African people so tall and athletic?
They’re not, I’m 5′5″ and get winded after going up the stairs to my room.
African people are not a monolith; stop treating us like one.
Lives in The United States of AmericaAuthor has 2.5K answers and 1.8M answer views
· 2y
Why are blacks so tall?
That’s a bit of a generality.
M.A. in Political Science Major, University of California, Santa Barbara (Graduated 1991)Author has 10.2K answers and 1.6M answer views
· 1y
RelatedDue to evolution and adaptation of thousands of years, if an Asian was to move to the environment living of South Sudan, would they be taller or zero difference since that’s not how it works?
Not how it works. People don’t change height when they move to another part of the globe. Biological evolution is something that happens to populations, not individuals.
About the only difference would be that they’d be a bit less well adapted to the full sun you get in subsaharan Africa. Their distant descendants would become darker-skinned over time, if they stayed in that part of the world.
Author has 12.4K answers and 7.3M answer views
· 1y
RelatedWhy are east African people lean and tall?
Genetics
learned about biology in a real school.Author has 16.1K answers and 13.8M answer views
· 1y
RelatedDue to evolution and adaptation of thousands of years, if an Asian was to move to the environment living of South Sudan, would they be taller or zero difference since that’s not how it works?
Not really how it works, but it sorta-kinda could, if you were to grant a whole bunch of conditions:
- Not one Asian, but a population. Say 500–2000 of them.
- They’d have to stick to themselves, no reproduction with outsiders.
- They’d need to live in the condition that shaped humans prehistorically, say Stone Age. In particular, facing the same dangers that killed people there before.
- That would include living a lifestyle similar to how the “original” South Sudanese people lived, i.e. hunting antelopes or giraffes or whatever runs around there.
- They’d need to keep this up for, say, 200, 500 or 1000 gen
Clinical content specialist (2020–present)Author has 2.4K answers and 1.5M answer views
· 4y
RelatedWhy are all African people so tall and athletic?
They are not.
In actual fact, there is just more variation in body type among Africans than there is among, say, Europeans.
Some tall. Some short. Some wide. Some thin. etc. etc.
It is hypothesized that this reflects the fact that African populations are much older and so have had more time to evolve into greater variation.
But, in point of fact, the differences between black, white, Asian and other peoples are so small as to be pretty insignificant, except maybe at the extreme ends of sport. The differences in overall physical shape are not something you would notice walking down the street nor a
Fabric ArtistAuthor has 7.8K answers and 3.2M answer views
· 1y
RelatedDue to evolution and adaptation of thousands of years, if an Asian was to move to the environment living of South Sudan, would they be taller or zero difference since that’s not how it works?
We don’t have to guess. Humans have already moved all over the world, to all different environments and it hasn’t changed their own traits ever or their descendants’ in the short term or even longterm, depending on the trait.
Evolution happens over many generations and it’s not all adaptive. And height doesn’t seem to be a really important trait. People of all different heights can and do survive and thrive in the same environments, and people of similar heights in different environments.
Asians tend to be a little shorter on average than Europeans but Africans range from very short to very tall
Studied at Estcourt High SchoolAuthor has 4K answers and 4M answer views
· 6y
RelatedWhile at a conference in Uganda, I met a number of very tall men. Some said they were from Kenya, some Uganda, some Southern Sudan. I do not believe they were Tutsi. Where are these giant men from?
The Tutsi are from the Rwanda and/or Burundi areas (sandwiched between Tanzania and the Congo Democratic republic). The people who you saw were probably Masai or a closely-related tribe.
Alvaro José Dos Santos Ferreira
Studied Portuguese and English & History in General at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas GeraisAuthor has 162 answers and 80.8K answer views
· 4y
RelatedWhat makes the Dinka tribe from South Sudan the tallest tribe?
Well, the question seems to have an answer in itself, as it takes for granted that the Dinka is the tallest tribe. Nevetheless, I do not agree with that. The Watusi tribe, a branch of the Tútsi people, who lives in Rwanda, are considered since a long time ago, the tallest people on EARTH. As far as I know, Watusi men had an average height of 1,95 m and women had 1,78 m. These measures were taken a long time ago, perhaps in the beginning of the 20th century. I do not know the situation today, but probably we can say they managed to maintain their stature. The region in which they live was colon
Tourism Ambassador (2021–present)
· 3y
RelatedWhy are east African people lean and tall?
East Africa is made of Nilotes, Bantu and cushites.
Nilotes are of three categories – highland Nilotes(Kalenjin), River-lake nilotes(Luo and Suba), plain land Nilotes(Maasai, Turkana)
Among these groups, Plain land nilotes are tall and lean because of their nilotic ancestry and way of life. They are mostly pastoral in their lives and their movements could contribute to this body shape.
It has nothing to do with Sudanese gene as their dialect and way of life is very different in all aspects.
The plain land nilotes were hunters.
Other groups, bantu and a percentage of cushites tend to be shorter and
Custodian
· 6y
RelatedWhy are Nilotic people extremely tall?
From whatci heard its because of the lack of oxygen from high altitude in the nubian part of the dessert like sudan(north,cental). The lack of vegetation and it being so dry as well. Not to mention just like northern euros the base there diet around a lot of cattle products like milk and beef and also grains.
BA and then JD in Modern Intellectual History & Harvard Law School, Brown University (Graduated 1979)Author has 43.6K answers and 16.1M answer views
· 4y
RelatedWhy would the tallest and the shortest tribes of people both be found in Africa?
The Twa-type people (pygmies) have begun more intermarriage with their Bantu neighbours but are the shortest. The Maasai with the Dutch are the tallest on Earth last time I read.
Former Retired 2001 (1985–2001)Author has 7K answers and 8.8M answer views
· 2y
RelatedHow can I find or meet taller women from South Sudan, or the Dinka Tribe, as a white male without getting killed?
Unless you are only interested in dark skinned ladies, you could go to other countries in Europe that have tall women, i.e. Latvia (the tallest average for women at 5′7″) and also the Netherlands.
Originally Answered: Why are people in South Sudan so tall?
- Genetics: There’s a genetic predisposition towards taller stature within these ethnic groups. Over generations, genetic factors have contributed to a population with naturally taller individuals.
- Nutrition: Historically, these communities have had access to diets rich in protein and nutrients, contributing to better growth and development, resulting in taller individuals.
- Lifestyle: Engaging in physical activities such as herding cattle, farming, and other active lifestyles may have also played a role in promoting growth and physical stature.
Related questions
How are Sudan people so tall if they are a third world country?
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